[Inclag]

There's sooo much flogging and fluffing of products on this board that sometimes you have to wonder if there is even a bad bike product?? Magazines walk a fine line when reviewing because of add space, and websites constantly review "great!" products . People on these boards will whore a certain brand of tires for years, then before you know it they move onto the next greatest quadruple compound made of 12.6734% recycled Tommy Lee jimmy hats and claim that what they used to ride was crap, but we should believe what they currently use is the cat's meow. Or they will ride some brand of bike for some unbeknown reason claiming it's the best. Only thing is this brand designs a new bike next year with the input of World Cup riders with completely different geometry. Now the same person claims it is still great.....

Compounding the matter is that every person there is can swindle some sort of deal or "sponsorship". So hush hush if you don't like your sponsors product even if there is a bit of a "code" that says it is ok to express so verbally to fellow racers at local races.

I want a thread where people are honest to themselves and to have a good ol' product lynching. Your sport level sponsorship be damned, because chances are most people on here don't sell product like a Peaty or Hill can. It would also be nice to leave the mob mentality behind. So if you folks who like *insert brand X here* don't like your product being bad mouthed, it's not because people are being insensitive, it's just because they have had a less than stellar experience. Also if you're a hack or a hamfisted Wookies with a wrench own up to it. Not everyone knows that your angular contact ball bearings will fail sooner if an axial load is applied.

For example I have no idea what it is about ex721's. 3 runs and done on properly built wheels. I'm a hack and rims are definitely disposables for me, but I'll likely never use them again.

I never liked Kenda tires. Sure they were a sponsor, but the Nevegals had a terribly vague feeling when cornering and the side knobs would disappear and cause front end washouts all the time. Oh and they flatted worse than any other tires I had used aside from Hutchinson (32-34psi).

I had a 07 Marzocchi ATA. In fact I claimed I loved it but it had issues, the bushings were never as smooth as they should have been, and the air spring ramp up issue was annoying.

Sunline stems? Some sort of finishing process where the edges were broken/soften would be nice and make that product alot safer. Sharp corners suck.


Yes, this winter has gotten to me!

 

[Bicyclist]

Sram shifters. I bought the X0 for adjustability but could never get the thing in a position I liked. My next bike will most likely be Shimano shifting again.

e-13 LG1's. They're really light, but the top part is pretty narrow and tends to rub no matter what you do. Gamuts are so much simpler. The weight is really good though.

Iron Horse 7points. I've ridden a few, and they all felt like turd to me. Maybe it was the builds or the geo, but I really disliked the ones I've ridden. More so than most any other bike I've tried.

Evil DOC. Worst finish I've ever seen on a new frame. Seattube scratched the hell out of a Thomson, and the dropouts would seize all the time.

Specialized Stumpjumper FSRs. The seattube being pierced means either my seat is always in XC mode or always in DH mode. Loved the way the bike rode, but I couldn't keep it for that reason. The newest ones have alleviated that somewhat, I think.

 

[Jettj45]

Truvativ Crank/BB set's suck soooo much. I'm going to run them until I break them then get Gravity Lights or Saint's.

TLD SE race pants. Waaay too short, 32in waste are 27in long. They need to make separate DH and Moto race clothes.

 

[General Lee]

90% of ridemonkey

kenda tires

damping adjustments on the boxxer. still my favorite fork, but it would be really nice if the adjustments actually worked the way they are supposed to (things are looking up with the new design though).

and the excuse "well, it still made for good racing" is total bullsh*t

 

[Zark]

TLD Lopes Knee/shin guards. I bought them after reading some good reviews. They were good....for about a month, then the neoprene stretched and the damn things never stayed in place again. They moved whenever I crashed. 3 months and I was over them. Shortest life cycle out of that type of product ever.

 

[jonKranked]

every bike I've ever owned. No much how much money I put into them, they still won't suck my dick.

 

[?????]

Crank Bros. pedals
DT rims

 

[Mr. Furious]

Rockgardn LZMX Knee/Shin guards
The things slide down no matter how tight I put them on, they slide out of position when I crash, the rubber thingy to 'grip the gas tank' does a great job of gripping the ends of shorts or insides of pants to pull my pants down when I ride. Good airflow though.

 

[Toshi]

all dh gear is too expensive, except for my old '01 Monster T. that fork was worth $300 or $350 or whatever i paid for it.

my Canfield F1 was heavy and too long. and impossible to manual. and the idler pulley never worked smoothly.

my Evil Imperial had paint that flaked off with anything more than a glance at it. its laid-back seatpost design was dumb.

