Do bike frames age like fine wine?

[Spaghetti Legs]

Carbon fiber gets softer. Just look at this 30 year old Colnago:

[Kirk007]

Boeing and Airbus wish this was true, think of how many more airplanes they could sell as they retired the old soft ones.

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[adub]

Looking at the resale market for high end bikes I'd say the answer is a definitive "no"

[jimoots]

I’ve put 75,000km on my 2009 Moots Compact, which I bought second hand in 2015.

I’ve rotated through a groupset and several sets of wheels but it very much rides the same now as when I bought it.

[CNY rider]

Originally Posted by Kirk007

Boeing and Airbus wish this was true, think of how many more airplanes they could sell as they retired the old soft ones.

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

Boeing’s current strategy of building new ones that fly into the ground and need to be replaced seems to have hit a few snags.

[steveoz]

Some of my older frames are aging like a fine wine - they're collecting a thick layer of dust.....

[saab2000]

Old Look 585s begin to lose their clear coat. And they’re cheap. So no, they don’t age like fine wines.

[Dino Suegiù]

Originally Posted by P K

Ask people who race a lot (especially sprinters) and they'll say frames wear out in one season, get spongy, lose their snap/stiffness

Hmmm.
Many people are still riding 30+ year old steel frames, often hard, often daily, with no noticeable decay in all that time, as long as the frames have been maintained.


Completed in March 1989 (130 seasons now, and still going strong).
Exposed to wind, rain, snow, smog, elevators, etc, every second since.
Does not "wear out in one season", just as any decent bicycle frame does not.
Does not "age like fine wine", just as any bicycle frame does not.

[Seramount]

35K+ miles on a Serotta-made Ti frame...still rides like the day I got it.

my body is deteriorating far faster than it ever will.

[Clancy]

Originally Posted by Black Dog

This is simply not true. Metal does not get softer and carbon never does unless it is compromised and then it will fail suddenly. This is a very old myth that has no basis in reality. The science on this one is solid.

I absolutely believe this but what about joined materials? Whereas the material may not degrade, is it possible the joints (carbon) or welds (steel) weaken over repeated stresses?

And what science deduces and the body perceives are often contradictory. Perhaps the feeling of “aged wine” has to do with the body adjusting to the bike over time, muscle memory. I know my body feels immediately at home on my one main bike, the one I’ve spent many hours on. It fits me not like a glove, but a well worn and extremely comfortable glove. And then add to that how the shifting loosens up over time and how the body adjusts to the particulars of the drivetrain and steering. I can see how people developed the idea of a bicycle aging over time.

One last comment. The romance and mystery of cycling should never be underestimated. Although the scientific mind may say the individual materials are inert, who’s to say the completed bicycle is not completely without its own peculiar personality that gives it a feeling of being “alive”.

I cannot think of another machine where ones body is so connected and together can perform so smoothly and effortlessly, and even magically. Perhaps hang gliders and their pilots are also connected. So maybe our bikes do not age like fine wines. But something happens. Regardless of what that something is, I’m for one am grateful it does!

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by Clancy

I absolutely believe this but what about joined materials? Whereas the material may not degrade, is it possible the joints (carbon) or welds (steel) weaken over repeated stresses?

And what science deduces and the body perceives are often contradictory. Perhaps the feeling of “aged wine” has to do with the body adjusting to the bike over time, muscle memory. I know my body feels immediately at home on my one main bike, the one I’ve spent many hours on. It fits me not like a glove, but a well worn and extremely comfortable glove. And then add to that how the shifting loosens up over time and how the body adjusts to the particulars of the drivetrain and steering. I can see how people developed the idea of a bicycle aging over time.

One last comment. The romance and mystery of cycling should never be underestimated. Although the scientific mind may say the individual materials are inert, who’s to say the completed bicycle is not completely without its own peculiar personality that gives it a feeling of being “alive”.

I cannot think of another machine where ones body is so connected and together can perform so smoothly and effortlessly, and even magically. Perhaps hang gliders and their pilots are also connected. So maybe our bikes do not age like fine wines. But something happens. Regardless of what that something is, I’m for one am grateful it does!

Very erudite response. Well said.