What bike would you choose for robust high mileage but reasonable weight and ride quality?

Questions about bike hire abroad and everything light bike related. No off-topic chat please

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Lewn777
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by Lewn777

pdlpsher1 wrote:
Tue Jun 25, 2019 12:40 am
One of my riding buddies has a custom steel Caletti with Campy mechanical group. He’s a strong and powerful rider. His bike is lighter than my Ti bike as he doesn’t have too many gadgets like I do. When you see the bike in person you know instantly it’s a serious bike. He does races. I know some of you will laugh at steel but that bike certainly falls into the ‘forever’ bike category.

Here’s his steel bike

Image
But surely this bike has a carbon fibre made in China fork on it? For all these 'forever bike' theories I just don't get it. A carbon fork is the most failure critical item on a bike. If it fails then there's a possibility of death or very serious injury. Nobody knows whats really going on under that paint without scanning the fork. Did a pot-hole cause a void to expand around the header steerer joint? We don't know. I had a Chinese fork implode on me (being resin poor), luckily I only got road rash, could have been much worse. My logic is take the gamble with a well reputed fully carbon fibre bike OR get a bike that's completely made of metal (frame and fork) but maybe use a carbon seat post/saddle posssibly bars for comfort.

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pdlpsher1
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by pdlpsher1

I analyze the build with an engineering sense just like you. I have some crazy light parts (148g. bars, S-Works Exos shoes) as well as boat anchor parts (massive steer tube expander, Quarq PM). But above all safety comes first. Then durability next.

If you are on a budget here’s another idea. Take a look at DurianRider on YouTube. He just bought an open mould frame, the same one Phil Gaimon rides. He says the inside finish is immaculate which indicates high quality. It’s Chinese but probably made in the same factory as other more expensive branded bikes.


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pdlpsher1
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by pdlpsher1

When I ride I never think about my fork failing. Yeah I’m sure it happens. The car that I drive might explode too causing death. If you are THAT concerned about failures then the only possible solution is to not ride at all.


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kgibbo1868
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by kgibbo1868

pdlpsher1 wrote:
Tue Jun 25, 2019 1:23 am
When I ride I never think about my fork failing. Yeah I’m sure it happens. The car that I drive might explode too causing death. If you are THAT concerned about failures then the only possible solution is to not ride at all.


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Lewn777
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by Lewn777

kgibbo1868 wrote:
Tue Jun 25, 2019 1:17 am
An Enve / Whisky / 3T fork are high quality components that should last a lifetime unless they are crashed. If something was to happen to the fork it can easily be replaced as well. An artisian frame builder is unlikely to slap on a garbage fork imo.
Not garbage, but just 'par for thre course'. Surely Enve, 3T etc forks are made in the same kind of Chinese factories that churn out most of our better mass produced frames. The problem is a 'crash' isn't a 'crash'. Of you hit a pot-hole or road bump really hard that can be a failure with some carbon fibre stuff, particularly if the bike has a void, design flaw or is resin poor. the failure doesn't always happen then and there, with darker color frames cracks aren't so visible and sometimes damage can be under the paint and you can get a catastrophic failure later.

[YouTube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j30gaHKCC5w[/YouTube]

Luescher: 'This year I've scanned at least 80 forks, maybe 8 of those I consider to be flaw-free'. :roll:
Last edited by Lewn777 on Tue Jun 25, 2019 1:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Lewn777
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by Lewn777

pdlpsher1 wrote:
Tue Jun 25, 2019 1:23 am
When I ride I never think about my fork failing. Yeah I’m sure it happens. The car that I drive might explode too causing death. If you are THAT concerned about failures then the only possible solution is to not ride at all.
The thing is I'm happy to take the risk, I do every day. I just can't see the logic in using a metal frame and a carbon fork. IMHO go all metal or go all carbon.

