Why a beater?
 

With the changing of the seasons, I've noticed a variety of new threads discussing foul-weather/"beater" bikes as contrasted with fair-weather/"nice" bikes. Since I'm a bit suspicious of the whole notion of a "beater" bike (the red-headed stepchild in the family), I was curious about when, and why, you would want to keep and use one. I'm assuming that the basic criteria for being a "beater," broadly speaking, are:

1) Worn, old, or otherwise abused frame, wheels, components, etc.;
2) An unwillingness on the owner's part to lavish much time or resources on maintenance.

My question, then, is this: Under what conditions would you want to use a bike that meets these criteria? If you use such a bike, why? It's pretty clear, for instance, that you'd have good reason to use one if you commuted to work in NYC and had no alternative to locking up your bike outside. I can store my bike in my office, so I don't face this kind of problem. And I don't think of my commuter bike (which soldiers on through New England summers and winters and everything in between) as a beater at all.

So: Why a beater?

A beater can just be as simple as being used or pre-owned like my $35 yard sale find that would cost over $500 new to replace it. My so called "good bike" was a large chunk of cash (for me) and the thought of slush and road salt,,, EeeeK! My $35 beater is a great bike but still $35.

Much less fear of it getting stolen/stripped. I use my beater bike for errands around town and whenever I have to park it to a parking meter in urban areas.

I would hesitate to park a $1000+ bike outdoors unattended for over 2 hours in an urban area.

If I could easily and safely store my bike in my office, I'd definitely ride the nicest bike that I could for my commute. But even so, it's nice to have a beater if you live within 3-5 miles of a lot of places that you frequent a lot.

I have a fair weather bike and a winter/all purpose bike. I don't refer to the winter bike as a beater in general but I wouldn't be offended if someone called it that. It also doesn't fit your definition real well because I spend way more time maintaining it than I do my fair weather bike. But it is an old bike with old components. Components which I can cheaply replace with other old components. Exposure to large amounts of road salt and sand is tough on a bike.

Other than the fact that I ride it in the winter and refuse to be bothered to clean it off every time I ride through some junk, I don't really abuse it. I recently got Campy shifters for both my fair weather bike and my winter bike but elected to put the newer ones on the winter bike so it's not as though I'm completely unwilling to spend money on it.

I use a 13 year old mountain bike during the winter. It is old and worn, but still gets its share of TLC, because I need it to stay rideable. I wouldn't take my new bike out in winter because the slush and road salt and crap would gum everything up and wear it down prematurely.

I have one that I use when going out at night. I can lock it up in any neighborhood and not have to worry about it because if it's stolen, I haven't lost a ton of money on it. Also, it isn't a valuable or attractive bike, so I'm hoping it would be less of a target to bike thieves. In my case, my beater fits your first criterion, in that it's an old frame with a mix of old and some new parts. But it doesn't really fit your second criterion because I do maintain it and give it a good amount of attention, since I ride it quite a bit.

One important note is that I really like to ride it! Being a beater doesn't mean it can't be really enjoyable to ride. If it isn't, it's probably not going to be in my stable for long.

I ride a beater because.... I just don't have anything nice. :D

I have a 2009 Schwinn Cutter ss which isn't practical for 17 miles each way wiht hills. My next newest bike is 15 years old. Except for the Cutter, I haven't paid more than $100 for any of my bikes. For what I use them for, I can't see why it would be worth it.

A week ago I couldn't have answered this question. I'd been riding the bike I got in 2007. But now I have a brand new bike, which I'm not ready to subject to the elements if I can help it. Today, for example, I rode my beater bike (the 2007) since thunderstorms were in the forecast. Turns out it didn't rain, but that's beside the point.

As far as it getting stolen, I can say I will take every bit as much precaution with the beater as I do with any other bike. I don't want to lose it. Then I'd have to use the new bike in foul weather.

But I don't know that it meets either of your criterion for being a beater.

That's my story.

I should add that even though I may differentiate between my bikes by calling one the fair weather bike and the other my foul weather bike, in a way that's doing both of them a disservice. My "fair weather bike" is the one I ride from April through November regardless of weather unless we're talking about icy roads or deep snow. I'll also ride my "foul weather bike" on nice days once in awhile for a change of pace.

