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Woman, 82, still rides same bike she was given at 13
- mooreds 2y agoI still have a t-shirt given to me by my father in 1990. It's a bit threadbare so I don't wear it except around the house, but I enjoy having something that old that I regularly use.
- dn3500 2y agoI am 70 and still have the bike my father bought me when I was 14. I ride it every day. The only original parts are the frame, the rear brake post, and the head bearing nut.
- zikduruqe 2y agoI still have my BMX bike that I purchased in 1985 with my hard earned money from working on the tobacco farms as my youth.
- drzaiusx11 2y agoI'm in my 40s and still ride the bike given to me by a friend in childhood as my primary bike. Everything besides the (slightly modified) steel frame has been swapped out numerous times. I enjoy working on my bikes as they're fairly standard as far as parts go. Swapped the original 26" tires for 640Bs, removed front derailleur for more rear gears, changed hand bars, etc. The bike has grown and changed along with me through the years.
- sexyman48 2y agoThe story makes more sense if "How am I supposed to get home now?" was asked by the suspect to Goosens, not the other way round.
- bcrl 2y agohttps://archive.ph/DQ2mp https://archive.ph/DQ2mp
- ape4 2y agoIts probably better made than a current bike
- Gualdrapo 2y agoThan a current mainstream bike, yes. Otherwise there are plenty of framebuilders doing bikes like in the school days.
- Freak_NL 2y agoThankfully. Azor (NL) and Achielle (BE) to name just two brands available in the Netherlands today. My Achielle is over ten years old now and requires only minimal maintenance. It's also one of the few brands with 70cm frames in their line-up! Great for tall people.
- aziaziazi 2y agoDo they come with steel frame ? Alu has some advantages but is impossible to repair, going right to the bin at first serious crash.
- Freak_NL 2y agoThey do. I have an Achielle Craighton transport bike (with the double horizontal bar). I actually have a photo of it on Wikimedia Commons because I needed it to illustrate a type of bicycle stand: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fixed_bollard_bicycle_stand.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fixed_bollard_bicycl... My wife rides an Azor with a classic 'cross' frame; these are also known as preacher's bicycles, because it (allegedly) allowed them to ride one in a frock without resorting to a ladies bicycle. Both frames have a nice bit of heft, which is really great from a traffic safety standpoint because of the stability you have. https://www.achielle.be/ https://www.achielle.be/ and https://www.azor.nl/ https://www.azor.nl/
- NoGravitas 2y agoYeah, steel is real. Reading between the lines, the frame is one of the only components that has stayed constant over the lifetime of the bike. But then, it's also the one we most strongly associate with the bike's identity.
- pushedx 2y agoI still use the alarm clock that I was given when I was 11. The iPhone alarm will sometimes just go off silently (I've watched it happen), which is my most hated "feature".
- wisemang 2y agoI once missed a flight because of this. I believe it is (or was) linked to the volume level on the phone. And yeah, my decades-old alarm clock remains reliable (though it can be a struggle to remember how to set the time after the power goes out…)
- pushedx 2y agoI've been an iPhone user since 2016, Android before that. After the first few times I encountered the silent alarm problem, I would make sure to unmute the phone before bed, and also max out both the alert volume control and media volume control, simply tanking the sound of the alerts during the night hoping that the alarm would work. Even doing this, I would still watch the alarm go off silently. I'm convinced that this was one of the reasons that the sleep schedule app was created, because they wanted to see if a different team wouldn't introduce the same bug.
- mooreds 2y agoI recently had my alarm clock I was given when I was a teenager fail on me, 30 years later. Even when plugged in, it occasionally turns off. Got a few good decades out of it, though.
- jamal-kumar 2y agoI'm going to guess that would be an easy and cheap fix if it's just a power issue? Wild guess but perhaps just a capacitor finally got spent
- johnisgood 2y agoAlways these pesky capacitors (I had like 3 LCD monitors with a faulty capacitor from prolonged use, it is somewhat of an easy fix, no need to throw away the whole monitor).
- xattt 2y agoIt’s an interesting phenomenon how people go on through life with their belongings and not notice their age.
- kleiba 2y agoMy wife certainly notices the age of some of her belongings, most notably that of her husband.
- guax 2y agoI had a few things I though "when did this got this banged up, I just got it" but it was actually almost a decade old. Usually tools or headphones, rode my QC15 for 7 years before upgrading.
- prepend 2y agoIt’s because they have the same time velocity, you don’t notice it. Like when you’re riding in a car and toss a ball up from your lap. The ball is moving at the same speed as you so you don’t even notice its speed since it travels along with you.
