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Your most disappointing bike related purchase, what was it?

Muddy

Muddy

ancient crusty bog dude
Jul 7, 2013
2,034
912
Free Soda Refills at Fuddruckers
Hope RX4+ Calipers

Started assembling a new frame end of summer, based on Tech2 M4 EVO brakeset having been flawless for ten years, ordered RX4 sets from the UK and, ordered another set to update a bike. These being about the only brake calipers in-stock about anywhere during Various Corn 19/20/?? 5 spare sets of brakepads got ordered.

Pads w/ one of the 4 were too big - stamped Galfer for some reason. All five set of spares were labeled from Hope for my version of RX4, and these were all too small.

Bench bled one caliper and appeared to function. No matter what later was done on the bike, lever feel was totally absent - pistons would stay closed. With bleed blocks, feel was great.

Not sure if the Caliper were also mis-labeled (SRAM vs. Shimano), the shop acknowledged a massive snafu and agreed an RMA was needed. Never did learn if the caliper were not in proper boxes.
 
maxyedor

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,141
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
Every tire that's not a Minion/Minion spin-off or Minion clone. Every few years I get the urge to try something new again, ride it 4 times, throw it in the trash and get another Minion.

Pretty much everything else in the last 10 years or so has been fairly adequate. Yeah I've bought cheap parts and gotten hosed, but that's the cheap parts gamble, nothing has been truly disappointing, expect for tires.
 
E

ebarker9

Monkey
Oct 2, 2007
884
278
Recently, TLD A2 helmet. Pads started falling apart almost immediately. Most of the velcro attachment points fell off shortly thereafter.
 
SkullCrack

SkullCrack

Monkey
Sep 3, 2004
709
145
PNW
Corsair Marque. What a piece of shit. The frame's lower linkage bottomed out against the frame before the shock reached full travel. To make matters worse, the customer service was abysmal and borderline rude. The idler pulley issues were just icing on the cake. I've made it a point to steer clear of any product Pablo or Doug are involved with ever since.

Maybe it also explains why I haven't jumped on the high pivot/idler bandwagon this time around.

MarqueDriveSide.jpg
 
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Olly

Olly

Monkey
Oct 1, 2015
157
76
I had an RST Mozo Pro fork, which I bent by riding off a kerb a bit too aggressively. Then there was an early Superstar dropper post which had so much stiction it was quicker and easier to stop and lower the post manually. When I emailed them about it, their response was effectively "well duh, what did you expect?"

Those two were pretty cheap, so their shittiness was to be expected. But my Giro Xen helmet was pricey. It fitted really well, but I tend to sweat quite a bit and the forehead pads weren't up to it. On most rides I'd quickly overwhelm them and get a constant stream of sweat running into my eyes. Fully awesome.
 
toodles

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,824
5,201
Australia
Torn between two failures

A Mojo Boxxer cartridge with one dial to adjust both rebound and compression damping. Weirdly they got a lot of good reviews but I could never get the rebound fast enough without taking away all the compression even after the importer revalved it for me. Sucked the fun out of riding for me so much, but fortunately was an easy fix (return fork to stock).

The other one was an RST Alfalfa dual crown fork. I bought a Mongoose NX9.7 for junior DH races but the Judy XL for damper exploded on me every third ride and the oil would go sink into the lower and stop the fork compressing more than an inch. That was bad enough, but I saved up to replace the fork by working at a burger place all year and still couldn't afford a 20mm wheel so I bought the only dual crown that had adapters to work with a QR wheel (mistake I know). RST alfalfa - the stickiest, most horrible and plasticky fork. If you didn't strip and regrease the thing every few laps it got so sticky the damping effectively changed. I couldn't even afford to replace it so I raced it for a year until I got a second hand Boxxer to replace it. Nearly gave up riding because of that stupid thing.

Bonus - bought an intense m3. None of the geo matched the charts at all. Rode it one day and hated it so much I swapped it for an Ironhorse Sunday. Best decision I ever made.
 
Jm_

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,065
10,628
AK
toodles said:
Torn between two failures

A Mojo Boxxer cartridge with one dial to adjust both rebound and compression damping. Weirdly they got a lot of good reviews but I could never get the rebound fast enough without taking away all the compression even after the importer revalved it for me. Sucked the fun out of riding for me so much, but fortunately was an easy fix (return fork to stock).

The other one was an RST Alfalfa dual crown fork. I bought a Mongoose NX9.7 for junior DH races but the Judy XL for damper exploded on me every third ride and the oil would go sink into the lower and stop the fork compressing more than an inch. That was bad enough, but I saved up to replace the fork by working at a burger place all year and still couldn't afford a 20mm wheel so I bought the only dual crown that had adapters to work with a QR wheel (mistake I know). RST alfalfa - the stickiest, most horrible and plasticky fork. If you didn't strip and regrease the thing every few laps it got so sticky the damping effectively changed. I couldn't even afford to replace it so I raced it for a year until I got a second hand Boxxer to replace it. Nearly gave up riding because of that stupid thing.

Bonus - bought an intense m3. None of the geo matched the charts at all. Rode it one day and hated it so much I swapped it for an Ironhorse Sunday. Best decision I ever made.
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Well...a boxxer just in general for that era. Probably better than a lot due to a semi-reliable chassis, which at that point few people had nailed down either, but piss poor damping and you thought you were getting something that would work...given how much you were spending. But yeah, you could do much, much worse given all the crazy crap going on with the bullit bros, hannebrokemyleg, etc.
 
toodles

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,824
5,201
Australia
Jm_ said:
But yeah, you could do much, much worse given all the crazy crap going on with the bullit bros, hannebrokemyleg, etc.
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The crew i rode with back then had a Hanebrink and a ZZYZX which were neck and neck for the most stiction but the Hanebrink proved superior as the ZZYZX actually filled with water when you rode them in the rain.

