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Good bikes that reviewed poorly.

HardtailHack

used an iron once
Jan 20, 2009
6,637
5,455
Just wondering if you guys remember any bikes that were far better than the reviewer of XYZ magazine thought they were?
From what I remember there used to be a lot of bikes that were reviewed as too long or too slack and was wondering if bikes may have progressed a bit more quickly if magazines were open to things a bit outside the norm.

A lot of the "pushes in corners" issues could have been knocked on the head by just running a straight post or even doing a sandwich and turning it 'round.

I'm sure other people will remember a few bikes that were very good under a capable rider but copped a bit of a roasting from a magazine.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,032
5,924
borcester rhymes
Just wondering if you guys remember any bikes that were far better than the reviewer of XYZ magazine thought they were?
From what I remember there used to be a lot of bikes that were reviewed as too long or too slack and was wondering if bikes may have progressed a bit more quickly if magazines were open to things a bit outside the norm.

A lot of the "pushes in corners" issues could have been knocked on the head by just running a straight post or even doing a sandwich and turning it 'round.

I'm sure other people will remember a few bikes that were very good under a capable rider but copped a bit of a roasting from a magazine.
yeah so this is why I came to own the BMC

Reviews for the bike were trash:
With a lot of the hate directed toward the length of the bike and particularly toward the shock tune. All three negative reviews show a yellow bike with fox suspension- while other reviews : https://nsmb.com/articles/bmc-trailfox-tf02-review/ are pretty favorable

The linkageblog review was really pretty kind- it shows largely a mini-sunday design with an "S" shaped antisquat curve and a progressive-regressive leverage curve that are both similar to the sunday. I think BMC goofed and accidentally copied or made a good design- the rest of their dual link bikes are really not good at all, at least on paper.

The geometry, which everybody in 2014 panned as being too long, low, and slack, is now short and steep compared to everything else on the market. The BB height is still competitive, the stays are right in the ballpark, and reach is short for a looooooooooooong enduro bike, but OK for normal people.

I've owned the bike for a couple of years now and have really come to appreciate its strengths and its straightforward layout with careful design. It is NOT an enduro bike, despite it being advertised as such- it's more of a long travel trail bike, and it's really pretty good at that. It's taken a while for me to get to a happy place with the front and rear suspension, but I think that's user preference. I've lowered the front end 20mm and short-stroked the rear shock. I now have a 130mm travel trail bike that feels balanced and responsive, weighs little and cost next to nothing because of all the bad press.