- tacoman 2y agoI have some Prana pants that I really like, but don't wear too often. Recently someone asked me where I got them and I said, "hmm maybe 5 years ago at MEC." A month later I came across a picture of me wearing those same pants on a fishing trip 16 years ago.
- xattt 2y agoIt doesn’t help that a lot of modern synthetic fabrics hold up really well until small wear/tear of the fabric suddenly adds up to look tattered. Also, shopping at MEC 16 years ago was a different time.
- justmarc 2y agoThe e-bike trend will only accelerate getting out of shape while people like this one will stay in good shape much longer. While having a few advantages, it's not universally great.
- bluGill 2y agoEbikes enable trips that are a bit too far on a normal bike and so enable more fitness.
- bossyTeacher 2y ago> Ebikes enable trips that are a bit too far on a normal bike and so enable more fitness Just because an ebike can go further does not mean they are mostly used in that way. The proper thing to say is that bikes enable unfit people to go further than they could with a normal bike. Most fit people can cycle distances that ebike readers wouldn't do even if the bike can do it. How many people travel across cities with an ebike?
- seadan83 2y ago> Most fit people can cycle distances that ebike readers wouldn't do even if the bike can do it. How many people travel across cities with an ebike? What types of distances are you thinking of? 'Most fit people's feel is a bit ambiguous since we are likely speaking about less than one third of the population (at least in the US). Cross town trips seem to be a place where e-bikes shine IMO. At least gauging by the anecdata that e-bike commuters in the last 15 years have gone from rare to occasionally to the majority of bicycle commuters (at least on many days, and along my commute route, that is not the best connected and is at least 6 miles one way)
- thaumasiotes 2y agoWhat's "too far" on a bike? Covering distance on a bike is almost zero work. It's work if you need to go up.
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- ytss 2y agoMade me think of the Ship of Theseus https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus but according to the article only a few parts were replaced.
- Freak_NL 2y agoIt's not a broom¹ you know. She won't be replacing the frame, pedals, and handlebar any time soon. In terms of both mass and volume that accounts for most of the bike already. for bicycles the identity seems to be tied to the frame mostly. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUl6PooveJE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUl6PooveJE
- delichon 2y agoI'm in my early sixties. My longest owned possession died last week. It was a dinner plate from the set that my mom served us with growing up. I still used it every day. I put a butter dish down on it a bit too hard and it shattered. Bringing it to the trash can felt like a funeral procession. Somewhere along the line I read advice not to let objects become totems. I heeded that over the years and have let things go when they seemed to acquire power over me. But sometimes I wish I held on to a few more things from sentiment if not practicality.
- xandrius 2y agoNot sure how many pieces it broke into but it could have been a quite interesting project of kintsugi.
- RangerScience 2y agoI’m a lot younger but I think maybe it’s not about not letting objects become totems, but about being deliberate and intentional about which, and why. I have a lot of friends that keep “altars”; collection of objects sacred to them (and objects that are prayers). I think they’re probably right to do so.
- WillAdams 2y agoFor every quality, well-made object there is a point in its existence where it should be evaluated for a transition from usable item to heirloom --- if one chooses to structure their life to include the responsibility and obligation of caring for heirlooms. I have a ceramic milk jug of my great-great-grandfather who was a Civil war veteran (alongside his son) which my daughter will take responsibility for when she gets her first home --- it may be that she will donate it to a library or museum --- her choice. Similarly, I have thousands of books --- my will directs that any which my children do not wish to keep are to be taken to my memorial/funeral service and each person attending will be asked to take at least one, and to relate how they knew me and why they picked the book which they did. (A project for future me is to get acid-free bookplates w/ archival adhesive and apply them to all my books, or maybe I'll just print bookmarks on acid-free paper and put one in each book) Unfortunately, none of the bikes which I had when I was younger survived/were kept (in particular, the Huffy Wind 15-speed had its frame bent on a rainy day because I was never taught to put your foot on the front wheel to slow down) --- currently have two, a folding Montague Swissbike and a Twicycle --- we'll see how they hold up and if I get a third (lusting for a Helix folding bike). Lastly, while I don't have the exact bow (Bear Archery Little Bear) which I got for Christmas when I was 10, I bought one like to it for my son when he expressed an interest in archery, so at least he has that.
- OJFord 2y ago> "[...] A few years ago a new dynamo was put on. The previous one was slipping." That's incredible.