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Lewn777
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by Lewn777

pdlpsher1 wrote:
Tue Jun 25, 2019 1:18 am
I analyze the build with an engineering sense just like you. I have some crazy light parts (148g. bars, S-Works Exos shoes) as well as boat anchor parts (massive steer tube expander, Quarq PM). But above all safety comes first. Then durability next.

If you are on a budget here’s another idea. Take a look at DurianRider on YouTube. He just bought an open mould frame, the same one Phil Gaimon rides. He says the inside finish is immaculate which indicates high quality. It’s Chinese but probably made in the same factory as other more expensive branded bikes.
Hmm no. Just becuase according to an internet shit-stirrer something 'looks good' doesn't mean much. I'd rather buy a Chinese OEM bike like a 'Pardus' http://taishansports.us/bike/. They make bikes for many very high end western brands such as Cervelo, Scott, Factor, BMC, Argon 18 and their own bikes for the Chinese national team.

fxx
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by fxx

pdlpsher1 wrote:I analyze the build with an engineering sense just like you. I have some crazy light parts (148g. bars, S-Works Exos shoes) as well as boat anchor parts (massive steer tube expander, Quarq PM). But above all safety comes first. Then durability next.

If you are on a budget here’s another idea. Take a look at DurianRider on YouTube. He just bought an open mould frame, the same one Phil Gaimon rides. He says the inside finish is immaculate which indicates high quality. It’s Chinese but probably made in the same factory as other more expensive branded bikes.


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Durianrider? I rather believe in the tooth fairy, that shady character always talks about Chinese no name carbon bikes, but I have never seen him build it up and ridden them.

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pdlpsher1
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by pdlpsher1

Actually, it's not so much about DurianRider as much as Phil Gaimon. You know, the ex-pro that puts out 7w/kg. He's riding a Nove sponsored bike. The OP says he's on a budget so I proposed a budget bike. Believe what you want to believe.

TheRich
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by TheRich

AJS914 wrote:
Mon Jun 24, 2019 10:57 pm
Idea 1 - buy a bike from a major manufacturer that comes with a lifetime warranty - trek, spec, giant, etc. End of story.
That.

Because of the buying public, the big brands HAVE to deliver quality, because they can't afford to have failures spring up around the internet. (Some) Boutique brands can get away with lower quality because of the pride in ownership and lower overall numbers work to distort reality in comparision with the big brands.

ichobi
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by ichobi

How one can actually break a bike every year? Do you crash a lot or just being less careful with the bike ? I handle my bike like a baby! I ride a lot but I take care when I move it around.

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RyanH
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by RyanH


pdlpsher1 wrote:You know, the ex-pro that puts out 7w/kg.
It's bad enough that Durian rider is an asshat and can't do basic math but if you can't critically assess the information (garbage) he's spewing then I feel bad for you. Parroting off the garbage that durianrider is ranting about is just...smh...

RyanH
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by RyanH

To the OP, buy a cannondale evo HM and get a new one every year under warranty.

I don't think any particular brand is going to guarantee the peace of mind you're looking for. If you're the type that destroys bikes somehow then just treat them as disposable and cycle through them. Any other anecdote like: "my friend has roughly 90k miles on his tarmac" isn't relevant to you. What your real question is and no one will likely have the answer is: does anyone have a tendency to break bikes but found a brand that they can't break?

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pdlpsher1
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by pdlpsher1

RyanH wrote:
Tue Jun 25, 2019 4:47 am
pdlpsher1 wrote:You know, the ex-pro that puts out 7w/kg.
It's bad enough that Durian rider is an asshat and can't do basic math but if you can't critically assess the information (garbage) he's spewing then I feel bad for you. Parroting off the garbage that durianrider is ranting about is just...smh...
My comments about DurianRider and quoting what he said was said with tongue-in-cheek. Yeah, most of his videos are click baits and garbage.

spdntrxi
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by spdntrxi

Get a Parlee Z0 or something.. lifetime warranty.
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