canklecat

I'm trying to remember who said something like "Why bother unless you're trying to snap off the pedals?"

At 61, my window of opportunity for doing more damage to the bike than to myself is rapidly closing.

I got the Ironman to do that. To push myself and the bike harder. That's why I gripe about it so much, because I don't like any nitpicking flaw that interferes with those workout rides. And now that it seems to be working well I can do that.

But I think the pedals and cranks are safe from being snapped. My weight is down to 155 and while I can make the frame flex a bit on sprints I doubt anything will break. According to Strava my hardest sustained 30 second sprint/climb averaged 379 watts and peaked at 733. I still struggle to sustain 300 watts for more than a few minutes. My average over 20-30 miles is usually around 150 watts. I'm pretty sure the bike can handle my modest efforts.

But I don't ride my '92 Univega Via Carisma that way. I got it for comfortable casual cruises on rest days and when the back and neck are aching. It's already survived being hit by a car (only the wheels were damaged -- and my shoulder). So I doubt I can break it.

Lascauxcaveman 

Beleri bars, stock on an '85 Trek 600; non-sleeved, flimsy, light weight things, and you're asking for trouble if you treat them wrong at age 35+

I know better now, and I'm phasing out (or at least treating more gently) all my old non-sleeved bars. The stem is probably an SR or something: I'm not worried about it - yet.

ExPatTyke

All my bikes get ridden hard - sportives, commuting, Sunday rides.

I've only broken one so far - handlebar on the Gitane snapped off on the way home from work one evening last winter. I posted about it here at the time, but I'll repost a photo:-

RiddleOfSteel

As an owner (or steward) of many Racer McRacerFace bikes, and at 6'5" 210-215, having had a history of running track in school (ok, Uncle Rico, how long ago was 2003???), sprints and out of saddle climbing is fun and I do take part in it. Race bikes get to play race bike, and I've laid plenty of weight and power into a number of mine, pulling on the handlebars as well. Many respond beautifully, some tell me it's unnecessary, and I think the only one I'm conscious of not trying to yank into a pretzel is my '87 Schwinn Prologue. Not because it's weak or flimsy, but because its character and the way it flexes/winds up tells me violent twisting doesn't make it go any faster. My Davidson Impulse loves it, my Masi Nuova Strada really digs it, my Cannondales (SR and ST) laugh, and a few others say 'sure, but this is ridiculous.'

I ride my bikes, but I'm not a Neanderthal and thus possess mechanical sympathy and a fine sense of feel--to say nothing of not being a masher. I bike and commute in the city, so any bike I ride needs to be up to the task of hacking it up with cars.

It's going to be dry weather in a few days and I'm staring at my '89 Cannondale SR800. It looks so fine, and I want to ride it!!

FlMTNdude

52telecaster

+1

tiredhands 

I like to think that I'm riding hard on the road, but then I go on a club ride. Reality can be brutal.

This ol' Gran Turismo has become my favorite thing to ride on the local singletrack trails, though, and I am not kind to it. I'm a big dude and can put down some torque. But it consistently surprises me, it seems to love its new life as a root-scrabbling Swamp Romper

20grit

I'm a masher. I've yanked my rear wheel forward in the dropouts repeatedly. Which leads me to a point: Modern skewers don't work so well in horizontal dropouts. I have to use old ones, and I'm always paranoid I'm still going to shift the wheel, have it lock against the stays, and put me on my face.

So I mash, but I don't mash that much. But's it's not out of fear of hurting the frame.

PilotFishBob 

My riding hard is someone else's hardly riding. I do what I can.

deux jambes

davester

Absolutely! It's my friends with the modern carbon bikes who are the ones to bail when the going gets tough. When the road turns to dirt and gravel, they turn around lest they "hurt" their bikes while I charge ahead at full speed. Even on the road, I'm much more confident and faster on a bumpy, winding descent than the riders on modern bikes. Even my Cooper, which was freshly restored with new paint and decals two years ago, gets a heavy workout. I rode it almost 3,000 miles and climbed over 300,000 feet (according to Strava) last year. I admit that the first couple of post-restoration scratches were painful, but I'm now past that stage. No babying of my bikes!

Dfrost 

noglider 

Yes, I ride my old bikes hard. I try to treat them harder than I treat my wife. But I'm only 170 lbs and not a very powerful rider, so one person's hard is another person's gentle.

How concerned should I be about riding old aluminum handlebars? There are two gruesome pictures above.

samkl 

non-fixie 

As much as I'm able to. Which isn't very much, I'm afraid. I did manage to break a chain once. Yea!

fietsbob

No, as you are only interested in road vintage bikes , I haven't taken my vintage road bike out in years, It has no mudguards..
[ I put heat treated Nitto Dirt Drop bars that came off an old Bridgetsone MB1 , on my road bike..
so they're a strong handlebar , were a Dealer shop take off, so low hours of use.]

Its raining , now.. so I use the bike with mudguards and lights, instead....






...

northbend 

I've been known to ride hard every now and then. This one is over 80 years old..

Cino descent on my Hobbs (Tim Davis Photo) by NBend, on Flickr

CliffordK

My old bike grew old with me.

I bought it used, and so it was over a dozen years old when I got it. And, now the frame has about a half century on it, although a few parts here and there have been changed over the years.



I'll admit, I have divided my attention a bit, so that one gets sidelined some, but it still gets out.





Ok, so I like NDS photos.

Vintage Colnago Super (1968 or 1969)

kcblair

Sure do, never gave it any thought . They have been up kept and even upgraded over the years. And stored inside. KB.

jethin

deux jambes

belacqua

awesome. my kind of build.

CliffordK

Actually, I wasn't using the blue Colnago nor the Burley trailer when I picked up the frames.

I'm pretty sure it was the Tricross + Avenir trailer.

I did have the Schwinn trailer in Eugene briefly this summer which I was pulling with the yellow Colnago, but I think that trailer had made its way back to Portland by the time we met.



A little less vintage, but vintage in its own right. I'm a lot more picky about trailer attachments with that bike.

deux jambes

RiddleOfSteel

Many modern skewers are externally cammed as opposed to internally cammed like old Campy and Shimano. Shimano at least still does internal camming. Internal cam skewers clamp and hold much more effectively than external. I ran into the same issues, even without torquing on the cranks. Now I run modern wheels with an appropriate (modern) Shimano internal cam skewer.

Top is internal, bottom is external.