- nox101 2y agoI recently bought an ebike and realized as I bought it that I was buying a bike that had a limited lifespan because I won't be able to replace the batteries once they stop making that model it cost more than 4x my regular bike and that was at 45% of its list price because it was used
- gattilorenz 2y agoBatteries can be refurbished with new cells; a family member had a technician recently did this with an e-bike that was bought more than 10 years ago. In the process the cells chemistry was also changed, which means we have a new charger.
- jwildeboer 2y agoThe legendary Gazelle Toer Populair. Produced since like forever, the classic Dutch bicycle. Guess who is also happy with his Gazelle since many years? Yep, this Dutchie living in Munich, Germany.
- akie 2y agoI bought a second-hand Gazelle in 2003 (for €125 lol), it was briefly stolen in 2010, it moved with me to three different countries, and I'm still using it to this day. I got at least 21 years of use out of a €125 purchase, I'm sure it must be the single best thing I've ever bought.
- gbraad 2y agoI expected this to be you. read this before seeing the username. great bikes.
- dzhiurgis 2y agoGot a gazelle too after living in netherlands. People do not realise how amazing that bike is. It’s like apple or tesla.
- funkyfourier 2y agoThis summer I went through a lengthy process of replacing one of the cogwheels in my Bosch e-bike motor from 2012. The cogwheel is known to break in this revision of Bosch motors, and an improved replica is available on ebay. This cost me totally around €250. Right after that the brakes had to be replaced probably because of hydraulic liquid leakage which was another €400. The miracle is that the battery is still chugging along, my guess is that it must be around 70% capacity compared to new. I do realize this was quite a big gamble since who knows how much longer the battery will last. I wish e-bikes was designed to be more modular and less proprietary so you could easily swap out for example (parts of) the motor and battery for a reasonable sum. As examplified in TFA the frame can last more or less forever and the rest of the parts are changeable and can also last a pretty long time. Next time I get an e-bike I will probably convert an mechanical bike using a Bafang kit or something like that, since they seem to have more of those traits.
- woleium 2y agoBosch is awful. three different mounting arrangements for the same model motor, seemingly just to confuse. Ebikes can be repairable, but a lot of the prefab ones are truly awful, intentionally confusing wiring and controllers that are locked down, etc. Better to build your own, check the endless sphere forums for some good guides. this thread covers why prebuilt ones are unfixable https://endless-sphere.com/sphere/threads/tons-of-dead-1-2-year-old-prebuilt-evs-out-there.125164 https://endless-sphere.com/sphere/threads/tons-of-dead-1-2-y...
- Gud 2y agoAre we in need of a Framework-like company for e-bikes? Or any other industry? Devices built from the ground up to be modular, not because of regulations, but because of market forces?
- Moto7451 2y agoThe original way you built an e-bike was with a motor hub, wires, some sort of speed controller, and a battery pack. You had to figure out what that all meant in practice for your frame of choice but there were several forums for bikes that could help. I’m sure all that is on Reddit now as well. Framework is solving the “I’d like something modular but slicker than a Clevo and with a support line that is willing to go a bit further than selling an ODM unit to a middle man like Sager.” If you don’t know who Clevo is but you know who Framework is, that means Framework’s plan is winning. For E Bikes there are a couple big brands with good support and some boutiques that will take care of you. The big box store stuff using Bosch parts are more of a Wild West.
- amarcheschi 2y agoMy grandfather is still riding his father's bike. I'm not kidding, I don't even know how that bike still manages to remain in one piece. FYI, grandfather is 87, the bike is definitely about the same age
- canadianfella 2y ago[dead]
- bossyTeacher 2y agoIs it the same bike or the same bike frame? Have the wheels, seat not being changed? People often pin a bike's identity on the bike frame
- dylan604 2y agoEven if it were just the same frame, we'd all consider it the same bike.
- amarcheschi 2y agoSame frame. Don't know about the tires and other parts. I think the seat is the same too, since it's basically destroyed leather and rusty rivets
- MYEUHD 2y agoThis reminds me of the Ship of Theseus
- amarcheschi 2y agoSorry it looks like I replied to the other guy too. Same frame and probably same seat
- patall 2y agoFunny that they make an article about this. My grandpa bought his steel frame Diamant race bike at age 14, and is now 82. He doesn't use it for longer trips or when using his trailer (he has an ebike for that) but short trips like to the trains are still riden on it.
- jprete 2y agoWe've been in the mid manufacturing era for quite a while, when every part is engineered to fail the day after the warranty expires. Maybe the idea of a bicycle that can last seven decades is interesting to people.
- ywvcbk 2y agoWhy would a modern bike fail when the warranty expires? If you want a bike that lasts 70 years you either need to be fine with not having much more effective brakes/gearing or just do regular maintenance on it. There are plenty of products (eg. especially cars) that are much, much more reliable than their older counterparts.
