This has been done before...but discuss anyway...
http://dirt.mpora.com/featured/the-15-worst-mountain-bike-products-ever.html
http://dirt.mpora.com/featured/the-15-worst-mountain-bike-products-ever.html
Worst products...
- Thread starter JohnE
- Start date
long stems is arguable, they're actually the standard for mod trials bikes
Couple historical ones come to mind -
* Floating Hope disc brakes (with lab tubing no less)
* After market brake boosters
* Camelback bladder lids
* Basically any bike that had travel rear adjustments (mainly the ones with coil shocks...leverage ratio changes, but the spring remains the same!)
* Hopey steering damper. I knew a guy who swore by it, but damn if it didn't seem borderline dangerous to me.
* Square taper cranks
* Chris Kind headset design
* Maxxis Mobsters
* 10" head tubes
Newer ones -
* The clamp on my KS 950i dropper post...most retarded thing I've seen in years
* May be off base on this, but it seems like the flat bar trend came and went faster than Chris Christie's presidential campaign
* TALAS
* Most Kenda sidewalls/tire designs
* Various models of Hayes brakes and a lot of Avid models as well
* Floating Hope disc brakes (with lab tubing no less)
* After market brake boosters
* Camelback bladder lids
* Basically any bike that had travel rear adjustments (mainly the ones with coil shocks...leverage ratio changes, but the spring remains the same!)
* Hopey steering damper. I knew a guy who swore by it, but damn if it didn't seem borderline dangerous to me.
* Square taper cranks
* Chris Kind headset design
* Maxxis Mobsters
* 10" head tubes
Newer ones -
* The clamp on my KS 950i dropper post...most retarded thing I've seen in years
* May be off base on this, but it seems like the flat bar trend came and went faster than Chris Christie's presidential campaign
* TALAS
* Most Kenda sidewalls/tire designs
* Various models of Hayes brakes and a lot of Avid models as well
I hated these....
Several bikes and a life ago, I had a bike with Avid mechanical brakes. Holy fvck did that thing destroy pads. I was replacing them 2-3 times a year. I don't miss those at all.
Cable housings. All cable housings.
!!!! how did we forget dual control?!
I hated these....
I thought it was just me replacing pads every month or so, but I think they traded longevity and the ability to deal with heat for massive power and grab, resulting in short life and the pads glazing over rather easily. The pad adjuster flew off one time, never to be found again. The other cool thing was how the pad adjuster mechanism would back out on super rough descents, not just because I was eating up pad material, but because it actually backed out during the super rough stuff. Super-scary!
On the aftermarket brake-boosters, I'm not sure why that is such a "bad" product, although having a bunch of options of nearly the same thing is redundant, the magura HS11 and 22 brakes absolutely needed a brake booster. I'm not sure if you ever used those brakes without a booster (HS33 had a booster), but they are basically hydraulic presses pushing the frame directly outwards, vs canti or v-brakes that use leverage and "squeeze" the wheel on a pivot-point. There is no real "pivot point" with the hydro rim brakes, they just push against the frame and if you didn't have a booster, you could look down and see the frame "bow out" when you squeezed the brake lever. Sketchy without a brake-booster. That's what we had before hydro discs obviously, but they did work pretty well back in the day.
I can't recall where now, but i read/heard somewhere that rotors could be a problem with those brakes, like is in the had to be a certain brake specific set. I changed rotors almost as often as I did pads, and nothing helped. Hindsight being 20/20, I'm not certain that a specific sketchy shop here in town wasn't just trying to sell me rotors, but those brake eating worthless things never got any better.
I think I'm the only one on the planet that didn't. I had those oem on a bike I bought and seriously never had a problem with them. What were your gripes?
I hated these....
Editor on your back because he wants you to actually produce something and you're a worthless hack? Make a list, it'll get the editor off your back and more importantly get you to the pub at 5.01pm!
Anyway, like Jm I had my BB7s back out on a long descent once as well. Focuses the mind!
Anyway, like Jm I had my BB7s back out on a long descent once as well. Focuses the mind!
I got big hands and used to shift brake without intending too. They weren't very durable either. They didn't have the ergonomics of other shimano stuff.....
Got the dual controls with hydro levers for dirt cheap new from QBP, put them on one of my bikes a few years ago. Worked fine, no complaints. Works best with rapid-rise, probably the best application for it given the leverage you have to "upshift". Adaptation is always necessary and even a better product or machine can be worse at first as people try to adapt to it. This is always a concern in ergonomics and sometimes means a "better" system is not implemented or used, even if it is technically "better".
I'm NOT saying the dual controls were hands down better, they just weren't that bad and worked pretty well. More people were "afraid" of them than had actually tried them and realized they work just fine IMO.
I'm NOT saying the dual controls were hands down better, they just weren't that bad and worked pretty well. More people were "afraid" of them than had actually tried them and realized they work just fine IMO.
I think mine are still sitting in a box in my garage. I had them on two bikes across 4 years I think......never had a single problem.
