Originally Posted by
Gramercy
From my limited experience, it seems that almost everyone has a very new bike: manufactured in the past two or three years with high end equipment. I'm wondering if racers in general purchase bikes every few years or if they tend to just upgrade components/wheels.
Do people usually get rid of their older bikes or do they keep them? Would you buy a used bike and race on it? I feel that people that race and train seriously put a lot of miles on their bikes/wheels but it still seems difficult to find reliable places to purchase used equipment. Maybe because they are more prone to crashes and damage?
I'm also surprised that there aren't more bikes on the road that are 5+ years old - do they turn into trainer/beater bikes? Do racers get the upgrade bug and have to buy the latest bike? I know with 11 speed being relatively new maybe there was an influx of new purchases recently, and it's going to level off in the next few years.
Nope. One race and in the trash.
My current frame is 6 years old. Everything else has been replaced/upgraded. It's a reasonably aero frame and it's light. My sense is that you're thinking in terms of all or nothing. Modern road bikes are pretty elementary to wrench on.
Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a training bike and a race bike, but at least having just one keeps me on top of maintenance (cassettes, cables, chain, etc.) and has forced me to be more of my own mechanic. If I had a spare and something went wrong before a race or ride I would be more apt to roll on the other bike, and leave the broken one languishing. In my situation if I can't fix it I have to wait days to have a shop do it.
One last bit, the bike-at-cost-or-less deal is awesome. Plenty of guys I ride with are a Giant sponsored team and they can basically get a new bike each year and then at the very least break even the next year, whilst always on something new and shiny each year.