Any bike can be a beater. A beater is simply a bike you beat on, mercilessly.

Commuting over the winter (in areas that actually have winter) takes a serious toll on a bike. The salt/ice melt corrodes the components. The crashes scratch up the paint, break plastic parts and rip seats. I could work on fixing everything up only to have it destroyed again next winter, or I could call it my "beater" and hang it on the wall while I ride a nicer bike during the fair weather months.

I built my "FrankenVega" exactly for the purpose of taking the brunt of bad weather commuting days and also for shopping trips and other outings where I have to leave it locked up (unlike at work, which is a secure campus). It is differentiated from my other two road bikes by having a slightly heavier, touring frame (for the shopping loads), fenders, canti brakes for better wet braking, and relatively less collectible and sentimental value, as well as having a beat-up looking frame that is relatively less attractive for theft.
However, mechanically, it is every bit as good as my other bikes. This is important for a 28 mile round-trip commute.

The word that comes to mind for me is salt.

I ride 10 miles each way to work year round and I'm in Minnesota. I didn't want to trash my "nice" single-speed Surly this winter, so I converted a 20 year old mountain bike to an appropriately geared single-speed, threw on some studded tires, and rode it like I stole it.

Now it's "nice" out again and I feel like I am flying with 28's on the Surly......

The only reason I would ride a beater is if i couldn't have a secure area for my bicycle.

Thanks for the replies. Perhaps I've underestimated the scourge of road salt. I live around the corner from a DOT "barn" piled high with the stuff, so I'm aware of it; and our roads received a good bit of it over the winter -- but probably little in comparison with you folks in Canada and the Upper Midwest. Does road salt accelerate the wear on your drivetrain and other components in a way that you can't control by regular cleaning and maintenance? (As I suggested in my original post, I'm not sure I'd want to keep a bike I didn't feel motivated to do regular maintenance on.)

IMO, a beater isn't a bike that is ill maintained or abused, it's simply a bike that's scratched up, has lower-end components on it, and is a bike that you don't feel bad about taking out in the weather. That said, I guess that most of my bikes could be considered beaters (due to age and paint quality); however, the vast majority of them have mid to high end components...just components that are 15-20 years old! lol

As for a commuter, I go between three bikes (although here, it's 2) - a Phillips 3 speed, a Univega Activa with drops and 38c tires, and now, a '90 Fuji Palisade. They're all good, solid, very well maintained bikes, but they're older and, given my dirt road commute, rather dusty, even though they all get a wipe down once a week.

And yes, road salt is the devil. I can ride one of my derailer bikes (probably the 'Vega) 7 miles to work through snow and slush, let it sit in front of my desk, and by the time I go home (7-9 hours), I have to re-oil the chain because it is so squeaky from being eaten by salt. Every year I need to replace the chain on that bike after the snow stops. The Phillips fairs a bit better, but being that it has steel rims, you do have to watch for rust appearing on the wheels. This is with my once a week chain oiling regimen.

I've got a secure area for my bikes. Essentially a closet. My good bikes go in there.
My junker leans against a tree out front at night with only a rear wheel lock which I sometimes neglect to close.
That bike is always ready to go in 2 seconds. Manky panniers ready to receive whatever I toss into them. I feel safe leaving it out front, at the grocery store, movies, restaurant, train station, gallery, bar, concert, beach...
Didn't cost me much. If it's gone when I come back, big whup.

It's not just the salt, - that's not very effective once it gets below 15 degrees. They put heaps of sand on the roads too. To minimize the effects you have to go well beyond what I would consider regular cleaning and maintenance. Like I said in my first post, I do more maintenance on my winter bike, not less, and still I end up having to replace stuff more often. The other problem regarding maintenance is that it's more of pain to do in the winter. Working on a bike when even the temp in the garage is below freezing isn't always fun.

Given all that, I've been keeping an eye on belt drive bikes. They don't make one yet that I'd consider a good winter bike for my purposes but a Trek Soho isn't far off. Something with internal gearing, roller brakes, and a belt would save me a lot of winter related maintenance headaches. It needs to have clearance for at least a 40 mm tire and fenders though. So if such a bike comes a long, it may be that my winter beater becomes the newer and more expensive of my two bikes.