Might have a lot to do with how I ride too. Dirtjumping got me in the habit of not covering my brakes unless I was going to use them but honestly I never saw them as that much different than road bike levers. Once you know the plane they shift in it seemed kind of hard for me to accidental anything.....shift or brake. I definitely didn't use rapid rise, that shlt was retarded. Using spring tension to pull the gears on down shift during a torqued up punchy climb is just dumb.......regardless of shifters.
Other than all that, yeah....what VB said. There's not a whole lot of substantiated griping in that 'article' just "OMG! worst evar!! LOL!!"
Might have a lot to do with how I ride too. Dirtjumping got me in the habit of not covering my brakes unless I was going to use them but honestly I never saw them as that much different than road bike levers. Once you know the plane they shift in it seemed kind of hard for me to accidental anything.....shift or brake. I definitely didn't use rapid rise, that shlt was retarded. Using spring tension to pull the gears on down shift during a torqued up punchy climb is just dumb.......regardless of shifters.
Other than all that, yeah....what VB said. There's not a whole lot of substantiated griping in that 'article' just "OMG! worst evar!! LOL!!"
I still run Grip Shift twisties on my YBB...due to change out after a factory refurb for it, but I have always loved the twisties and feel they have gotten better over the years.
Agree there was lots of kvetching to kvetch in the article, combined with little/no knowledge of MTBings past. Who didn't love bar ends way back when? And short fingered gloves, when that was all we had?
Agree there was lots of kvetching to kvetch in the article, combined with little/no knowledge of MTBings past. Who didn't love bar ends way back when? And short fingered gloves, when that was all we had?
Bar ends were part of the vicious self feeding cycle of road biker residue that mtbs suffered from since its inception. Short top tubes and narrow bars facilitated somewhere else to put your hands because god knows the grips sure didn't end up in the right place.
Grip shift rules for dh. Big gear swings and not sharp paddles to hit the top of your knee on. Ran 'em until last summer just because I went 10spd to get a clutch derailleur...........then got a 10sp grip shifter
I had a URT up to 2007....RM Pipeline. I still have many wheelz with #14.
Yup, plus removing and reinstalling the wheel/brakes was a major PITA.
I forgot to mention Kitsbow Soft Shell A/M Shorts...
I have a set for sale. Brand new!
I hated these....
Crappy gimmicks off the top of my head - Proflex stem (and similar suspension stems), Slingshot MTBs, Softride beam MTBs, soft tail rigid frames (with or without damping), suspension seatposts, elastomer springs (fine for bottom out bumpers though), single crown inverted forks (like the Shiver SC or Maverick SC32)
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"Worst" means sausage in Dutch.
JohnE is in the land of wurst though...
...und Deutsch auch!
I have a "soft tail rigid frame" (Moots YBB) and I love it...but I guess to each his own.
I have a "soft tail rigid frame" (Moots YBB) and I love it...but I guess to each his own.
Cannondale added a main pivot on the newest iteration of the Scalpel (29er) - they actually seem to put some thought into their attempts at a softtail. Most softtails seem like a half-assed joke made by designers rather than engineers - especially those without damping.
I think the worst new standard is press-fit BB on MTBs: http://www.bikeradar.com/us/road/gear/article/angryasian-ive-had-it-with-press-fit-bottom-brackets-38220/
I don't like the replaceable hanger on my Devinci either - cannot be changed trailside with a mini-tool. You're SOL if you need to replace it on the trail. Who was the genius who approved that design on a mountain bike?
Un-72 Shimano BB with Nylon ND side cup. Never seen one last a season. However if you have a older one and were smart enough to keep the old aluminum or steel ND side cup and utilize it with a new one. The new ones last forever.....
Free pass. Those things are cool.
I'm going with my usual, anything made in the UK, good chance it will be ****............ I would like a Curtis hardtail though.
Oh and Rockshox for sending fork after fork out with, dog eared bushings, misaligned bushings, castings machined incorrectly, no grease in forks, the Judy XL, Quadra 26R and I'm sure there's more.
Also, Kowa for thinking they could make a fork at all, yeah you had Kashima first but no shims, ported rebound and a assist coil because your air spring is ****, give up already! I didn't think I could get a worse fork than my Judy XL but I got two, oh Pace too for their ****ful forks didn't even get mine run in before the thing split.
Should stop buying weird parts, it's my own fault haha!
Middleburn and On-One are my two most hated, man they make some rubbish product.
Oh and Rockshox for sending fork after fork out with, dog eared bushings, misaligned bushings, castings machined incorrectly, no grease in forks, the Judy XL, Quadra 26R and I'm sure there's more.
Also, Kowa for thinking they could make a fork at all, yeah you had Kashima first but no shims, ported rebound and a assist coil because your air spring is ****, give up already! I didn't think I could get a worse fork than my Judy XL but I got two, oh Pace too for their ****ful forks didn't even get mine run in before the thing split.
Should stop buying weird parts, it's my own fault haha!
Middleburn and On-One are my two most hated, man they make some rubbish product.
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If you dont like it...why did you buy it?
How often do companies, magazines, or owners mention or highlight the hanger design on their bikes?