I hate Northwind’s Ellsworth just from looking at that picture of it. That is GRIM 😯

Intense Tracer Mk1. Bought the frame whilst I was sidelined with a broken clavicle, and once I’d built it up it was handling nightmare.

Despite much research, advise, tuning, fettling with bearings & shock mounts etc, and a change of shock, it felt like a wallowing mess.

🙁

Northwind – Member
This godawful piece of shit

You know when a bike just looks “right”? Not that.

Interesting thread this. Some very popular bikes – Soul, 456ti, Five, etc are getting mentions. Would love to know what people have loved compared to what they hated.

One thing I notice is how some folks ride the back of a bike, and some ride the front – look at the tyre setup on Martin Maes’ bike in this link for example, and Danny Hart had similar for that Champery run – so what one rider finds to be a nice, compliant rear end is a back breaker or a noodly mess to another.

another vote for the cotic roadrat – i still use it as a bad weather commuter, but I agree the flexy frame, sliding dropouts/mudgaurd/rack issues make me want to smash it to bits sometimes.

Also the Krampus – really wanted to love it, but somehow to get it set up for me everything was a bodge. Rear wheel never really fitted straight, and would slide in the dropouts under heavy braking, it steered way worse than a 29er (slow and massive turning circle), and the death knell was the knards. Like riding slicks on ice. Useless.

Both those bikes have made me allergic to anything steel, and esp with sliding dropouts. they really do make getting a rear wheel out complete COCKBAGS!

ah, thats better! 🙂

Scandal – but only because I had a size too small and it was cramped. Extra long stem fixed it, but then it felt no better than a mid-90’s hardtail. Lesson learnt – don’t rely on manufacturers size charts.

On the other hand -inbreds – ace! Can’t believe all the hate. Just build them light and singlespeed then they whip along just fine.

Interesting to see a few mention the tricross – I love mine (singlecross). But I use it as a commuter, and it has the perfect qualities for that, i.e. efficient, reliable, handles random detours and heavy loads and nothing too exciting on a monday morning.

Specialized tricross. Always felt slightly short, and the forks juddered horrendously under braking. Which Specialized didn’t see as an issue, so I spent the 2 years I commuted on it doing 90% of my braking with the rear brake only. When my wife spilt paint removed on its forks I scrapped the whole thing.

Ti456 (Lynskey)..loved it right up to the point the back end fell off mid-ride…hate developed during each step back home.

another vote for the Tricross. I still have mine, I use it as a commuter and a tourer. I think the alu is way too soft, i’m forever stripping various threaded parts on it. It really ticks me off. It also has a stupid headset size, which is impossible to find over here. But as a commuter, it’s decent and it has taken a battering. As a tourer, i can take to all sorts of places and if it gets nicked, it isn’t the end of the world (unlike losing a custom made thing).

Also, not happy with my liteville atm. It keeps trying to put me in hospital.

odd – having just got a dialled PA i instantly thought – ahh crap. it was long and pitched me over teh front and didnt go around corners. however since i`ve swapped a few bits around, got a shorter stem and wider bars, inline post, i really like it. so much so the FS is gathering dust.

I had a dmr exalt that i grew to hate. just too heavy.

Schweiz – you sure it isn’t a faulty shock? I have an XL Sultan and it pedals superbly, barely a hint of bob

Giant XTC full suss – I thought it was great until I test rode some decent full-sussers, then couldn’t wait to get rid of it. The shock setup was never right for me, and it made the Sub-5 that replaced it feel like the best bike ever…

There is something about the looks of Lapierre bikes which I don’t like. I owned an Orange 5 which thankfully got stolen.

Don’t have any as i’ve liked every bike i’ve ever owned.

Out of my current bikes i have…

Hated my 456 summer season. Hated it. Really really hated it.

I like mine.

Stumpjumper Evo 26″ worst

I really, really like mine.

1997 Pro-Flex Animal.

That reminds me. A 1996 Proflex Xp-X. Elastomer sprung front and rear suspension, with a Girvin Vector fork that wouldn’t move unless launching off a cliff, plus Magura hydraulic rim brakes that were considerably less powerful than ordinary cantilevers, oh, and you had to buy an upgrade for them so you could take the wheel out without deflating the tyre. I upgraded the rear shock with a coil spring – the suspension then worked but pogoed over every tiny ripple. The only good thing about it was the Z3 Bombers I fitted.

Orange 5.I really tried to like it for a year but admitted defeat and sold it.

On One Whippet – stiff in the wrong places (kicks you up the arse), flexy in the wrong places (noodles a fair bit).

I love my rigid SS Whippet! It has a Ti seatpost which seems to work better than the one supplied.

For me it would have to be my very first “proper” MTB. A Claud Butler Cape Wrath. Spent £500 on it which was a lot of money to me at the time. Bought it from a bike shop who happily sold me a frame 3 sizes too big for me. Spec was brilliant for the cost though. Full Deore transmission, Hayes hydraulic brakes and branded finishing kit.

Spent a load of money on it for new brakes, wheels, and a few bits and bobs in an effort to get it to run better. Eventually realised I was polishing a turd and moved it on. Not a bad sell at £150 after nearly 6 years of ownership!

Guy who bought it was using it as a donor bike for his son.

