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Sustainable Bike Choice

I'm in the market for a new bike but given the well documented supply issues I've had a lot more time to think about my choice than I was expecting.

As a consequence I've now started thinking about the most sustainable options.

My gut feeling is that steel/Aluminium frame and components would be more sustainable than carbon fibre and that mechanical groupsets would also be the best option.

SRAM and Campy seem to offer better long term serviceability than Shimano.

Hope seem a good bet for miscellaneous other components.

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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25 comments

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pablo | 2 years ago
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Well can of worms.  So Steel requires much less energy to produce than aluminium as a raw material but very little material is raw and often includes a high percentage of recycled content.  Recycled steel and Aluminium have a very silmilar energy cost.  Steel would then be the obvious choice for total energy outlay although i think it could be argued that getting the most out of the Aluminium (as so much energy has been outlayed to produce)could also be argued for if you can guarantee the recycled content.  I did some research at work for a customer on sustainability of steel and i found a letter for a UK steel producer saying in the UK 75% of all steel is recycled.  

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matthewn5 | 2 years ago
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I'd advise getting a really nice used steel frame - maybe a Bob Jackson, a Brian Rourke, Saffron, or something like that - and putting a modern groupset on it. LFGSS has a whole thread on it:
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/212733/

I've found my Rourke to be unbelievably smooth and comfortable even though I can't fit more than 25s (on wide rims) on it. Indeed, I reckon the current fad for very wide tyres is only because of the need for very stiff uncomfortable forks to cope with disk brakes...

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Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
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I wanted to suggest why not Ti, but found this article instead.

https://grist.org/living/what-is-the-greenest-type-of-bike-frame/

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kil0ran | 2 years ago
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Buy secondhand and buy Shimano's new Linkglide group for longevity and serviceability. Oh and invest in a decent drivetrain lube which means your drivetrain lasts longer. Personally I hate the waste associated with poor maintenance - cable outers, inners, chains, cranksets, and cassettes are very hard to recycle so the longer you can keep them clean and running well the better.

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ktache replied to kil0ran | 2 years ago
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Cable oilers will prolong the useful life of your cables, they also allow the use of smaller runs of outer, meaning you can use up those many little bits you have sitting about.

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TheBillder replied to kil0ran | 2 years ago
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That Linkglide looks interesting but only 1x and I wonder how compatible with road groupsets. I would certainly pay a little extra and accept a bit more weight to get longer lasting chains in particular.

There might be quite an interesting feature to be written on the lesser known Shimano products.

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Rich_cb replied to kil0ran | 2 years ago
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That Linkglide looks really interesting.

I am currently experimenting with chain waxing so will hopefully extend the life of my drivetrain especially given that replacement cassettes are like gold dust right now.

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wtjs | 2 years ago
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I'm very happy with the stuff in even very lowly Shimano groups- I have just reconditioned my daughter's bike for the other daughter. It's a Halfords Carrera with Tourney, and with everything oiled and adjusted it's perfect with very smooth shifting. I expect Campag and SRAM have equally loyal fans. It's also aluminium and a cheap 'racing bike', and it's the first aluminium road bike I've ridden. They're supposed to be a hard ride on rough Lancashire roads, but I couldn't really tell any difference from my Reynolds steel frames.

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Chris Hayes replied to wtjs | 2 years ago
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Geometry, size and weight apart, I think that wheel build, tyre selection, and tyre pressure have more impact on ride quality than frame material (and I have two Ti, one ally, one steel, and two carbon frames - with interchangeable wheelsets).

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TheBillder replied to Chris Hayes | 2 years ago
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Chris Hayes wrote:

Geometry, size and weight apart, I think that wheel build, tyre selection, and tyre pressure have more impact on ride quality than frames (and I have two Ti, one ally, one steel, and two carbon frames - with interchangeable wheelsets).

My carbon gravel bike on 38 mm tyres is noticeably less comfortable than my old steel bike on the same tyre in 32 mm, even with slightly lower pressures. I can't eliminate all the variables of course, but I can believe that old steel frames are comfier (and way less laterally stiff, a taste I am trying to re-acquire).

+1 for Tourney working really nicely, even when quite mangled, but I have seen too many jockey wheels fall out due to lack of thread lock. Tighten the bolts and the wheels stop moving...

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Daveyraveygravey | 2 years ago
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Not sure why you would pick SRAM or Campag over Shimano?  I had a bike with Campag a few years ago, and yes it was nice, but getting parts I found harder than Shimano. 

