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The best bad component you've ever purchased

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,140
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
Antithesis of the other thread, what "shit" components have you purchased that have actually kicked ass.

My list includes

Crank Bros pedals, always been more than satisfied with them

Suntour Epicon, needed a temporary fork, and it was the only 1-1/8" straight steer-tube fork I could find, ended up working great! Never even put the Fox float back on

Magura brakes, everybody hates them, but my 10 year old Louise FRs are still going strong, and still haven't been bled

Race Face ISIS bottom brackets, another part I was supposed to destroy on the daily, but lasted forever. My GXP BBs have not fared as well for some reason

Lifu tool kit from Nashbar circa 1996ish, cheap shit tools to get me started on wrenching, still have all of the bike specific tools, they've far outlasted all my Park crap
 

TrumbullHucker

trumbullruxer
Aug 29, 2005
2,284
719
shimzbury, ct
sunline v1 dh wheels

never heard of them before.. bought them for 200 (wheelset) from some guy earlier this season and they are still true/ spokes tight
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,013
Sleazattle
Been running a set of Elixers for years. Been completely happy with them.

I also ran one of the first generation SRAM derailleurs with no problems. Once it finally gave up the ghost I would go through a new derailleur every 6 months, SRAM or Shimano.

Still running 26" and somehow manage to roll over things.
 

FlipSide

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2001
1,376
804
Most of my 26" bikes kicked ass.

Most notably: My Pivot Mach5.7c is an amazing machine.

Edit: @Westy beat me to it! :)
 

slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
Raleigh RSP dropper post. Simple, reliable, and cheap. It's actually a rebranded Satori Sorata. It was complicated to get an affordable dropper in 27.2 for my former bike (Cannondale Prophet), and it ticked all the right boxes.

Alex Rims, they are far better than their reputation in general. I now prefer them over Mavics.
 

RayB

Monkey
Jan 31, 2008
744
95
Seattle
Prob gonna catch some flak for this but...... my last 2 Intense carbon bikes (Tracer T275 & Carbine 29)

I was highly skeptical given the many, well-documented cases of misaligned frames, questionable QC/durability, and general douche vibes around the "INTENSE BRO" brand (I lived in SoCal and it's true), but I gotta say......

Once they switched over to having my cousins in ching-chong land make frames instead of underpaid/underskilled labor in methville Temecula, they've really turned a corner for the better -- and the sales #'s and market penetration reflect this.

Visually, they're great-looking well-styled bikes. Geometry #'s are SPOT-ON (I seriously can't stress this enough). And best of all, I've had precisely ZERO frame-related issues in 2+ seasons of ownership.




Ahh fuck it, it's VPP you guys think that shit's unrideable.
 

jstuhlman

bagpipe wanker
Dec 3, 2009
16,623
12,915
Cackalacka du Nord
HFX brakes served me faithfully for years.
Sooo...since the 1950s? :D

Welp, my purchased-secondhand-2010-unridable-certainlymisaligned-2010 intense uzzi has put up with my hack punishment for 5 years now as my "one" xc/am/trail/endurbro/dh bike. Sure, I finally cracked the known-to-fail rear swingarm last year, but those guis hooked me up with a new one for free. PROPS.
 

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,194
4,419
Bullet Bros chain tensioner. This device saved me from a lot of chain suck and jammed cranks. I ran the xc spring. Blue ano to match my frame... worked great!
 
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Kanye West

220# bag of hacktastic
Aug 31, 2006
3,740
470
My outdated, un-rideable, ungodly heavy and unoptimized Gen 1 M800 Saint brakes that are now found on my Enduro 29er, to replace the super hip, ultra light, ultra optimized Formula C1 brakes that came on it stock. Found the brakes on PB for <$100. Turns out they actually weighed a hair less than the OEM brakes. HAH!

The ultra-heavy un-rideable and outdated M646 SPD pedals. These things went to hell and back so many times they had frequent flier miles. I had a pic on here somewhere of them shortly before they left with a bike that got stolen. They wouldn't die, no matter how destroyed and twisted they looked. Polar opposite of Crank Brothers pedals.

Boost-valve RC4 shocks - by all accounts on here, WAY too harsh and way to progressive to be useful, because not enough shimzzzz blah blah blah. I still think a stock unit with a medium compression clicker/BV setting works fantastic overall.

My Sinister R9 frame - again, had the reputation of being heavy, outdated geo, unrideable, way too long, blah blah blah. I put that frame through a LOT, and I thought the handling on it (for the era it came from) was just awesome. Super stable, good cornering, very hard to bottom. Totally bulletproof. Once I retired it, it sat in my garage for a few years as a wall decoration. Eventually a buddy up in Mammoth needed a new frame so I sent that and a few components up to him just so it would get used, and I think he raced it in a Trenduro race recently. Which is just hilarious to me.

