Showerthought: I was dead wrong about frame dents until a touring cyclist showed me his 20,000 mile survivor bike

After 15 years of telling customers any dent means scrap the frame, a guy rolled in last week with a steel touring bike that had three dime-sized dents in the top tube and explained how he'd crossed two continents on it, and now I'm wondering how many perfectly good frames I talked people into replacing.

3 comments

3 Comments

victor77926d ago

Oof, that 20k mile bike really puts things in perspective.

ray35626d ago

Twenty thousand miles is a ton of riding for most people, but it really shows how bikes hold up if you actually use them. It's wild how many people buy these things and barely touch them, thinking they're keeping value by keeping miles low. Meanwhile someone who actually rides knows their bike inside and out, and probably had way more fun in the process. Kinda makes you reevaluate what "worth it" really means when you see a bike that's actually been lived on like that.

ellis.faith25d ago

Oh man, tell me about it. I bought a used bike with 18k on it and it was the best decision I ever made. The previous owner had done all the regular service and upgrades, so I basically got a well-sorted machine without any of the depreciation pain. I put on another 10k in two years and never once had a major issue. People get so hung up on low miles they forget a bike that's actually been ridden is usually a bike that's been maintained, you know?