I just spent $300.00 on repairs to my "beater", new wheels, new BB, brakes, chain etc. Ironically, the bike was a freebie. But this major tuneup was a thank you to it for 5 years of hard service. So its a beater not because its in bad shape. Though it is a 20 year old Hard Rock dressed up for commuting. It's a beater because it's got a low enough profile to spend a day locked up in some less than stellar neighborhoods and still be there when I come back.

As tjspiel pointed out, the sand can be as nasty as the salt. Furthermore, both of them are lying around in abundance and can coat every part of the bike even on a perfectly dry day. I suppose I could reduce the wear rate by cleaning the entire drivetrain every day, but that just doesn't seem worth the hassle. Better to stick to inexpensive drivetrain parts and just replace them frequently. There's still plenty of regular maintenance required for reliability--lots of lubing to make sure things don't freeze up, and I usually bring the bike in for a thaw/drivetrain clean every couple of weeks.

Besides, with winter fat, heavy gloves, and heavy studded tires, any bike I ride in the winter will feel sluggish.

Maintenance issues aside, I'd still probably have separate summer and winter/offroad bikes. There's no reason I couldn't use my winter bike all year. I can put 23 mm tires on it if I really want to and even though it's a "beater" in some respects, it's not a bad looking bike. When it's shined up, alot of people would prefer it over my summer bike.

However, my preferred summer commute bike is one that's primarily about road performance with maybe a few token nods towards utility. It would be hard to find a single bike that didn't compromise either on summer speed or winter stability and traction.

Yup.. rode my 20 year old Huffy MTB this winter, and it did great. I'm going to keep an eye out at garage sales for a spare or two, as it looks like my drivetrain will probably only last a few seasons. It's cheaper to buy a new bike at $20 from a garage sale than replace components, and I don't have to clean the drivetrain every day.

I'm not even sure cleaning the drivetrain every day would be enough. Besides, it would get expensive as I'd have to use petroleum based products to clean it since the water would freeze and cause all other kinds of issues.

For me, "beater" has nothing to do with bad vs. nice weather. It has to do with where I'll be locking it up and for how long.

I'll lock the beater ('88 Trek 400, salvaged from a dumpster, $100 invested in the repairs) downtown at Pike Place and not worry about it.
There are some control stops where I bring my brevet/commuter inside the store with me because I won't leave it out of my reach for 2 minutes.

My beater is just the bike that I like to beat around on the most ;)

http://www.chipcom.net/bikes/bianchi_x.jpg

I got the original bike out of someone's trash...the only things still original are the frame, handlebars and cantis.

Emphasis added.

I could never understand this sentiment. Is not cycling an outdoor sport? Do they not host bicycle races in the rain?

Heck, there are entire classes of events that are more or less designed to be run in less-optimal weather, like cyclocross.

^^^ What he said! I love em all the same, some just shine a little more!

My only bike is a beater. By this I mean it's old, the components are low-end, and the paint/decals are beat up/chipped/ugly.

I ride it because it's my only bike and it works great. If it didn't work, I would go buy something else. It does work, so I'm saved the hassle of finding a replacement.

I'm beginning to think of the potential theft loss not as "I lost $x dollars" but rather "I lost $X time to replacing this". I almost don't care, really, the cost of a replacement bicycle. It's more about how long I'm going to be out of commission and how long it'll take to get everything back configured right.

^^^ What he said! I love em all the same, some just shine a little more!

Same for me. My "beater" bike is a pretty good Canndale F800 I bought used. I recently posted to another thread:

Before I rode in the rain, it was a game with me: if I rode and it rained, I lost; or if I didn't ride and it stayed dry I lost. Now I win if I ride the appropriate bike and lose if I don't. :rolleyes:

My "beater" is an old Huffy....about 20 yrs old or more. It rides just fine. I commute on it, because I can't take my bike in the building at the office. If somethng were to happen to the Huffy, it wouldn't be as bad as if something happened to my good bike.