Newer style Manitou Dorado - flexy, heavy, blah blah blah, yak yak yak. No arm pump, minimal maintenance, tons of adjustibility and good quality damping. Way better than anything on the market until recently. Never had a flex-related incident and never once thought "Geez, I could be going faster if this fork were stiffer, and I would sure want to make the sacrifice in comfort on the other 99.9% of the trail that the flex probably benefits me".
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
2010 whatever boxxers (yes boxxerS I owned a coil and an air)

If you could get the air piston lined up Juuussssst right as a matter of luck, it would bind slightly less.

And there's nothing that controls motion as well as motion control technology. The only forks (remember I had two) I literally rebuilt after each and every day of riding.

Also.....literally every marzocchi product I've owned. Bent stanchions, broken dampers from bottom outs, dampers that didn't damp. They had tits in their ads though so that makes it better.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,190
19,156
Canaderp
Gonna go with my Crank Brothers pedals and multi-tools. I use the Mallets and have never had a major issue with them. I broke one of the old Mallet C pedals, but got it replaced either by warranty or with the trade in for Mallet DH program they had recently.

Myself and some friends own CB multi-tools and they've always worked when we needed them.

No experience with their other stuff, though...

Years ago I also purchased a "crappy" tray style bike rack from a big box store here for about $150. That thing lasted for years and countless road trips. Its kinda sad that I replaced it with a rack worth 5x more, but only provides a slightly more stable platform and a tilting function.
 

trib

not worthy of a Rux.
Jun 22, 2009
1,456
388
My hope minis (as lambasted by others in the other thread) worked faultlessly.
 

RayB

Monkey
Jan 31, 2008
744
95
Seattle
2010 whatever boxxers (yes boxxerS I owned a coil and an air)

If you could get the air piston lined up Juuussssst right as a matter of luck, it would bind slightly less.

And there's nothing that controls motion as well as motion control technology. The only forks (remember I had two) I literally rebuilt after each and every day of riding.

Also.....literally every marzocchi product I've owned. Bent stanchions, broken dampers from bottom outs, dampers that didn't damp. They had tits in their ads though so that makes it better.
Dude, wrong thread.

:D
 

Uncle Cliffy

Turbo Monkey
Jan 28, 2008
4,490
42
Southern Oregon
Gonna go with the Rockshox Reverb.

Statistically terrible if you read these forums, but I've had solid reliability. Best post out there if you're needing 150mm of drop and stealth routing.
 

Sandro

Terrified of Cucumbers
Nov 12, 2006
3,224
2,537
The old world
636s are absolutely bombproof and the only nineties part that i still use occasionally. Someone really needs to invent a new axle standard to prevent this in the future.

More along the lines of "surprisingly good" product: V brakes. Yes, they still sucked in the wet, but they were miles ahead of the Magura Racelines that never worked properly for more than one ride, no matter how often they were bled or how many brake booster i slapped on there. The less said about Sachs disc brakes, the better.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,920
borcester rhymes
Shimano brakes. I had a set of saint 810s and they were reliable, powerful, and while they occasionally had an inconsistent bite point, it was a few mm different, and never not there. Meanwhile, my unreliable and downright scary xt brakes have been reliable and powerful since day 1 through two hoses changes, one bleed, and like four bikes, on three downhill and two trail bikes.

Marzocchi 888CR. That fork was such a revelation compared to the ultra high end boxxers I had run previously. It moved through its travel, had compression that worked, had a stiff chassis, and good customer support when I needed it. I should have run a firmer spring on it, but I was able to go so much faster than I ever was on either my used 2010 C2R2 or my brand new 2011 C2R2 that it's not even funny. I'll take the brake dive of an undersprung fork over one that doesn't move, ever.

29" wheels. Despite all the melodrama about how flexy the wheels are and how they're terrible for everything, they're really just bigger wheels that do some things better.
 

slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
Oh, I almost forgot my VP 133DH pedals! I'm on my second set now (bought them for $13, brand new). The first one gave up after twleve years of abuse with zero maintenance. I took the first set off because the fixing jaws were so worn new cleats would simply slip off. But the bearings and bushings were still running strong, so I kept them around for spares.
 

FlipSide

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2001
1,376
804
Gonna go with the Rockshox Reverb.

Statistically terrible if you read these forums, but I've had solid reliability. Best post out there if you're needing 150mm of drop and stealth routing.
Good call! I am on my 3rd season with the Reverb. Absolutely faultless and super reliable.