The non-drive side crank arm came off at the end of one ride, the bits had worked loose and I didn't see it happening.  I was less than a mile from home, thankfully.  I saved the crank arm, but the washers and a few other smaller parts ran all over the place.  I remember it took me over a fortnight to get it back on the road, whereas I reckon if it had been Shimano then a few days max.

 

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Rich_cb replied to Daveyraveygravey | 2 years ago
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From what I've read more SRAM and Campy stuff is serviceable/repairable compared to Shimano.

I think Shimano shifters are riveted together for example.

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Tom_77 | 2 years ago
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How Green Is Cycling? - https://www.bikeradar.com/features/long-reads/cycling-environmental-impact/

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about it. The above article reckons producing a bicycle takes 96 Kg of CO2, that's the same as driving a few hundred miles.

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Rich_cb replied to Tom_77 | 2 years ago
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That is a superb article.

Thank you.

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Chris Hayes | 2 years ago
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.....a Speedwagen, on mech Chorus - or as Peter has suggested below, get an old bike (er, classic, surely?) and do it up. I got into cycling in the 90s and now have a fine collection of bikes I couldn't afford then - much to the annoyance of Mrs Hayes.  Latest project: Jan Ullrich's Pinarello Prince from the 1999 Vuelta! 

I think my most sustainable bike is my Brompton as that is used in lieu of tube, bus and car journeys. 

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Rich_cb replied to Chris Hayes | 2 years ago
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I have a battered commuter which I bought for £100 second hand. It's hideous but thankfully that makes it fairly theft proof.

Definitely my most environmentally friendly purchase as I use it almost every day.

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ktache | 2 years ago
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Hope have repeatadly replaced the cables on my lights, only recently charged for it.  One of the reasons I went for their disk brakes, that and apparently they continue to support their old stuff, with parts availability, long after others seem to.

Chris King headset, proper quality and the excellent seals mean that they will last longer than any other, plus parts should always be there.

One advantage of my Rohloff is the lack of a need to constantly replace worn cassettes and jockey wheels, and the chain seems to last a long time too. Month and a half of an initially filthy commute, and it's only just hit 0.25%.  I was waiting on a replacement frame last winter, but the shortest quality 8 speed chain only lasted 2 and a half weeks for the old getting to work bike.

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Secret_squirrel replied to ktache | 2 years ago
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ktache wrote:

  I was waiting on a replacement frame last winter, but the shortest quality 8 speed chain only lasted 2 and a half weeks for the old getting to work bike.

Rohloff SLT99 8 speed chains were the business - outlasted many of my cassettes and chain rings on my MTB.  Shame they stopped making them when Shimano went 9+.  Rohloff reckoned they couldnt make a 9+ speed chain to the same exacting standards.

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hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
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One answer would be to buy a second-hand bike - that's surely got to be far more sustainable and gets around the issues with new bike supply chains.

However, I suspect that isn't the answer you want.

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TheBillder replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
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This is exactly right. Far less resource goes into an old bike refurbishment than into a complete new bike, and you probably get better value if you choose carefully. We need to wean ourselves off shiny, and the recent hill climb test shows that little real performance is lost.

The only other absolutes as far as I know are:

a) not carbon as you can't recycle it at end of life
b) spares availablity is important but most things are available somewhere, though perhaps at a price.

I've just bought an axle end cap for a very fancy but old Mavic wheel that was being binned as useless without it. USD 53, including postage, for a part that would have cost about 10p to make when current. But that $53 has, in effect, bought me a whole fancy wheel. So expensive but also not.

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Rich_cb replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
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I am open to a second hand refurb project.

Have been thinking about a caad 12, get it resprayed, stick SRAM red mechanical on it.

Could then use that Ratio kit to make it 12 speed.

Would be a fun little project.

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Rich_cb | 2 years ago
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Anyone got any thoughts?

Or even better any links to articles etc which go into this in some detail?

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Sriracha replied to Rich_cb | 2 years ago
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Well, someone's got to get in with this one first;
https://bamboobicycleclub.org/

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Rich_cb replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
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I did watch a couple of YouTube videos about that.

It would definitely be sustainable and my rapid demise would drastically reduce my carbon footprint.

I'll put it on the list.

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TheBillder replied to Rich_cb | 2 years ago
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Rich_cb wrote:

... my rapid demise would drastically reduce my carbon footprint.

Only as long as you make sure your corpse is composted...

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