Durability of bike parts

[Bstone]

How much does riding style and weight contribute to bike component durability?

As I recall, when I learned to ride, the prevailing wisdom was to reduce pedal effort before shifting so as to eliminate "clunking" during gear changes and to "ride light" by shifting your weight to your pedals before going over bumps.

I am light and rarely need wheels trued, and my chains and tires last a long time. When I had 8 speed stuff, the chains and chainrings lasted a long time.

While you always hear stories about fast component wear, I always wonder how much the previously stated factors influence this...

[texbike]

How much does riding style and weight contribute to bike component durability?

As I recall, when I learned to ride, the prevailing wisdom was to reduce pedal effort before shifting so as to eliminate "clunking" during gear changes and to "ride light" by shifting your weight to your pedals before going over bumps.

I am light and rarely need wheels trued, and my chains and tires last a long time. When I had 8 speed stuff, the chains and chainrings lasted a long time.

While you always hear stories about fast component wear, I always wonder how much the previously stated factors influence this...

I think it makes a HUGE difference. I have friends that wear out drivetrains in a year. Others (one of which is a forumite) never seem to wear anything out on their bikes at all. I think there's a direct correlation on how smoothly you ride and apply power to how long your chains, cassettes, and chainrings last.

Texbike

[MattTuck]

They've made everything so light, stuff is weak now. Even an amateur pushing 300 watts up a climb is stretching their chain now???? Shame on the them.
This is the logical end point of the cycling industry's quest for weight savings.

[echelon_john]

Two words: Eight Speed

Chains lasted forever, even under my fat ass.

[AngryScientist]

i think weight and riding style most effect the wheels of a bicycle.

what has a more pronounced effect on drivetrain life, in my experience is riding conditions. well lubricated bearings, for example can last practically indefinitely when riding in dry, clean conditions. switching to wet, gritty conditions can and does make a huge difference on drivetrain longevity.

terrain matters too. consider that two riders doing 100 miles. a rider in rolling hills may shift the drivetrain 40 times; someone riding a relatively flat course may only need to shift a dozen times. more wear on the drivetrain the more you shift.

lots of factors go into wear rate of various components of a drivetrain, but in general were the drivetrains of yesterday with downtube shifters wider chains and heavier, meatier chainrings/cogs more durable - yes.

[cdn_bacon]

From 2006.... not even a mis-shift for me. Through sun, rain, sleet, snow.just keeps going save a few stone chips.

[Bstone]

Two words: Eight Speed

Chains lasted forever, even under my fat ass.

I talk about this all the time. Here in Central Florida (flat as a table top), you really don't need that many gears.

SRAMs 1X drivetrain seems to reinforce this. But the extreme chainlines in really big or small gears makes me wonder....

Marketing, marketing, marketing.

[Joachim]

Two words: Eight Speed

Chains lasted forever, even under my fat ass.

I would love to find a 7400 groupset..... :)

[batman1425]

what has a more pronounced effect on drivetrain life, in my experience is riding conditions. well lubricated bearings, for example can last practically indefinitely when riding in dry, clean conditions. switching to wet, gritty conditions can and does make a huge difference on drivetrain longevity.

^^^This. My winter commuter bike needs new wheel bearings, BB, and chain after a season of 400-500 ish commuting miles in crappy salt covered roads and that's even with regular washing and lubrication. I've never replaced a wheel bearing in my regular season road stuff, get 3-4K out of chains, and 4-6K out of BBs on my regular road stuff. It's all about the conditions.

[echelon_john]

Counterpoint: all that shifting spreads wear more evenly among cogs, right? I wonder how many flatland folks replace cassettes with only a couple of cogs worn?

i think weight and riding style most effect the wheels of a bicycle.

what has a more pronounced effect on drivetrain life, in my experience is riding conditions. well lubricated bearings, for example can last practically indefinitely when riding in dry, clean conditions. switching to wet, gritty conditions can and does make a huge difference on drivetrain longevity.

terrain matters too. consider that two riders doing 100 miles. a rider in rolling hills may shift the drivetrain 40 times; someone riding a relatively flat course may only need to shift a dozen times. more wear on the drivetrain the more you shift.

lots of factors go into wear rate of various components of a drivetrain, but in general were the drivetrains of yesterday with downtube shifters wider chains and heavier, meatier chainrings/cogs more durable - yes.

[kevinvc]

^^^This. My winter commuter bike needs new wheel bearings, BB, and chain after a season of 400-500 ish commuting miles in crappy salt covered roads and that's even with regular washing and lubrication. I've never replaced a wheel bearing in my regular season road stuff, get 3-4K out of chains, and 4-6K out of BBs on my regular road stuff. It's all about the conditions.

Yup, conditions and also, even more importantly, maintenance. I wore out a set of rims in under 2 years when I first started commuting year round. I also never cleaned them or the brake pads. Similar situation with the drivetrain that would get, at best, a quick squirt of grease every 6 to 8 weeks. After having to replace so many components in such a short amount of time I started treating my stuff better, especially when it's wet out. I've got 4 years on my current rims and drivetrain and they all show very little wear.

