Hi there,
Having a bit of a clear-out of our storage space at the moment and it has led me to wonder what I should do with the two bikes I continue to hold onto despite having crashed them. Each are unrideable, for reasons below – but I wondered if there’s anything to be done with them.
One is a Cannondale CAAD13 that was written off when a driver went into me and the top tube got bent. As far as I can see that’s the only damage, though this was a recent crash and I’m yet to look at whether there was anything done to the drivetrain, etc.
Another is an older Canyon Ultimate that had its fork broken in another crash. Again, that’s the only bit that doesn’t work – the rest of the frame is in decent shape, as I can see.
Each has decent equipment on it: the CAAD13 is 105, and the Canyon has some Ultegra, though it’s all old stuff now. I’ve been keeping hold of them in part for that – which has been useful, occasionally, such as when I transferred the Canyon’s cassette onto my trainer. I was also going to keep the Cannondale around for the trainer.
But I wondered if there was anything more useful to be done with them than this? Maybe the dream would be sticking them together – using the best of both to make a new bike – but I don’t think the Cannondale’s fork would be compatible with the Canyon’s strange needs.
Does anyone have any ideas? It seems a shame to have these decent, mostly unbroken bikes just laying around…
Thanks!
This is what I would do in your situation:
I would definitely strip them both down and collect the best parts off both of them then rebuild the canyon with a new fork, build up a brand new frame or sell all the old components to fund something new.
Currently bike parts are in high demand so getting good prices for your old components shouldn’t be too hard.
If you decide to build up a new bike an old CX bike frame turned into a gravel bike would be cool !
If your question is what to do with the old frames, what about a piece of art on the wall in your bike room or something like that.
Hope this gives you something to think about
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Strip the bikes of their components. For the damaged frame and forks cut them so that they don’t end up back in use by some unsuspecting beginner. Reuse the components with replacement frames / forks.
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Breed them.
According to my Punnett Square, you could end up with some weird bike offspring, like something with a broken fork AND bent top tube, but you could also get lucky and get one with neither of those traits!
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The canyon frame may have some value maybe look to sell it as a donner maybe to someone who does custom painting looking for a display frame or a DIY test bed. The Caad13 you could sell as a turbo bike depending on the damage always best to get a second opinion from your Lbs. Groupsets strip and sell you say the bike have lying around so if surplus it’s money just sitting around and there only going to be worth less the longer you hang onto them.
Don’t assume any carbon frame is OK if it’s been in a crash severe enough to break the fork. Either get it inspected ultrasonicly or it’s a real risk to use it. Carbon can delaminate internally without external damage. Then it becomes very weak.
Definitely don’t sell it or give it away without inspection, because that person will likely sell it to the next person without any mention of crashing.
So I suggest stripping the frames, scavenging whatever parts you want to keep and selling the rest ASAP. Scrap the CAAD and either professionally inspect or scrap the Ultimate
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Buy a new fork for canyon and put caad on the trainer.
Both trash, and I am a trash man. I will take care of them for you.
If you are sure that the frame of the Canyon is in good shape, you could build it up to be a dedicated indoor trainer bike. If your Cannondale’s fork is in decent shape and fits, you could perhaps use that.
As for the Cannondale frame, I’d take off all the parts and either sell them or keep them in the drawer where you keep all your spare parts. If the frame is in a pretty color, I might consider hanging it on a wall. If not, recycle it. Don’t give it to anyone else who might attempt to resurrect it.
If you can’t or don’t want to build up your Canyon into an indoor trainer bike, I’d either hang that up on the wall or recycle it. I wouldn’t want to give anyone else a crashed bike, even if I gave it away for free.
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Man, where were you during my Biology classes?