re: the coaching thing – take 5 riders, time them on a ride then send them off for coachign and time them on the same route afterwards?

Also – I think the whole 'upgrade' thing could be done more scientifically – how much time on a given route does changing wheels/tyres/forks/brakes actually make.

Group test: Mountain biking magazine subscriptions

Singletrack
MBR
MBUK
Dirt

🙂

I suppose if its to relate to the STW readership then;

1. pre-1939 tractors
2. free porn sites
3. 'real' ale
4. divorce lawyers
5. Special friends called Dave
6. Best fork to 'own' someone with.

Trail Centre Cafes
Lubes

Also like to see a second-hand challenge eg: 4 writers to build a bike out of second hand bits off STW/ebay/bikeradar (perhaps up to £500 HT or £750 FS) then test each others bikes, then sell them on… (not sure if the advertisers would like it though… 😉 )

I'm Dave…<Waves to all>

It would be quite fun to de-badge some components and bikes, have people test them, then do a "reveal" wouldn't it

I reckon for that to work in some cases they'd need to be blindfolded.

Now that would be an amusing bike grouptest….:)

C2W bikes. take a selection of bikes that nestle close to the £1000 range, maybe 2 options for each of

hardtail
full sus
roadbike
hybrid

and see how they do? could also have a conjoining article mentioning which schemes there are, that some LBS take halfords, which mail order shops do etc etc

5lab – they did one of those.

I like to see a massive group test of disc brakes with some real data rather than just feel and favouritism but I'd like to see it done with a control pad in all the brakes.

Then maybe a test the following issue of various pads testing in a control brake.

Maybe some testing of how much difference bedding in pads actually makes.

How about a test of cartridge bearings. Branded vs cheap, left alone vs cleaned and packed with extra grease?

everyone takes 2k, and drops it on whatever bike/saucy components/fancy frame etc they want, no freebies, and compare the resulting bikes afterwards.

It'd be interesting to see some readers bikes tested after they've modified them eg what dothe test riders think of the "improvements" such as bigger forks, changes in wheelsets and whether they are worth making when compared against the stock bike. It might just prove to me that I'm wasting money on pointless upgrades… 🙁 Then perhaps their suggestions for what they would upgrade??

Mark – Resident Grumpy

As it happens 'bunny I'm currently working on something very much along those lines right now

Well if you want a tester….. 😉

*drops hint with sledgehammer*

Great Apes

It would be quite fun to de-badge some components and bikes, have people test them, then do a "reveal" wouldn't it

I *think* st did this a couple of years ago with a Charge Duster and a Charge Duster Ti. They had them painted in white and black, and asked people to compare them. The results were interesting, although not entirely reassuring for those of us who had just dropped a heap of cash on a Ti hardtail… 😉

Candodavid – Member

I'm Dave…<Waves to all>
Has geetee been in touch?! 😉

As for testing forum members, that could be quite interesting. "handles well, although quite a lot of sag up front. Struggles on some climbs, and, most importantly, failed the 'provocative post from Fred' test".

My 2p worth, I think a 'useless stuff we've tested' piece would actually be useful. Some of the car mags do it when they're testing the 'car of the year' – they have 'turkeys of the year'.

I'd be interested in a test of the current crop of posh shocks. Maybe CCDB, Elka Stage 5, Bos Stoy and Fox RC4 all run on the same reference bike to see if they really make that much difference for non-downhill-mentalist riding.

How about a top gear style challenge. DH bikes for under £350. Then enter races etc.

Mudguards.
Sunnies.
Midge repellant.
GPS's.

With the number of bikes getting nicked a test of alarms, ground anchors ,chains etc

Brits v Yanks Trail Frames

maybe…

Orange 5 & Pace RC405

versus

Yeti ASR5 & Santa Cruz Blur LT / Nickel

Comparison of frame builders: Stuff like changing dropouts, or adding / removing cable stops and rack-mounts the like, and then, the quality of their powder-coating / refrub.

Look at stuff like quality of the work, turnaround times, customer service and the like.

(Declaring an overtly personal interest in the outcome 😀 ).

"PeterPoddy – Member

New versus old. Compare new, 5 year old, 10yo and 15yo bikes of the same type…."

I like this one. It's something the motorbike magazines do from time to time, every GSXR750 ever or whatever. Makes for an interesting read, gives you an idea of progress and trends. Wouldn't even have to be such old ones, it could be more interesting to compare last year/this year with a specific model.

"StuE – Member

With the number of bikes getting nicked a test of alarms, ground anchors ,chains etc"

Quite a hard one to do, because it has to be destructive testing, and because a lot of lock companies quite sensibly won't want to take part if the test regime's remotely effective

(one of the big motorbike magazines once changed their test format for a locks grouptest because all but 2 lock providers refused to provide a sample when they said "We'll test with boltcroppers". So rather than go out and spend £2000 on locks in order to write an article that said "These all got cut instantly with boltcutters" and pissing off almost all of their advertisers, they just changed the test to include only ineffective attacks, and got sent the full selection of locks, all of which passed the reduced test. Marvellous)

Lets have a test of £99 FS bikes – all at a trail center – prize for the fastest lap of the Wall, prize for the most bits to fall off.

A Finnish bike mag (more generic then stw) did that test. The conclusion was:

-Those bikes should come with a big warning not to ride offroad or over big bumps
-The handling improved greatly when the rear shock was replaced with a piece of wood
-Dads who like their kids should not buy them bikes like that.

Following on from littlegirlbunny post maybe some tests by readers of STW