[chiasticon]

I'd say it's conditions and riding style more than weight, until we start talking about a very large person on underbuilt wheels and the lightest components money can buy...

as long as it's not a race, I do my best to try and keep a good chain line and not cross-chain. I also have a friend that weighs around what I do, but refuses to shift into the little ring until the gradient percentage is well into the double digits. he definitely goes through drive trains faster than I do. he's also terrible at cleaning and maintaining his bike, which is another important factor...

[zap]

They've made everything so light, stuff is weak now. Even an amateur pushing 300 watts up a climb is stretching their chain now???? Shame on the them.
This is the logical end point of the cycling industry's quest for weight savings.

What?

Three hundred watts is not exactly a whole lot of power and we (on our tandem) crank out over 1000 watts max (unfortunately for far too short period of time) and modern 10 (have not upgraded too 11 yet) speed chains hold up just fine. I bring up tandem because well, problems always happen on tandems first.

Individuals weight is a factor and part selection and assembly but mostly.......don't ride into and through and out of potholes and the like.

Zap.......who happily rides around on a 14 or so pound bike all year year after year with no issues.

[ultraman6970]

If you have ADHD and you cant keep your hands not even 30 seconds w/o touching the shifters, well clearly you will run out of drive train super quick.

To me the other factor is who thought the rider to ride, if you ask a lot of riders were told..., "it goes up you shift.... it goes down you shift..." and usually those are the ones that are swapping components once a year or swapping cassettes and chains after 6 months. So this is something of concern too at the time to factor parts durability too.

[MattTuck]

What?

Three hundred watts is not exactly a whole lot of power and we (on our tandem) crank out over 1000 watts max (unfortunately for far too short period of time) and modern 10 (have not upgraded too 11 yet) speed chains hold up just fine. I bring up tandem because well, problems always happen on tandems first.

Individuals weight is a factor and part selection and assembly but mostly.......don't ride into and through and out of potholes and the like.

Zap.......who happily rides around on a 14 or so pound bike all year year after year with no issues.

My response was a bit tongue in cheek.

[texbike]

I would love to find a 7400 groupset..... :)

There's plenty of 7400 stuff out there!

I just built up a Colnago with a minty 7400 group to leave at my inlaws. Given my riding style, low power capabilities, longevity of the components, and the fact that the bike will only be ridden occasionally and in nice weather, I expect that it will work nicely for a very long time.

Texbike

[El Chaba]

Of course rider size and power factor in as well as the adversity of weather conditions...but the technique and carefulness of the rider are not to be discounted either. Take pedals for example....I can't imagine what some riders do to their pedals to get them in such a beaten state....Beat them with a sledgehammer?...For flat occurrence and general tire wear, size and technique are large factors. When you get a Clydesdale of 200 lbs or more I would estimate that he has twice as many flats on the road as a 150 lb. rider...

[soulspinner]

Two words: Eight Speed

Chains lasted forever, even under my fat ass.

Right?

[fiataccompli]

I go through periods where I may shift with each perceivable change in grade & I have not observed wear issues related. Besides the obvious issues of weather conditions, rider weight or "on the rivot" racing conditions where perhaps oxygen deprivation may prevent the best conservation of your equipment, I think there's a style & mechanical finesse that exists for some riders & doesn't for others. Having learned to ride with friction shifting & somehow having the idea of shifting weight or "riding light" & generally getting into the whole bio-mechanical connection is a factor for me. There are some riders I know who are perfectly "good" riders in most every sense, but I know that I cringe when I see/hear them shift on a group ride & have found myself almost unconsciously saying to myself that I'd hate to unknowingly buy a bike or groupset from that person (because, hey, I buy most of that stuff used!).

For the record, in my younger years, without a cycling budget & putting many miles in going everywhere, I did my share of wearing out 6 speed stuff! (even riding "light" whenever I could)

[Bstone]

I think the French call it souplesse.

I go through periods where I may shift with each perceivable change in grade & I have not observed wear issues related. Besides the obvious issues of weather conditions, rider weight or "on the rivot" racing conditions where perhaps oxygen deprivation may prevent the best conservation of your equipment, I think there's a style & mechanical finesse that exists for some riders & doesn't for others. Having learned to ride with friction shifting & somehow having the idea of shifting weight or "riding light" & generally getting into the whole bio-mechanical connection is a factor for me. There are some riders I know who are perfectly "good" riders in most every sense, but I know that I cringe when I see/hear them shift on a group ride & have found myself almost unconsciously saying to myself that I'd hate to unknowingly buy a bike or groupset from that person (because, hey, I buy most of that stuff used!).

For the record, in my younger years, without a cycling budget & putting many miles in going everywhere, I did my share of wearing out 6 speed stuff! (even riding "light" whenever I could)

[Dead Man]

yes... I go through chains pretty quick... but that's not a huge deal. Other than that, I've never worn out a groupset. I seem to cycle through them fairly quick, for whatever reason.. just always building new bikes and selling off my old stuff.

