Fifty Plus (50+) - How many miles have your bikes seen?

We've chatted about how many miles we put on our bikes, with some members racking up 5,000, 7,000, or 8,000+ miles in single years.

We've chatted about how old some of our bikes are.

I've wondered about how many total miles your bikes have seen. Might be hard to come up with a number for bikes you've purchased used. My last two purchases were of a 6 year old that was said to have approx 800 miles on it (which looked consistent with the wear) and a 6 month old recumbent that was supposedly ridden for about 15 miles before the woman gave up on it.

Do you have 1,000 miles on your bike? 10,000 miles? 40,000 miles?

My "new" bike came with 4,400 miles on it. I've put 2,000 miles on my MTB, and 1,600, I think, on my used Cypress. So all told about 8,000 miles, not including the two coasters and the single speed Univega I bought and sold.

Do you have 1,000 miles on your bike? 10,000 miles? 40,000 miles?

None of my bikes were new and I haven't had an odometer since 6th grade, but my guesstimates are 50 K miles on my American Eagle/Nishiki 10 speed, 4K on my Specialized Hard Rock mtb/commuter, and about 45 very fun miles on my Giant Stiletto chopper.

About 30,000 on Ribby, my '92 Bridgestone RB-1. Not much on the others.

Most of the time I ride without a computer on the bike(s). The batteries either go flat and I can't be bothered to replace them or the sender unit falls off. Only bike I have a record of is the Road bike I bought last June. This was bought to see what Road riding is all about and to enable me to get out on my own in the evenings. It is too Dangerous to go offroad on your own- thanks to the trails being pretty desolate. Now have 2,783 miles clocked up on the thing. And this is only supposed to be used for solo rides or when the others wimp out

Now the major problem is that I ride a Mountain bike and it does not matter if it is Offroad or on smooth trails or roads. That thing is harder to propel than a road bike. I used to reckon that you can add another 50% to your milage for the extra effort involved in getting the thing moving. On the road bike I average about 15mph but on the MTB it is around 10. I could not imagine doing nearly 3,000 miles on the MTB in 8 months and that is besides the normal rides I have been getting in on the MTB and Tandem.

Only thing I can tell you is that The milage on the road bike has been easy. I do not push myself on it to get 25mph on the flat as we have things called Hills- I conserve most of my energy for them as I know that within 10 minutes I will be finding a 10% hill at minimum that is going to need some effort to get up.

11,264 miles on my Rivendell...since May of 2005

I used to have a Huret Cyclometer, a simple non-computerized device that mounted on the fork, counted miles ridden and nothing else. It was a thrill to see it go from 9999.9 back to zero.

Somewhere along the line, I gave it away and eventually put a computer on my bike. After a season or two, I had to take the computer off. I was spending all my time obsessing about my speed, average speed, top speed, etc. and forgetting about enjoying the ride. Wish I had that old Cyclometer back.

Not enough. ~jg

I keep pretty detailed mileage logs. My newest ride the CF bike just passed the 1000 mark in Jan. The retro steelie has 23,632 miles as of yesterday. The alum touring bike I bought second hand has 7000 miles that I put on (the original owner said he only put on a few hundred(.

We have four bikes too much trouble to break down mileage per bike. I have had 6 tours averaging like 400 miles each. RIght now I ride like about 8500 miles per year. I have been riding since 1994. My best guesstimate is at least 85,000 miles. I put so many miles on my first road bike, a Scott 520, I wore out the frame.

Most of my bikes are relatively low mileage because I switched to bents and had to get all new rides. :)

Seriously, though, The most I ever put on any one bike was around 40,000 miles. It was a 1984 Gianni Motta that finally gave up with a cracked bottom bracket shell. I sold a '92 Santana Noventa a couple of years ago with over 30,000 miles on it. MY current rides have 10,000, 4,000, 2,500, and 1,000 miles on them.

I stopped recording my miles last year, had a little over 205,000 miles at that point, more than half of it on one bike, my 1971 Schwinn Super Sport, which I rode for 30 years from 1971 to 2001. But there wasn't much original on it at the end other than the frame and headset. My newest bike, the cute little Mobiky folder has about 30 miles on it. :) My 6 year old PBW has maybe 5 or 6 thousand.

Hey stapfam. This time it is about the bike, not how hard you worked to get the miles.