- tcfhgj 2y agoBecause it is produced as cheaply as possible to survive the warranty to make most profit. And when a bike costs more, as a layman, you have a hard time judging if it costs more because of more profit or better quality.
- ywvcbk 2y agoI’m not sure I agree with the entire premise. Maybe it’s true about the cheapest bikes but that’s because bikes used to be considerably more expensive on average. If you’re willing to pay the same (inflation adjusted) I think the overall quality is considerably better than 30+ years ago.
- jamal-kumar 2y agoI got injured a couple of times in the past few years enough to need crutches to walk on broken limbs and a neighbor gave me her old 100+ year old wood ones. Found them to be way better than the new aluminium ones that they make now. They may not have any padding at all, and are somewhat heavier, but I just found they were more comfortable to use somehow. The foam padding on the new ones causes chafing and absorbs stuff like your hand sweat which gets really gross in tropical countries. I definitely don't need them anymore but keep them around as a cool antique which I might need again someday and as a reminder that contemporary designs aren't necessarily better... Crazy that they've been in service for longer than anyone alive in my family.
- _yb2s 2y agoI think in general “padding” doesn’t work as well for human bodies as its popularity implies. It feels more comfortable for the first few seconds but less so afterwards. Usually it puts pressure on soft tissues in a way that cuts off blood flow and nerve function, whereas our body is already shaped and evolved to interact properly with firm surfaces with our own padding and bones in just the right places. For example, serious long distance cyclists mostly still use old fashioned hard leather saddles, which case a lot less pain and numbness on a long ride than the modern padded ones.
- quitit 2y agoI see this quite often with gym equipment. If it's designed poorly no amount of padding helps, while better designed equipment may not even have much more than a rubberised pad for grip.
- pandaman 2y agoPadding works very well to dampen vibrations, without it a body part in prolonged contact with a vibrating hard surface will accumulate trauma pretty quickly and will be out of use. The leather bicycle saddles have a similar effect as the leather is not nearly as hard as the seat post or steel rails it stretched between and it's flexible enough to not pass high frequency vibrations from the seat post to the soft tissue. This is also why leather had been used forever as padding on tool handles.
- nightowl_games 2y agoE bikes are such a legal grey area. Personally I think some of them should be categorized as a motorcycle. Some of em really rip!
- jamal-kumar 2y agoOh yeah I have a friend who modded his to go faster and he says he's going faster than the cops driving the speed limit while going down a certain hill on a highway and he's in the bike lane and they can't do shit about it but watch him zip by
- nightowl_games 2y agoI bet they can do something about it.
- gitaarik 2y agoThey should be limited to give assistance up to 25 kph, but many are illegally modified. It is a problem though, so they are working on new regulations for that.
- tim333 2y agoIn the UK up to 15.5 mph counts as a bicycle, faster is supposed to categorise as a motorcycle. Though people of course ignore that, the the police sometimes try to stop them: https://news.sky.com/story/e-bike-seizures-surge-as-police-take-death-traps-off-the-streets-13220763 https://news.sky.com/story/e-bike-seizures-surge-as-police-t... The other bad issue is battery fires - quite a few deaths there.
- dzhiurgis 2y agoWhat is your goal of categorising it differently tho?
- nightowl_games 2y agoRequiring the rider to get a special license, force them to ride on the road and not on paths. If you want a motorcycle, then it should be regulated as a motorcycle.
- District5524 2y agoI am surprised that Gazelle is still such a strong brand and is made in the Netherlands. And also that, in general, bicycle manufacturing is resilient within the whole EU, despite the rising costs people rightfully complain about.
- mpol 2y agoIt is still a strong brand among the middle-aged and older population. It is now owned by Pon Holdings, and Gazelle has been in trouble in the last 20 years, with multiple reorganizsations. Road bikes and mountain bikes have completely gone as a result. Other companies under the Pon umbrella still offer road bikes and mountain bikes, even sponsor pro teams.
- ywvcbk 2y agoDon’t most European manufacturers just buy frames from Taiwan or even China and just combine them with Taiwanese/Chinese/Malaysian parts from SRAM/Shimano? I don’t think a lot of manufacturing is actually done in Europe.
- paganel 2y agoShe got lucky with her knees.
- alamortsubite 2y agoRiding a bike your whole life will do that.