Tioga DH saddles == most uncomfortable crotchal sensation ever.

 

[daisycutter]

Love the performance and adjustability of the fox 40s. Hate the ****ty seals,and easy to scratch lowers. I have two dh bikes each with fox 40s and both needed new stanchions this year despite a service and seal change. I'm married with two kids. I don't get the opportunity to ride as much as I would like. I also have two DH bikes which I split about evenly. There no way both my forks should have been damaged.

Love Kendra nevagals tires

hate fast wear maxxis

Love avy rear shocks

Hate fox rear coil shocks

 

[Rip]

Michelin Dual Compound tires, tried them 3 times, each time they didn't last a week.

 

[Kanye West]

Crank Brothers Pedals
Azonic anything....
Truvativ Cranks
E13 guides
Dianese
WTB hubs
Kenda Tires

 

[Banshee Rider]

Crankbrothers pedals. The premium cleats still wear stupid fast, they still release when you least want them to, the bearings still suck. Less money on packaging, more money on product. I regret every penny I spent. Oh, the carbon inserts on the acids - gone on their very first run.

Royal clothing after they became part of Valencia. The button on the pant waist would randomly pop open. I finished a race run with them around my knees. For the price they charge, they should have atleast included a zip tie because thats how I kept them on for the rest of the year. Their fancy camo jacket; the "drawcord" on the waist doesnt have a lock, it has a cheap piece of foam that is supposed to hold it tight. Once you leave the gate the drawcord loosens up and becomes a mud catching parachute of wasted money.

Hadley hubs. I read the reviews, and bought them based on those reviews. The rear hub froze in the first few months, the bearing in the same hub also developed play in the first few months, and the front hub loosened up on a regular basis. This is coming from a mechanic who has his bike in the stand every weekend, I thought these hubs sucked a**, they had problems none of my other hubsets have.

Kenda tires. I bet they couldn't even burn right in a fire.

 

[ridiculous]

giro remedy helmet, like wearing a bowling ball.
lg1- i could never get it to line up right.
crank bros pedals.

 

[bikerpunk98199]

Hate kenda tires
Hate Azonic Steelheads (crappy steel tubing)
Hayes brakes
Boxxer forks, like general lee said I like the fork but would of liked to have compression adjustment
Hate DT Swiss Rims
Hate crooked/ non aligned intense's
Hate Truvative cranks, either flexy ( Stylo's) or to heavy (Howitzer system)

 

[Transcend]

How the hell can you guys not get an LG1 setup right? This is hilarious.

 

[DirtMcGirk]

every bike I've ever owned. No much how much money I put into them, they still won't suck my dick.

You sir are the biggest bag full of RAD that I have ever known.

 

[toodles]

After the fanboy hatemail I got last time I said anything about my Hadley, I'm reluctant to pipe up - but stuff it. The engagement is weak as and the mechanism fouls too easily IMO.

Wasn't very happy with my last Thomson seatpost - others have been fine but this one creaked and the limited range of angle adjustment was the clincher. Why mark ~20º degrees of adjustment when you can only move it 5º either way before the bolts bottom out.

I'm almost definitly on my own on this one but I swear 721 rims aren't as strong as they used to be.

 

[SuspectDevice]

Wasn't very happy with my last Thomson seatpost - others have been fine but this one creaked and the limited range of angle adjustment was the clincher. Why mark ~20º degrees of adjustment when you can only move it 5º either way before the bolts bottom out.

I'm almost definitly on my own on this one but I swear 721 rims aren't as strong as they used to be.

Thomson makes an aftermarket top plate for laid back seat angles.

They love you.

 

[Udi]

I-beam costs less, weighs less, and loves me more.

 

[JRogers]

'07 66SL ATA- It's not a terrible fork, but it is hard to tune and mine does not work as smoothly as it should. I've made mods, which help, but don't fix all the problems. Why can't there be a Shiver that's just 3 lbs ligher than before?

Lefty Max SPV- okay, not a DH product, but it still kind of sucked. Most of the time I actually liked the damping and I really liked the lack of diving and that it rode high in the travel without being stiff. But working on it was a bitch, the rebound knob would stop working all the time, constant knocking...works well, but details are poor...

Avy Shock- maybe mine needed a revalve or something, but I never liked it much. On big hits it was great, but small bump sensitivity was poor and it was much too stiff at slow-medium speeds.

I've also had a few bad experiences with Titec seats and Truvativ cranks/bb.