However, I strongly suspect my current 9000 on my main bike will be with me for a long, long time. Cause I'm not going to ····inging 12-speed, when that ···· comes out. How many miles can I expect? I expect tens of thousands... I guess because that's what you could get, easily, from past iterations of Dura-Ace.. it might be lighter now, but it doesn't seem any less durable to me, for some reason.

I wouldn't worry about it.

Oh.. and going back to shifting.... I "throw" the bike into gear, at least when shifting in the midst of a harder-to-hard effort - push down extra hard, making the bike surge for one pedal stroke, whilst simultaneously clicking the paddle... if the bike is dialed in and shifting super clean, I can shift in a fraction of a second with no speed/power loss and without any crunching. I've only ever been able to do that consistently with Dura-Ace, and it's probably the No. 1 reason I'm a Dura-Ace snob.

[oldpotatoe]

How much does riding style and weight contribute to bike component durability?

As I recall, when I learned to ride, the prevailing wisdom was to reduce pedal effort before shifting so as to eliminate "clunking" during gear changes and to "ride light" by shifting your weight to your pedals before going over bumps.

I am light and rarely need wheels trued, and my chains and tires last a long time. When I had 8 speed stuff, the chains and chainrings lasted a long time.

While you always hear stories about fast component wear, I always wonder how much the previously stated factors influence this...

A lot. Extreme cross chaining, slamming the chain around when shifting, riding with way dirty chain....all makes stuff wear out faster.

[benb]

I'm relatively big/heavy for someone who was racing. (6'1", best racing weight was 165-169, but I've rode around in the 170s and 180s a lot more).

I have never wanted a bike much below 17lbs.. I do get worried I'll break stuff, but I never really do.

I've never broken a chain, I still get at least 5000 miles out of them with 10 speed. My current bike has got to have at least that much and doesn't even have the "0.75" wear according to my park gauge.

I do change cables at least 1x a year, more like 2x on my road bikes.

I have destroyed 3 rear wheels in the last 15 years:

- Rolf Vector MTB wheel.. starting breaking spokes like crazy in it's 6th season. Replaced with Mavic CrossMax XLs (overkill for me since I ride XC), those are 9 years old and have been perfect.

- Rolf Vector road wheel - freehub froze up. This one saw lots of salty NE winter weather and I live in apartments at the time so my cleaning regimen was not as good.

- Velomax Tempest II rear wheel (later known as Easton EA90 Aero I think.) After about 6 years the rear wheel started cracking between the eyelets like crazy.

Other failures I've had...

- Thomson X2 Stem... that familiar failure. Scary. Gave out on the trainer.

- A whole bunch of brifters - they really don't like winter, but it takes a few years. I'm a Shimano guy, I've never gotten more than 4 seasons out of a set of STI shifters. I ran one set of SRAM stuff, those were dead in 2 seasons.
- A whole bunch of V-brakes and Cantis - the pivots really, really don't like winter (usually they're dead after one winter)
- Rear hydraulic Disc Caliper (Hayes HFX) - Killed it from salt + using brake cleaner. (took 6 seasons though, great TCO value vs rim brakes)

Proper cleaning of your bike probably makes more difference than anything. I don't cross chain per se but I will stay in my big ring as long as possible.. if I have a 53/39 setup with a 12-25 cog I'll use the 53x23 setup a lot. It doesn't seem to affect chain life.

My parts lifetime seems to be going up since 2012 when I destroyed the Hayes caliper.. someone at Hayes told me to start using Isopropyl alcohol for cleaning as it's especially good at flushing out road salt. I use it religiously now since it's super cheap compared to boutique bike chemicals.. I use it for everything except chain degreasing. Between that and using fenders more in the winter I haven't broken anything since 2012.

[NTMAD8R22]

Weight is obviously a big factor. So it maintenance and being setup properly.

[bigbill]

I change my campy 11 chains at 3500 miles. I put a new one on in February and replace it in late June. I haven't found a reliable way to measure an 11 speed chain but I know if I exceed 4K, I'll likely need a new cassette. Three chains to one cassette. In the big scheme of spending on bikes and shopping at Ribble/PBK, Chorus cassettes are <$100 and chains are around $35, replacing wear parts to ensure a good ride isn't that much.

I'm in NE Texas. In the summer, tires go away fast on the hot pavement. I'm lucky to get 1200 miles out of a Pro4. I've found that Schwalbe One's are better than Pro4's when it comes to wear and are really a good ride.

I've got around 20K miles on the crankset of my main bike. I've replaced the UT bearings once but the chainrings are next. I'll likely do that next month.

My gravel bike has my old DA 8 7400 drivetrain. I just ride that thing like it's stolen.

[mmelito]

Perfomance components are built to tight tolerances for which variances are also limited. Failure of the performance components are in line with these tolerances, with exception of manufacturing defects.

I have yet to encounter any of the kids breakin or wearing their shimano Altus and alivio groups - rain or shine.