juls

I stand on one speeds/because I have to-my multi geared bikes are for staying in the saddle

Fast Cloud

^^^ This...but just the brakes mainly.

JohnnyBee

I'm not afraid to hammer on many of my old bikes. But, I make sure my bars are recent and
strong enough to take the yanking and pulling up on. Beware of ripping on vintage alloy
stems as well ... Aluminum does have a rate of fatigue, and you do NOT want to have
a catastrophic failure while pulling hard on a full-bore sprint.

Johnnybee.

ciocc_cat

My 1980s Ciocc is as stout as ever, so I hammer. To do less would be an insult to a fine bike and a great frame builder.

redxj

270lbs and stand and climb/sprint all the time.

Kommisar89

I don't worry too much about them on normal decents but decending Pikes Peak I was white knuckled and stopping to check the brakes after every two switchbacks. If I could have crossed my fingers I would have The rims were too hot to touch with bare hands but the brakes held.

RobbieTunes

I hammer as hard as I can, mash a lot, and the bikes take it. I can squat 400 5-10 times before I almost pass out.

I have broken two frames in my life, both on intense climbs, and both were Trek aluminums back in the mid 80's.
Trek fixed them both under warranty, but the bike shop refused to sell me another one back then. They will now.

My C&V bikes are pretty quiet bikes. My Kestrel and the Y-Foil did make some strange noises under major power.
In my experience, the wheels tend to take the beating. I've finished a couple of climbs with rear wheels out of true.

Collin's point about the QR is very valid. You really start to torque a bike, you'd better have the QR's tight.
Failure to do so is a very sudden stop when the chainstay, usually the L, becomes an outstanding caliper.
You are going down, and if you're clipped in, this is a classic collarbone crisis.

If I was nervous in any way about the issue, I'd get a different bike to ride, or maybe try an outboard BB crankset.

3speedslow

My old C & V were made for leisure travel, so no hammering, standing out or up off the saddle. The geometry is not right for that Yes, I do think they could take it, I think they are better made than what's being offered new.

nlerner

Sometimes.

RFC

Of course.

Henry III

My bikes all get the same beating. I build the oldies to be just trailer queens or neighborhood cruisers. I think I almost feel the opposite with my carbon road bike to my C&V's. I treat that thing like if I look at it wrong it's going to shatter. I always hang it up or put it in my work stand cause I fear it falling in the garage.

Velognome 

As I'm getting older, I sit and spin more often. ( not so much in a hurry anymore) This morning I was out of the saddle on a climb and realized how I've been babying my older rides and myself!

Drillium Dude 

Translation:

"I hammered TODAY!"

If the pros could do it to the stuff I ride on - and not break it - I don't think my stuff has anything to fear from my soon-to-be-forty-six-years-old self

Do I hammer? You better believe it.

DD

Collin2424

Very much agree. I'm not sure whether it was worn teeth on the QR clamp or if it was too rusty for me to get enough tension on it, but it wasn't fun. I didn't go over the handlebar, but I left a nice 20 foot long skid mark. Luckily it was in a public place where only about 30 people saw (and chuckled).

Robbie, you rode/ride one of those Y-Foil things? Oh man, I don't have the guts to!

-Collin-

rhm

+1.

GamleOle

Me too.

If my bike, or its parts, are going to break, I prefer it to happen when I am at my slowest.

Can't really say I stand up and hammer, but I try. :-)

robtown

I gear down and end up standing before I reach the top.

OP - My weight punishes the bike and it fights back. I keep my bikes in good shape and they hold up well. I don't have any display units.

Captain Blight

I beat them like they owe me money for drugs.

prettyshady

+1
If I was scared the stand up and 'mash' a bike, I would not want to be out on the road on it!

repechage

I use my equipment as hard as I can push it. that written, I do check things, Most of possible problems have shown up during a cleaning / polishing snit. The hairline crack in a Cinelli stem (real bummer, an early one with the nutted closure of the bar clamp and pre anodizing) a crack in a Nisi rim at a spoke, (why I like eyelets) tracing down that creak in the bars when I take off from a stoplight... (the brake lever to bar).

Also, I knock off the crown race when I repack a headset, inspection is easy. On a number of bikes I now have a service log, makes me remember how long things have been together. Too many bikes to trust a memory to keep it all straight.

Captain Blight

Service log!! GREAT BIG BRAIN, repechage!!

Fantastic idea. I shall start one tonight.

YoKev

this

Italuminium

Yes. That's what they are built for. I also trust my '90 Giant triple butted chromo bike more when punishing it then my modern "let's see how much we can thin these tubes" alloy bike.

jan nikolajsen 

The classic frames I have all have years of potentially harsh use before I acquired them. But it's steel; easy to inspect, slow to fail. In other words very little worry.

Now, aluminum components are a different story. Old anodized rims, Campy NR/SR cranks, that Cinelli stem we all know about, those have made me hold back a degree or two climbing, and especially descending.

rekmeyata

I hammer mine, why not? Their probably stronger then the new ones! I rode most of mine of mine up down the mountains of S California without a thought or a worry about breaking something. Heck one of my bikes has over 150,000 miles on it and about 2/3rds of those miles is mountains with about a third of it racing, and it's still going strong today. Funny thing, the only bike I ever broke was a Klien aluminum racing rig that fatigued at the head tube and cracked after just around 20,000 miles, I will never buy another aluminum bike.