- paganel 2y agoAre you sure? Later edit: From here [1] > Most cyclists experience some knee pain over the course of their riding career. A systematic review and various studies report the incidence of knee pain ranging from 36% to 62%[1] [2]and it is the second most reported overuse injury for cyclists [1] https://www.physio-pedia.com/Cyclist%27s_Knee https://www.physio-pedia.com/Cyclist%27s_Knee
- MiddleEndian 2y agoHypothetically, cyclists could be more likely to have chronic knee injuries than they are to have other chronic injuries, but also still be less likely to have chronic knee injuries (and chronic leg injuries in general) than the more stationary general public.
- alamortsubite 2y agoYes. The article you linked discusses overuse injuries in professional/semi-professional cyclists. In other words, people who compete and train rigorously as cyclists for sport, and who are expected to regularly push their bodies to their absolute maximums. That's why it uses terms like "riding career" and includes references to studies performed on professional athletes. I don't know if you are or have ever been a professional athlete, but that kind of activity is nothing like that described by the OP, which is about a woman who rides a bicycle as part of daily life, like for going to school or to run errands.
- amelius 2y agoYes, bicycles are not iPhones.
- MiddleEndian 2y ago"We should make her swap bikes every year" - People who like forced automatic software updates
- jarule 2y ago[dead]
- tasuki 2y agoHow has it not been stolen yet? (Edit: Just finished reading the article! How has it only been stolen once? ;) When I moved to Amsterdam, my first bike (which I loved!) was stolen in a month. My Dutch acquaintances were not surprised. Getting your bike stolen, way of life...
- Freak_NL 2y agoDepends on both location and how you secure it. Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam, The Hague; yeah, it will get stolen at some point. The rest of the country? Should be fine as long as you always (always) use a cable lock (like those which slot into the regular rear wheel lock) to affix to something unmoveable like a light post, the bicycle stand, or a railing of some kind. Also, don't have an e-bike or something fancy like a VanMoof.
- macinjosh 2y agoI just bought a Lectric brand cargo e-bike. The family loves it for riding to school and nearby trips. The e-bike concept is sound. The bike itself though has been constant issues, like the front bearing wore out in 50 miles because they didn’t add enough grease and the tires aren’t rated for the weight the bike says it is. So avoid that brand!
- gbraad 2y agoGazelle have always been known as very reliable bikes in the Netherlands. this is proof. amazing
- ozim 2y agoWell she is Dutch I don’t expect she threw away good bike. I am not Dutch but I lived there for 10 years. In my country of origin I live in area others would call Dutch or Scottish so we are also rather cheap.
- add-sub-mul-div 2y agoIn America "cheap" has been given a negative connotation because we're expected to consume excessively and replace things that still work. But keeping something this long if it's still working is more reasonable.
- ozim 2y agoFun part is I used cheap just as I expect any person in US would. I consume HN and loads of US centric media as basically we could play “We all live in America, America is wunderbar” by Rammstein. Because Dutch, Scottish or area of people I live nowadays frugal nature has negative connotation. I’d say having bicycle for so long is impressive but at the same time it is not really worth it if you can get a new one supposedly better spending less than quarter of your monthly income.
- al_borland 2y agoWhy throw a whole bike in the landfill when it just needs a new part? Low price are great for allowing people to afford a comfortable life, but also really drive a culture that doesn’t value maintenance or repairs.
- petre 2y agoWhat do you expect. It's a Gazelle. Last year I bought a second hand Gazelle Champion road frame that is my age and built it up with parts that at least look period correct, even though they're not necessarily. It's a joy to ride.
- tim333 2y agoMy racing bike lasted about 30 years from my teens till the police destroyed it as a terrorism hazzard. I was cycling past Westminster tube when it started raining heavily so locked it to a post and got the tube not knowing that wasn't allowed around Westminster.
- pan69 2y agoThe oldest possession I have is a book titled Programming QUICKBASIC 4. It was published in 1989 and must have gotten it around 1990. I had an older book titled Programming GW-BASIC, which must have been from around 1987/1988, but it started to fall apart about a decade ago and since I can't find anymore, I must have thrown it out...
- theglenn88_ 2y agoExcept, it’s had 5 new chains, 2 cranksets, 10 seats, 2 rear wheels, 4 front wheels and one frame.
- tanseydavid 2y agoThat bicycle is just itching for a subscription model. </sarc>
- jeffrallen 2y agoI would too, except all the bikes I had a special connection with were stolen. I'm so happy for her. Keep on riding, granny!
- bfrog 2y agoBikes can last a lifetime, this is a case in point. Imagine how little cost in carbon and energy has gone into this item after its life of use. Now imagine the same with an automobile. It was a terrible mistake to build a car centric world where we sit in metal boxes to go to massive parking lots with enormous stores to fill our cars with useless crap that lasts a moment in time.