 

[demo 9]

I love my LG1 but im all aboard the cant get it set up. i put a few washers in the top part and it works great(but it didnt come with the washers i needed)

661 pressure suit is absolute turd-how ever i feel their other products are very reliable and work great

fox 40 low speed compression. (i swear its not even attatched) and the high speed isnt too much better-MOAR SHIMZ!!!!

Anything manitou has been nothing but trouble for me

Hayes 9 from a stock demo 9 would pop and get messed up daily. (im talkin 4-5 times a week until i threw them out)

*recently my juicy 7s had this problem ^^^^^^^^^ but sram gave me a killer deal to replace them so i wont badmouth them. (they did work for 2 years perfect)

Idler pully on the jedi is loud(but works perfect)

MRP chainguide with the orange rollers gave me **** for a while until it hit ebay for the next lucky guy.

mavic 325s are garbage.

love maxxis minions but the rest of the pack leaves not much to be desired.

I wont badmouth them yet because i dotn have much time on them to ride and break them in but my industry 9 wheels spin pretty slow and the buzz is "oval" (not consistent)
*there is no actual problems with the wheels though so it doesnt really count.

i snapped a bighit spec frame a few years back too

 

[Bicyclist]

Hayes 9 brakes. I've had the push-plunger thing in the lever pop out in the middle of rides before, spewing brake fluid everywhere and rendering me with no rear brake.

Fox 36. I've owned multiple 36's (Talas and Float), and the stiction is ridiculous. The damping doesn't really do its job either. Oh, and is it too much to ask for an actual oil seal? I definitely prefer Rock Shox's offerings.

@Transcend: The issue I've had with the LG-1 is that I've always had to do lots of cutting and modifying to get them to work, and they make lots of noise/rub on the top guide on both sides. Not really a setup issue IMO. Gamuts are much simpler, less precise, and not as light, but they just work. Bolt on and go.

 

[Jm_]

'07 66SL ATA- It's not a terrible fork, but it is hard to tune and mine does not work as smoothly as it should. I've made mods, which help, but don't fix all the problems. Why can't there be a Shiver that's just 3 lbs ligher than before?

Well, a new shiver would need to be stiffer, so probably bigger stanchions and better axle-interface. Then to make it lighter you need to get rid of the 10 gallons of oil inside and huge heavy springs, so you'd have to do air spring (myriad of new problems) or one-side Ti spring like the 888WC (I checked with marzocchi, the spring alone costs about $200), so get rid of the gallons of oil and go to a closed-cartridge damper like fox and white brothers. Of course it ain't going to be cheap to develop a new sealed self-contained damping system, also making it sensitive/high performance without adding too much weight will still be challenging. And of course in the end, because you chose to an inverted design, it would STILL end up flexier than a similar-engineered right-side-up fork, so in the end, what's the point? You'll pay more for something that isn't going to offer any benefit.

 

[bent_steel]

08 Marz 888WC ATA- Stuck down after the 3rd run of it's maiden voyage on vacation in Colorado for 7 days. Had to dish out $800 for an effing boxxer ride at a resort shop so I could ride. Marzocchi ended up sending me 3 different cartridges until it worked.

Crankbro's 50/50's- Came apart after a month.

 

[Jm_]

I think you guys are a little harsh with Crank Brothers. They make the best disposable pedals and parts on the market.

Pretty sure my new DHX 5.0 (i've had quite a few) came blown on my Highline. The rebound doesn't do anything until one-click away from full, and even with "full" rebound it hasn't slowed the rebound much.

I don't have a few complaints, I beat the hell out of products. I had a lot of manitou stuff (3 forks) that were just engineered like crap, essentially they were good for a season and then they'd just be done. My boxxers were pretty crappy too (sorry guys). I think those products just rode on race-success and stagnated for a long long time. The finally fixed stuff up with Motion Control, but up until that point I owned two, and both were pretty substandard compared to what I was used to. Live and learn though. Curnutt was crap. Also any Kenda tire I've used has been krap, ripped off knobs, sidewall tears, stupid dumb traction-design (older stuff). Avid mechs are on my list of poor stuff too, after 2 seasons of hard use they essentially fell apart. Every crank brother's product I've owned has been FAIL.

 

[davep]

TLD Lopes Knee/shin guards. I bought them after reading some good reviews. They were good....for about a month, then the neoprene stretched and the damn things never stayed in place again. They moved whenever I crashed. 3 months and I was over them. Shortest life cycle out of that type of product ever.