There's about 10,000 miles on my Specialized Crosroads. The Kettler has about 14,000 miles on it. Since I got the Kettler about six years ago, the Crossroads has only been ridden a few hundred miles a year. I don't keep records, but my commute to work is about a ten mile round trip and I commute by bike every workday.

Paul

Trek 800 Mountain Bike-1200 miles
Trek 5.2 Madone-11,000 miles on the frame/fork but 15,000+ on the wheels and components
Trek 5900-6000 miles
Cervelo P2K-7000+ miles (bought it used)

And while we're talking mileage:
Toyota Previa-438,000 miles-a really, really terrific bike mobile
Toyota 4Runner-205,000 miles
Jeep Cherokee (Black)-135,000 miles
Jeep Cherokee (Red)- 120,000 miles

5.5 months last year, 2100 miles on Trek FX 7300.

I used to have a Huret Cyclometer, a simple non-computerized device that mounted on the fork, counted miles ridden and nothing else. It was a thrill to see it go from 9999.9 back to zero.

Somewhere along the line, I gave it away and eventually put a computer on my bike. After a season or two, I had to take the computer off. I was spending all my time obsessing about my speed, average speed, top speed, etc. and forgetting about enjoying the ride. Wish I had that old Cyclometer back.

Agree with this experience/observation completely. I use a window on my Vetta unit that shows time-o-day, total accumulated miles on the bike, and heart rate in BPM...if I choose to wear my heart rate monitor, which I usually don't any more.

This limited input gives me the freedom to "just ride," but have some idea where I'm at. More interesting than nothing at all, but not enough info to distract me from having fun...

Agree with this experience/observation completely. I use a window on my Vetta unit that shows time-o-day, total accumulated miles on the bike, and heart rate in BPM...if I choose to wear my heart rate monitor, which I usually don't any more.

This limited input gives me the freedom to "just ride," but have some idea where I'm at. More interesting than nothing at all, but not enough info to distract me from having fun...



Big Paulie, isn't it wonderful having "some idea" of where you're at nowadays? Sounds like you're putting your Day Pass to good use, out there on a bike. Good for you! :D

Well this gives me a chance to revert to my other pass time, record keeping. We begin my current bike riding phase in June 2004 with purchase of a LandRider autoshift bike. weeeoooo Put 382 miles on that puppy till July 2005, when it was sold at ebay. Replacement in July 2005 was a brand new Trek 7200FX Hybrid. While that bike currently gathers dust, it does contain the most miles at 1414. I've been preferring road bikes converted to flat bars. Used Trek 1000 bought Nov 2005 has 881 miles and I'm currently trying to fit 700c x 28mm tyres on it for use as my new trail bike. The used Cannondale R800, aka Cheese Cannon I bought Aug 2006 accumulated 291 miles before I retired it and put parts on my new bike, just completed last night. Reset odo, that bike starts with 0.

So that works out to 2968 miles total in 2 1/2 years (Take winter off). If all goes well this year, should almost double that.

A question. How many miles or years would you expect to get out of a frame. Should a frame last forever.

+6,100 miles on my Merlin Cyrene as of yesterday. The bike it replaced had almost 30,000 before it bit the dust. I swapped the components to a Lemond Steel crash replacement frame that has about 2,500 miles. My Pocket Rocket has about 2,000 miles so far.

I'm really the rookie here by a good margin. I bought the bike in May of 06 and by back calculating, I'm guessing it's somewhere around 1800. 215 since I put the computer on it after Christmas. I guess I'm such a rookie that the bike computer is only mildly interesting other than knowing how fast (slow?) I'm going at the time and the odomoter function. But mine is pretty basic, a cateye micro wireless. For which I'm probably grateful in the end.

I've had this one year, 4800 miles and counting!!
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d126/telehammer/dale5.jpg

A question. How many miles or years would you expect to get out of a frame. Should a frame last forever.

Interesting question. I bought my first road bike in 1977. It's still rolling. I've got a 1960-something Raleigh three speed, which is also still quite roadworthy. I've never actually had a frame wear out.

My first bike, a Bianchi Eros had about 12,000 on it when I bought my Giant OCR2 Comp. It has just shy of 9000 on it. This over a 56 month period.
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k87/tomfrady/GiantFramedWinCE.jpg

I bought a Schwinn Super Letour in 1978. Although I still have it, it has been replaced in fall of '05. Figuring at least 1000 miles per year works out to about 28,000 miles. It is still mostly original. It was a true transportation bargin.