I also have good experience with Avid brakes. I still have a set of 2006 Juicy7 on my XC hardtail. Still working perfectly, I bleed them every 2 years as basic maintenance, but that's it. By reading the Elixirs horror stories, it seems Avid somehow forgot how to make good brakes along the way... :(
 

mtg

Green with Envy
Sep 21, 2009
1,862
1,604
Denver, CO
I have a pair of absolutely unrideable Mallets that just keep going. Ironically, friends riding "other" clipless pedals that gave me a bunch of shit early on have gone through multiple sets of their "indestructible" pedals in the same time period.
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
- Alex Supra D for me too, light / cheap / impressively strong.
- Formula brakes which many seem to hate, my 2011 Ones have been going forever and more consistently than anything else I've owned (virtually everything).
- Hope Pro II hubs, not a "bad" component, but a somewhat "budget" hub I downgraded to from DT and Hadley at the end of 2006 and I'm still using 3 of the 4 hubs I bought 9 years later. I upgraded one of the rears to an Evo after breaking two of the older thin axles.

@Hacktastic I found the old M800 super reliable too (I bought a newish pair last year for nostalgia's sake) but the reason they work so well is partially because they're not very powerful / not a lot of leverage compared to modern brakes, so they have a nice short throw and never seem to have problems. Also the C1s are lowend junk.

Somehow the bushings in my Spank Spikes fail to fail even after thousands of miles of abuse.
How much do you weigh out of curiosity? I really like mine too, but a friend had the bearings fail, I feel like it's load related since we ride similar conditions but he's heavier than me.
 

blindboxx2334

Turbo Monkey
Mar 19, 2013
1,340
101
Wets Coast
hayes stoker ace brakes, ran them on the DH, and on the trail bike and are awesome. now theyre in a box, but i will never get rid of them. I couldnt get shit for them anyways.

and the cheap octane one frames. had a void, now i have a zircus. say what you want, but they are good frames. trickle down tech at its finest. :)
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,013
Sleazattle
I have a pair of absolutely unrideable Mallets that just keep going. Ironically, friends riding "other" clipless pedals that gave me a bunch of shit early on have gone through multiple sets of their "indestructible" pedals in the same time period.
I picked up a pair of used mallets from Cycle Recycle in Seattle for $10. When I was paying for them the dude said that they belonged to Jill Kitner. I thought he may be full of shit but when I installed them I realized they weighed less than pair of regular eggbeaters. Don't know what kind of unobtanium they are made from but they are fucking light. They survived to years of daily commuting and a few years on my backup XC bike. Haven't exactly abused them but they were well used before I got them.
 

toowacky

Monkey
Feb 20, 2010
200
4
Pac NW
Sette Ryde dropper seatpost, circa 2009.

+ Inexpensive, available in 27.2mm

- Cheap, heavy as ****, sloppy, hand lever operation, died after one year.

One first in my riding group to have a dropper post. Ironically, after it died, I didn't get another dropper post, but that was primarily as I couldn't justify the $300 for a "real" one vs the $50 for the Sette. Now I'm like two in the group that are the exception-- without a dropper.
 

mykel

closer to Periwinkle
Apr 19, 2013
5,069
3,779
sw ontario canada
OG Reverb - first run to hit the US of Eh. Solid, not a problem that was not user initiated, then easily fixed.

Spank Spikes - 2 pair, one on the trail-bike, the other on the big bike. 1st and 2nd gen - again solid.

Magura Louise BAT brakes - so bad that I bought a second pair. Still going strong years later. No bleed required.
 

slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
Sette Ryde dropper seatpost, circa 2009.

+ Inexpensive, available in 27.2mm

- Cheap, heavy as ****, sloppy, hand lever operation, died after one year.

One first in my riding group to have a dropper post. Ironically, after it died, I didn't get another dropper post, but that was primarily as I couldn't justify the $300 for a "real" one vs the $50 for the Sette. Now I'm like two in the group that are the exception-- without a dropper.
Ha! I was the first one of my group to have a dropper thanks to the Humpert that Sette post was based on. Died after a year too, it relied on a plastic hexagonal sleeve to avoid rotation...
 

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,479
4,719
Australia
Spank Spikes - 2 pair, one on the trail-bike, the other on the big bike. 1st and 2nd gen - again solid.
:-(

My Spikes went through two sets of bearings and an axle in 6 months. When I asked the rep about the bearings the reply I got was - "yeah that happens". Not on $150 pedals it bloody shouldn't.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,852
9,557
AK
I picked up a pair of used mallets from Cycle Recycle in Seattle for $10. When I was paying for them the dude said that they belonged to Jill Kitner. I thought he may be full of shit but when I installed them I realized they weighed less than pair of regular eggbeaters. Don't know what kind of unobtanium they are made from but they are fucking light. They survived to years of daily commuting and a few years on my backup XC bike. Haven't exactly abused them but they were well used before I got them.
Doesn't seem possible, given how light regular legeaters are.

Mine are the CB cobalt carbon handlebar (the wall thickness isn't even consistent around the circumference and it doesn't seem to be a design feature!). Still, it's light and has worked for a few years on my fatbike.

And the M800 Saint derailleur, the old style that mounts to the axle. That thing was crazy strong, like bust-rocks as you go by-strong. I got it because it was cheap, a short cage, and would work with my axle, but it was a great buy, it was damn near impossible to kill, even at places known for killing derailleurs.