I really wanted to like them as well....
Put on a pair in the shop (quite tight) and could push them down my legs and off my knees with little to no effort. Dissapointing for sure.

Current RF crank mount interface....The preload washers garbage makes bb set-up WAY more difficult than it needs to be IMO is the number one cause of their BB bearing issues.
The taper/interferance fit wears like every other interferance fit (surprise, surprise). I had two sets of Diabolus and a set of atlas become loose at the splined interface. Each set lasted only 3-4 on/off cycles before they were shot.

Internals of most dampers (front and rear) are truely cheap and conveniently hidden from view of the consumer. I think a roll of aluminum foil is better engineered and built, higher quality material, and is worth more than the internals of the average Marz these days.

Tech documentation across the board suck. I am a 30 something engineer with a long history of cycling (100% building my own bikes since I was 12 yo) as well as many mechanical endeavors, ...
yet companies want me to send my parts back to them/shop and pay to have an under-educated $10 an hour monkey read about how to change the oil in a fork??? F.off!!

Not sure what else I think are truely 'Bad' but I think that the vast majority of bike parts/frames have very little thought put into them and could be seriously better with just an iota of design/engineering/intent based thought put into them..
for example:
-I can buy a better sealing system (better seal and less friction) than found on any fork (except maybe marz) at about 4 seperate places here in town for less than $20 retail.
-user servicable shimmed dampers have been the standard in any and all high performance application for decades. They are still not the norm in the bike biz. Iinstead we get absolut crap that works for no-one, and cannot be tuned, or serviced.... simply because the mfg can trademark something 'new' no matter how BAD!

 

[Delimeat]

Joplin seatpost. When it's slammed you can't lift the bike by it's seat. Ironic, considering it is lowered when I would be riding any gnar.... I nearly always picked my bike up by it's seat after having a look before doing the next jump or drop. But I am slightly retarded.

Most Hutchinson tires I've used have had great traction for their intended use, but 70% of them won't seat straight.

Kona. So little attention to detail or finish. Hardware store bolts and nylock nuts holding things together and stupid long shock hardware. It's getting better, but they are still the '02 Norco's of '09.

Kenda tires. Never had any luck. Probably in my head but I lacked any confidence in them. Then I tried the new Excavator, it should be cheating to run these tires on your bike, simply amazing!

The stock damping in all top end forks. So under-damped that my 14 year old sister can bottom most forks by simply applying the front brake while coming into a corner. Oh yeah, rear shocks on DH bikes that use pro-pedal. **** that also.

 

[William42]

Raceface crank splines that don't reinstall well
Ruffian Grips wear out super fast
Specialized shoes
Specialized "street/urban/DJ" tires
Specialized Low-pro Mags.
08 66 bushings
Kenda Nevegals
Stans Rim Strips (I didn't realize how worthless they are until I weighed them and realized I get a better seal with ghetto strips. They also cost like $30 a piece, or something ridiculous like that)
Tektro brakes (I know, not DH, but I ****ing hate tektro brakes that come on cheap hybrids)
Roco TST coil. Worst. Shock. Ever.

Those are the only ones that really stand out. I'm sure there's other stuff I dislike when I think about it, but those spring to mind instantly when I think of stuff I hate. Especially tektro and that fycking roco. It didn't even break, it just rode so terribly...muh, anyway.

 

[Transcend]

@Transcend: The issue I've had with the LG-1 is that I've always had to do lots of cutting and modifying to get them to work, and they make lots of noise/rub on the top guide on both sides. Not really a setup issue IMO. Gamuts are much simpler, less precise, and not as light, but they just work. Bolt on and go.

Check out the SRS+ and LG1+ for ease of setup, they fixed these problems it looks like.

The old backplates WERE hard to fit on certain bikes, this is true. Also agreed, not a setup issue.

 

[DirtyMike]

every bike I've ever owned. No much how much money I put into them, they still won't suck my dick.

Damnit son of a bitch Ihave to spread some rep. That, and now i need to send you a bill to have the laptop cleaned.