Two other guys had the upside down White Brothers and a Cannondale moto fork which both leaked oil onto the disc rotors at least once.

Actually I just remembered - did any of you ride a Dorado with SPV? The TPC ones were actually sweet, but they had a SPV variant (like pedalling platform) which cost some eye-watering amount like $4000 AUD and was unrideably bad. If anyone paid full retail for one of those bad boys they'd win this thread easily.
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
55,943
21,973
Sleazattle
rideit said:
Ooh, I have one, Moots Mootaineer (00’)
super-duper expensive POS.
Had some forward-thinking design elements, and truly incredible welding, but was just too flexy to be fun.
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A titanium full suspension bike is a bad idea both financially and for performance reasons.

Now a hardtail..
 
Happymtb.fr

Happymtb.fr

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2016
2,066
1,437
SWE
johnbryanpeters said:
Whinemonkey...
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You are a bit hard on the fellow members of this distinguish forum.
Everyone here has the right, and is strongly encouraged, to describe every faulty parts/components they bought through the years as a reminder for the lizards that we will not accept their carbage anymore!
 
Gary

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,490
6,377
UK
Happymtb.fr said:
Everyone here has the right, and is strongly encouraged, to describe every faulty parts/components they bought through the years as a reminder to the lizards that we will not accept continue to buy their carbage anymore! over and over ad infinitum
Click to expand...
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
55,943
21,973
Sleazattle
rideit said:
I still sold it for a few thousand more than I paid, so it was a six-week investment.
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I think my 1997 Litespeed from weighed about 3 lbs. It was pretty damn flexy but still had more lateral rigidity than the single pivot Santa Cruz offerings a decade later.
 
iRider

iRider

Turbo Monkey
Apr 5, 2008
5,686
3,143
toodles said:
Bonus - bought an intense m3. None of the geo matched the charts at all. Rode it one day and hated it so much I swapped it for an Ironhorse Sunday.
Click to expand...
The most badass aussie DH shredder rode that bike, your arguments are invalid! I, of course, talk about Chris Kovarik. :D;)
 
iRider

iRider

Turbo Monkey
Apr 5, 2008
5,686
3,143
toodles said:
Actually I just remembered - did any of you ride a Dorado with SPV? The TPC ones were actually sweet, but they had a SPV variant (like pedalling platform) which cost some eye-watering amount like $4000 AUD and was unrideably bad. If anyone paid full retail for one of those bad boys they'd win this thread easily.
Click to expand...
Nope, I was on a TPC Dorado. While everyone was complaining about the flexy chassis I was enjoying non pogo stick performance.
BTW: Manitou-sponsored pros ran the "SPV" Dorado with TPC damper.
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
55,943
21,973
Sleazattle
Gary said:
Grumble Grumble
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I can look back at most of the stuff I use to ride and think what crap it was, but most of it was pretty damn good for the time and I can honestly say I always had a blast riding it. With the exception of bendy cassettes and Reverb posts most everything I have had on my past 3 bikes has been exceptional.
 
Jm_

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,065
10,628
AK
The worst stuff though is the self-destructing stuff that is destined to fail. Like my foes that always bent shock bolts because they were undersized, also used for the wide linkage and way too long to ever hold up, the you had to buy a $90 assembly in a never-ending issue.
 
A

Andeh

Customer Title
Mar 3, 2020
1,182
1,147
slyfink said:
which Tannus? the tubeless version or the other one? Also, I don't understand how an insert can warp a casing?!


as in truck nutz, but for your bike??? :think:
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Tubeless. I don't understand it either, as I don't have that problem with Cushcore. But both times, the tires spun true without the insert, had a huge wobble after installing the Tannus, and the wobble stayed after I took the Tannus out.

One of my buddies confronted the Tannus guys at Sea Otter, and they tried to claim it was a bad batch of Maxxis. Never mind that we've never had that issue with Cushcore.
 
Gary

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,490
6,377
UK
Westy said:
I can look back at most of the stuff I use to ride and think what crap it was, but most of it was pretty damn good for the time and I can honestly say I always had a blast riding it.
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Riding any bike is a blast.
bikes are awesome.
but that's not really the point of the thread.
 
was?

was?

Monkey
Mar 9, 2010
268
30
Dresden, Germany
Pretty much everything Acros, e13 or Ht Components ever laid their hands on. Intense Tazer Fro, two Nicolai frames and a lot of other weird stuff I'm trying not to remember.
 
6thElement

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
17,148
14,623
toodles said:
The crew i rode with back then had a Hanebrink and a ZZYZX which were neck and neck for the most stiction but the Hanebrink proved superior as the ZZYZX actually filled with water when you rode them in the rain.
Click to expand...
No idea if they're coincidence or it's somehow related. But I was surprised to find that it's an actual place.

goo.gl

Zzyzx · California

California
goo.gl goo.gl
 
aenema

aenema

almost 100% positive
Sep 5, 2008
307
111
Any aluminum intense bikes in the early 2000's. Maybe still but I'll never know. So much money for such terrible quality and support.
 
HardtailHack

HardtailHack

used an iron once
Jan 20, 2009
7,666
7,022
was? said:
Pretty much everything Acros, e13 or Ht Components ever laid their hands on. Intense Tazer Fro, two Nicolai frames and a lot of other weird stuff I'm trying not to remember.
Click to expand...
What was wrong with the Nicolais? I've had no issues with Acros headsets and BB's.
 
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