The Chainlink

At What Point Does a Bike Become a 'New' Bike?

So here's an interesting question for you to ponder:

When, in the course of modifying and changing your bike, does it cease to be the same bike?  Where does the soul of a bike live?  At what point does it become a 'new' bike? 

 

Case in point my commuter bike, I think it is still the same bike even after changing out almost every part on it.

 

I rescued it from a basement clean out in 2009.  It was a German made commuter bike from, probably, the 70's.  It was a 1x5 with cottered cranks and mustache bars.

 

A bit of work, a basket and some new tires turned it into a pretty decent commuter bike.

 

 

After a pretty bad wreck I had to do some rebuilding to correct a bent fork and destroyed wheel.  Alex at WTB built a set of wheels for me and with the addition of a new fork I was back on the road.  At the same time I upgraded the crank, brakes, added a double in the front and a derailleur.  I also upgraded to some better bars and revised my baskets. 

 

I rode it like that for quite a while; it was a really practical bike and really helped me to start using a bike for everything.  After about a year like that I decided to change it over to drum brakes and a three speed partially to make it more weather proof but also because I wanted indestructible wheels.  I built wheels myself to 29er rims, revised some baskets and had pretty great bike unlike any thing out there.

 

As awesome as the bike was at this point I was really missing the wider range of gears.  After a few months like this I started to miss the wider range of gearing.  I also managed to break the rear rack and crack the brake bridge on it carrying 60 pounds of cat litter in the basket.  Only solution was a new frame which is also a better fit to me, as well as a better rack; while I was at it I decided to add a two speed crank in order to get back a wider range of gearing.  Everything was switched over but the fork which would not work with the new frame.  At this point the only part left over from the original bike is the stem. The completed bike is an amazing commuter and grocery bike.  I could not be happier with the end result.

 

Os is it still the same bike or is it a new one? 

 

I still think of it as the same bike.  When I started this whole thing I set out to build my ideal commuter and grocery bike and I am still on that path.  The bike itself, while now completely different from the start has reached that through a series of smaller changes over the last 3 years. Plus it's still a shitty gray bike so there's that...

 

What do all of you think?  Is it the same bike or not?

 

 

 

 

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Gort 12-mile Pinklegneep on November 1, 2011 at 10:52pm
object permanence is an illusion.
Permalink Reply by S.Presley☠ on November 1, 2011 at 11:31pm
I agree that the frame is the soul of the bike.

Jeff Schneider said:
The bike is the frame.  Everything else is a consumable.
Permalink Reply by Steve Courtright on November 2, 2011 at 8:22am

I see what you are getting at, I think.  What you think of as your bike is a construct in your mind, not an assembly of separate components.  You can change the components but the thing you ride and the thing you perceive as the bike as a whole is still there and in its essence unchanged.  So, it's still the same bike.

 

This is fun.

Permalink Reply by mindfrieze on November 2, 2011 at 9:41am

I suspect the bike is potentially even more ephemeral than the frame.  I submit for your consideration; the paint is the bike.

 

If you were to take that same bike and paint the frame a bright new color, would it not be a new bike?  Would it not have a new soul? 

Jeff Schneider said:

The bike is the frame.  Everything else is a consumable.
Permalink Reply by UV Metal Arts - Powder Coating on November 2, 2011 at 10:08am

 


mindfrieze said:

I suspect the bike is potentially even more ephemeral than the frame.  I submit for your consideration; the paint is the bike.

 

If you were to take that same bike and paint the frame a bright new color, would it not be a new bike?  Would it not have a new soul? 

Jeff Schneider said:

The bike is the frame.  Everything else is a consumable.
Permalink Reply by Steve Courtright on November 2, 2011 at 10:33am
Excellent reference, thank you.

Luke Hannafin said:
Permalink Reply by Moc Artsy on November 2, 2011 at 11:09am
I have replaced all the components on my urban touring bike with Deore XT and now the components are too good for the frame. The next step (of course) will be to replace the frame, which is nearly a literal realization of Theseus' ship, or the more familiar axe head/axe handle paradox.
Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on November 2, 2011 at 12:24pm
Paint it, then it becomes perceptibly new.
Permalink Reply by Bikefreeek on November 2, 2011 at 12:57pm
I think it's interesting to be obsessed with one single bike (and whether it's the same bike after a certain amount of work). Dug, I think you're well on your way to where I find myself, continually building the same few bikes (or really style of) over and over again.
Permalink Reply by LarryN on November 2, 2011 at 7:23pm
Suppose you kept the swapped out parts from the original (including the damaged ones). You could reassemble them back together. Wouldn't that be closer to the 'same' (original) bike, with just the stem being different?
Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on November 2, 2011 at 8:35pm

I've never thought about this before, but I would say it's the same bike until every original piece on the bike has been replaced with a "new" one.  

 

Nice looking bike, btw.  I have to get a new set of handlebars for my road bike like that.    

Permalink Reply by ilter on November 2, 2011 at 9:45pm

this is such a refreshing topic :)

for me the soul is still there if the frame has similar geometry so it feels similar on the road.

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