Interesting question. I bought my first road bike in 1977. It's still rolling. I've got a 1960-something Raleigh three speed, which is also still quite roadworthy. I've never actually had a frame wear out.
My Scott needed some work on the drive train. It was difficult to adjust, so said the mechanic. THe mechanic put enough weight on the frame to flex it. It was never wrecked or anything like that. But. it's horizontal allignment was off. It probably had at least 60,000 miles on it. It was steel.

After the ride this morning, my bike has 88.0 miles on it. There are also loose spokes in the rear wheel. I'm trying to contact the dealer about whether he fixes this or it's on me. I've heard that machine built wheels can do this.

My 1971 American Eagle Semi-Pro (Nishiki Competition) finally cracked at the BB shell after about 40k mi / 65k km and 20 years.

My bike as seen 0 miles. It has no eyes!

Know a guy that has 50,000 plus on a Religh R700.

We have been tandem enthusiasts since 1974. Here are the mileages we've accumulated on the following custom tandems that we designed/rode:
Assenmacher: 64,000 miles
Colin Laing: 56,000 miles
Co-Motion 57,000 miles
These 3 tandems were sold, and more of miles put on them by the 'new' owners
Zona carbon fiber tandem is our current ride: so far 13,000+ miles
Have also ridden 30+ other brands/models of tandems throughout the years, some for a few miles some for a couple thousand miles.
Quality lasts . . .

I split my total yearly mileage fairly evenly between my two bikes.
My average mileage over the years is about 8K miles per year.
My 1996 built bike has about 42000 on it but some of the components
go back 30 years (Campy S. Record) and they have over 130000 miles on them.
My 2000 built bike has just about 26000 on it.

I've only put about 4,000 total on my two bikes in the last 3 1/2 years, with about half of that being in the last nine months. The passion is growing, I will be absolutely awestruck if I get to 5,000 in a year, just as I am with all of you, as you do that and more.

When I started riding in 1996 I couldn't make it around the block more than twice. I average about 6000 miles a year now, and that really feels good to me. In 2005 I rode 1000 miles a month for 4 months straight, and that was just too much cycling. I was always tired, my bike seemed like an adversary, and even watching the TDF seemed tiresome.

My point is that everyone has a set point, mileage-wise, that is the most fun for them.

I have three bikes with odometer readings of 7500 on the Klein Mantra, 8000 on the Klein Palamino, and 4800 on my road bike, a Klein Aura. So that is 20,000+ since 1998. My goal is to equal around the world miles, 27,500. I should be able to do it in about three years at age 72.

I think as of Saturday, I have put 1237 on my Kaitai since last April.
About 120 miles a month or so... but they've been challenging miles.

About 19,000 miles on the Merlin.

Well, let's see,

My Trek 520 is about 2 years old. I've ridden it about 2000 miles. Additionally, it's gone about 3000 miles on rack on the back of the Jeep and about 12000 miles in the storage compartment of our motorhome. So, that's 17,000 miles in two years. Hoping to do more miles this year.

1998 Cannondale T1000 New 1999 30,000 + Miles

Well, let's see,

My Trek 520 is about 2 years old. I've ridden it about 2000 miles. Additionally, it's gone about 3000 miles on rack on the back of the Jeep and about 12000 miles in the storage compartment of our motorhome. So, that's 17,000 miles in two years. Hoping to do more miles this year.

I was waiting for this kind of response from the very start, even before I finished my first post, I expected.

But I expected it first from DG or Big Paulie. I am very disappointed in them.

I was waiting for this kind of response from the very start, even before I finished my first post, I expected.

But I expected it first from DG or Big Paulie. I am very disappointed in them.

I was taught to share.

I was waiting for this kind of response from the very start, even before I finished my first post, I expected.

But I expected it first from DG or Big Paulie. I am very disappointed in them.

Yeah, I was kinda surprised at all the serious answers too. Figured the big dogs had a better field to play in, so I did what I could to play the part.

Actually, I have no idea how many miles the 520 has on it because it spent its first year odometerless. My other bikes have lots of miles on them too. Only my Lemond Zurich has been equipped with distance measuring equipment since it was a pup on LBS showroom floor. The others, not really necessary. For me it's time on the bike, not miles. One serious machine is enough. And besides that, I've been riding the same loops for so long I've got the mileage memorized.