2005 Kona Coiler – Just never felt right and had the worst Hayes 9 brakes ever made, also it was next to useless uphill.

So, the current top most hated bike are…

(the next have only got 1 or 2 votes)

2007 orange P7 was ace. Sold frame to buy the latest/last reincarnation of the P7, probably the 2010 model. Swapped all the bits over and it was the slowest, heaviest pile of garbage I’ve owned

Interesting to see the comments on horizontal drop outs. It seems you can’t buy a hardtail these days without either these or some awful looking adjustable drop out just to keep a minority of beardy single speeders happy.

I had a 2008 Meta 5 which I loved and found it was made for me. The inevitable happened and it was replaced by a 2010 frame. The bike was never the same after. 🙁

Interesting thread this. Some very popular bikes – Soul, 456ti, Five, etc are getting mentions. Would love to know what people have loved compared to what they hated.

I sold an old 853 Voodoo Bizango frame to someone in Brighton who didn’t like his Soul – but loved the Bizango.

I bought it for £80 but never built it up so sold it for the same.

PePPeR – Member
Dialled bikes Prince Albert, just no life in it whatsoever, I’d sold a wonderfully lively Saracen Zen which although cheap had been a fun thing to ride in the same mould.

I was the other way round my Zen got retired in place of the Prince Albert – again short stem and wide bars makes it better. The Zen wasn’t bad but the PA was better.

The one I truly hated was a Pompetamine with the 8speed Alfine and midge bars – just never got on with the ergonomics off-road and the weight on-road made it a joyless piece of scrap.

Had a sliding drop-out inbred too which I shipped on mainly because of the weight and dull ride characteristics.

mikewsmith – Member
Never hated, demo’d bikes that I walked away from being glad I had done the demo to find out…
Orange 5/Alpine – Just don’t get it, especially for the money
Original Kona Dawg – just so dull
mikewsmith – Member
Never hated, demo’d bikes that I walked away from being glad I had done the demo to find out…
Orange 5/Alpine – Just don’t get it, especially for the money
Original Kona Dawg – just so dull

Agree re the Orange bikes inc the old P7. When I was looking to upgrade from my Raleigh(and sons Trek 8000)I tried a mates P7 and hated it, ended up with a Bontrager Privateer which I still have but needs some renovation work. Rode that bike for 16yrs till I convinced myself I needed a bouncy bike, which took 3yrs of bike testing and demo days to arrive at;;;;;;;;

A Kona Dawg Primo 😆

Tested bikes from Orange, Rocky Mountain, Spec, Trek and Cove Hustler. On the day I chose the Kona I also rode the Hustler and an ETSX for the 3rd time but this time on my home trail. Kona was head and shoulders better than the other two. The guys I was riding with couldn’t believe how much faster I was on the Kona which as you rightly say was receiving poor reviews at the time 🙄 Bought in 2005 and still riding it. Bontrager replaced by. A Blue Pig. Kona about to be supplemented, not replaced, by a RM Altitude 😆

there hasn’t been a bike that i have absolutely hated,BUT i just never gelled with my 2006 stumpy fsr comp.

just felt like work riding it on the flat and uphill (if that makes any sense?)

Another vote for the 456ss. I hated it.So I spent more £’s upgrading the components, thinking that would help. But you cant buy love. And I so wanted to love it.

But I do still love my inbred 29er, singlespeed, light wheels, a cracking bike, its done the PDS and South downs. I’ll keep her forever.

Only one I can think of was my old 2008 Giant XTC. Too short forks for the head angle, twitchy as anything even for XC racing, and stiff as a board. Broke ribs and collar bone on it. Gave the frame away after stripping it down a year later to replace it with a Scott Scale – wonderful bike.

Not an Inbred hater – loved my two (still have one 26inch SS in Ireland at folks house)

I thought this was going to be great when I was building it up

but for me it was terrible to ride, on the downs it felt like it was trying to throw me off at any moment.

Hating is a strong word but I couldn’t get on with the Dialled Alpine, really cramped cockpit which I tried to open up with a moderately long stem and a layback post(still never worked ). It was good fun in some situations but not what I wanted it for, long forks and tight wheelbase had me struggling a bit.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/cTAp5G]Dialled1 012[/url] by Bigbroondug, on Flickr

Not many better illustrations of how geometry has evolved than that Cove above.

I wanted a G-Spot so much back int he day too. Loved the machined rocker.

It broke.

So, the current top most hated bike are…

You need to specify the Stumpjumper being. 26″. The 29″ is about as good as it gets.

My fugly vote so far goes to this

Here’s my 101 bike

Lenz Behemoth

Custom made frame for me – arrived the wrong size after practically 6 months waiting and costing a freaking fortune

Rear single pivot suspension was totally crap – was meant to be a 5″ travel bike

bonesetter – Member

My fugly vote so far goes to this

It’s aerospace-grade!

Hate is a bit strong but I never got on with my Santacruz V10 (mk1 made from scaffolding and RSJs)

My first fling with vpp or anything other than single pivot in fact and never really liked it – though we did have an understanding – point it at stuff and hold on, felt as capable as a monster truck but had zero finesse.

Any full susser I ever bought. Oh and a Pashley PDQ recumbent with overseat steering, there are no words. no words.

But to top it all, there was the absolute abject horror/terror of a Daewoo Shuttle.

It’s no good…I’ve tried squinting or turning my monitor sideways but I simply cannot improve this:

You need to specify the Stumpjumper being. 26″. The 29″ is about as good as it gets.

Sorry but if look at the data it clearly says…

Which means yours is the worstest/most hated bike.

It should actually say 6 now as i’ve changed my mind and hate mine too. It’s practically a landslide.