 

[bullcrew]

Kenda tires
Bad: dont hook up as well as they should and sidewalls blowout, not for race or serious fr
Good: price and readily available
Hayes brakes
Bad: have left me hanging on some gnarly descents through some stuff
Good: Find parts at 7-11 or quicky mart they are everywhere
OOH, OOH, OOH dps 32 syncros rims
Bad: SUCK for tubeless
Good: Strong, take a hell of a beating, good anti slip notches for tubed set up
Boxxers
Bad: flex under my riding style and weight
Good: Light, Nimble, It hasnt broke so far and tracks like its on rails! WOW!
Marzocchi 66 RC3
Bad: Weight
Good: HAS taken some SERIOUS abuse way beyond what I thought it was capable of! My all time fav fork!
SDG I-Fly saddle
Bad: Hurts the @$$ on bad landings
Good: Light and your @$$ gets calased and used to it!
CANFIELD JEDI!!!!!!!
Bad: Too expensive for me to own 2, one for each foot
Good: I have one
Jonkranked
Bad: Moved out of california 1 less friend to ride with
Good: Funnier than $hit!

 

[DirtMcGirk]

Now I want to get on the bandwagon...

Morewood Izumu
Everyone and their mother on the east coast loved theirs. Not me so much. Every square bump at a certain speed range would stall the bike out. I ended up ovalizing the pivot point and bending the head tube just a bit. Not stoked. And it took too damn long to get the frame in the first place. I understand there being issues with it coming from SA, but be honest with the customer about that.

Banshee Chaparral
This thing had the most jacked up leverage ratio. Romic couldn't give me enough spring or tuning to keep from bottoming this thing out on flat New Orleans trails, and this was when I was a thin 200lbs.

Fox DHX Air
Who thought this was a good idea? "Air" and "freeride" have no business together. Springs, they're you're friend.

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Romic shocks, the one on my Foes feels like poo.

LG-1, I can take it or leave it. Customer service is WAY top notch. However the guide was not the easiest to set up as far as chain rubbing. With a little tweaking and manipulating of the backplate it's not bad. I hate noisy chain guides, my old MRP's were pretty damn quite. I will however give the new LG-1 a shot.

First generation 888, never worked right. Heard too many negative things to have wanted to try a newer one.

 

[Kntr]

Hated-Kenda Nevagals

CK headset-junk
another CK headset-junk
one last time CK headset-junk
All three I bought new and all three were junk.

Air shocks suck

Hayes Mags and Nines most reliable brakes I have used

Love Avy

Love Romic when it didnt leak

Maxxis Minions ROCK

Dangerboy 2 finger levers feel so good

5050 pedals are junk

Boxxers leak

 

[bullcrew]

So is the new reference for where we check to see if somethings worth buying! LMAO!!!

Its funny though to see certain items on here and the thoughts I have on em!
Love my LG1 stupid easy to set up, but again Im extremely mechanically incllined!
King Headset I had one creek and my Ti has been flawless
Problem is its all personal experience, the ones that people should be wary of are the ones MULTI listed, ie Kendas!

ayes brakes tons of horror stories with them, did have 1 set of nines that could stop a skyscraper! Air shocks are great as long as its a roco wc air!

 

[Bicyclist]

Check out the SRS+ and LG1+ for ease of setup, they fixed these problems it looks like.

The old backplates WERE hard to fit on certain bikes, this is true. Also agreed, not a setup issue.

I definitely understand that there are people who can't set them up though.

2nd on the King headsets - always coming loose, and having to modify your $100 headset or whatever they charge to fix that is absurd.

 

[Delimeat]

CK headset-junk
another CK headset-junk
one last time CK headset-junk
All three I bought new and all three were junk.

Agreed. They are also so damn over priced when you compare them to a nice light FSA unit. People swear by those damn things though....

 

[jcook90]

R9's don't really like cornering, other than that I liked the bike

2008 888 ATA, come on, should I really want to switch back to my old 888RC2x?

XT cranks - ehh guess it was my fault for DHing with them

RS Pike - fork was great until it was outside in 20 degree weather, brought indoors, and the expansion of the internals cracked something locking out the fork. I still like it though

Stroker Trails - I actually like these. They survived all last season.

SRAM derailleurs - never liked them, never will. Old school shimano with a roll-a-ma-jig or a new shadow XT feel much better

Park Chain tools - why do the pins break?

I actually liked my Avy once it was valved for my weight

Shimano clipless pedals with the cages around them - do the nuts holding the outer part of the cage on always fall off? I had 2 sets do that so the cage ended up just flapping around. go crankbros!

The person who decided there should be 2 ISCG standards. As smart as they may be, thanks for another standard.

I'm done now, I didn't know we were allowed to say this stuff on the internet

 

[CountryBoy]

Howitzer style cranks
Enduro seals
manitou rear shocks
azonic outlaw hubs
hayes brakes
others I can't think of...