Why shouldn't I care what model/make/year my bicycle is?

Question

We often get questions on bicycles.stackexchange about identifying a bicycles manufacturer, model, make, and year. Often these questions are downvoted or closed -- usually with a comment attached to them that it's not necessary to know the exact model/make/year of a bicycle if you want to fix, repair, or ride your bike.

Why should owners not care about the model/make/year of their bicycle?

Especially when it comes to less expensive bikes (aka BSOs) and BMX bicycles?

This is intended as a canonical question that we can point closed questions to.

Also see

• How can I tell what year my bike was made?
• What is the purpose of a serial number? (generally not helpful for identifying a brand/model)

Answer 1

Most questions are based on a need for knowledge about what parts to use or curiosity. The latter do not make suitable questions for SE sites and will normally be closed.

For the former, fortunately the bicycle industry is fairly standardized (even if there are many and evolving standards), so knowledge of the bike make/model/manufacturer is rarely helpful in determining any maintenance issues and parts requirements. Ultimately the industry is dominated by a few parts manufacturers and a very large number of "Bike manufacturers", who largely build a frame to the standards of the day and attach components.

In most cases, a better question that will lead to more practical answers for the community should revolve around the specific problem that needs to be addressed. Photos of areas of a problem are almost always all that is needed to identify what components and work is required. In rare cases its helps to know the bike manufacturer and model as some parts are very specific (e.g. Bottom bracket widths)

In cases of vintage bikes and none traditional bikes, knowing the bike manufacturer/make/model and year can help track down old and obsolete parts, and the real problem is solved by knowing this information. These are valid "Identify my bike" questions.

Answer 2

The problem with the question is not the owner's interest in the answer - it is clearly there. The problem is that the answer has almost no value for the community of this site:

• most generic bikes are hard to identify to begin with
• most successful identification will be based on a photo which cannot be used to answer the same question again because questions and answers are centred around searchable text and tags.

In total, there is too little to gain from answers for the community in the short and in the long run to make them worthwhile. Hence, they should be banned in my opinion.

Answer 3

I think an owner should care more about what generation their bike and groupset are from.

I've successfully fitted a 2000's 105 groupset to a 1980s steel 10 speed, mostly because the groupset was moved over complete. Had I been mixing an 80s deraileur with a 2000 shifter, that would have been less successful.

So there are two motivations for "what year is it?" questions

1. Compatibility with stuff
2. Thinking of their bike like a car, where the year model is more related to monetary value.

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So to the asker - you should care more that your bike is

• Safe to ride
• Comfortable to ride (fewer aches)
• Reliable (breaks down less)
• Functions well (no misshifts etc)

...rather than nailing down what year each part is from.