Mysterious Axxios Stickers Allegedly Reduce Vibrations On Bikes

These have been around a while now, but good to see someone turning the screw a little.

Tidy piece of due diligence research there, either. Some good uncovering of things from open sources making a very compelling and well argued piece.

Wonder what could be found out with a little more professional digging….!

For once it really is just a sticker

Apparently snake oil was sometimes more likely to be effective than the “proper” cures at the time the phrase was first coined. Those stickers are b*ll*x though, everyone knows that the fastest bikes are painted orange and no amount of stickers, holograms or even stickers with holograms will change that. 😀

Where is the byline explaining how Axxios paid for flights and accommodation for the advertorial 🙂

Good piece, how do race teams get taken in by this crap?

Almost as good as the spank rims filled with foam I got sent a photo of the there day.

Felt like I’d gone back in time.

Waiting for shimano airlines to be reinvented

Bet there will be some squeaky bums in the morning at a few teams..

FFS, how dim do you have to be?

Waiting for shimano airlines to be reinvented

At least Airlines worked. Pretty well, too. Overall, it was really just a solution in search of a problem, though.

yep. Been said before.

And this is why I buy the magazine.

Well, it works on HiFi.

Remember Peter Belt?

Good bit of work there. Excellent

Awful lot of time spent analysing something that requires about two seconds to identify as bs.

From Vital, back in 2016;
http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/features/High-tech-Anti-Vibration-System-on-Commencal-DH-Bikes,10285/High-tech-Axxios-AXS-Anti-Vibration-System-on-Commencal-DH-Bikes,108105/sspomer,2

Has anyone actually bought any rather than being paid to have them? I think their marketing issue its that they are small and mostly unnoticed, whereas if you want to sell tat to mountain bikers you have to make it shiny and obvious. Personally I’d rather spend the money on a Kashima coated dropper post.

These dots (or similar) have been in the audiophile world for years, with claims from damping mechanical vibrations of transformers to altering room acoustics…. all a load of rubbish and I can confidently say that as I have a master’s degree in acoustics, although it’s pretty obvious to most people!

I spend half my working time dealing with vibration issues and I want to thank the producers of this product for giving me a much needed good laugh!

TBH even if they weren’t immediately obviously BS, then ‘”In some of the company’s literature, there is talk about how the results can only be measured by “the feelings of the athlete”’ would have made it clear.

One born every minute………….
Yep flashy, snake oil indeed.

I actually thought the article itself was a joke of some sort as I read it. Elaborate yes, but a joke.

But this “product”actually exists and at least one bike company actively promoted them on team bikes??

It truly is a post truth world out there. 🙁

(The article really isn’t a wind up is it?? I’m going to feel a right dumb ass if it is!)

Holy ****. Just went googling.

It is a real product. They really are selling this.

Was kind of hoping it was a wind up! 🙂

I bet this junk is funding a few very nice lifestyles/ fancy cars etc for the people involved too.

Just when you thought you had seen everything! 😀

EDIT: I see it costs about $1000 to fully “equip” one bike with these. 😀

I spend half my working time dealing with vibration issues

Ann Summers?

I bet this junk is funding a few very nice lifestyles/ fancy cars etc for the people involved too.

I bet it’s not! Their product is inherently incompatible with their customer demographic.

What does the venn diagram look like of: people that would benefit from this (particularly in commercial/engineering applications), and people that would be fooled into buying it? I’m guessing that there is close to zero overlap*.

When you factor in the high price of entry, the fact that their is no data to support it, and the fact they won’t send any out for testing…… I can see them selling no more than a handful.

* I can see road/mountainbikers and “audiophiles” as the only possible people who simultaneously have a) a hypothetical need for it, b) enough money to pay for it, and c) are gullible enough to believe the claims

Great article. I remember something about these a few years ago and it was clearly nonsense then- I had no idea they were still around.

However I think there’s a much bigger issue identified in one of the pictures in the main piece we need to discuss… XO cranks on a downhill bike, REALLY?! Think of the children etc.

Sadly, I suspect there will be a lot of people buying these…given the price of bikes these days that many people seem happy to buy, this on probably within their realms of ‘just believable’ and they’ll buy into it.

Then they deserve every benefit it gives them

XO cranks on a downhill bike, REALLY?! Think of the children etc.

The 7 speed DH groupset is XO…

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2017/06/26/gwyneths-school-of-witchcraft-and-wizardy-now-selling-stickers/#57a4a11945b6

Reminds me of Gwyneth Paltrows healing stickers.

Utter drivel. Worse than gold cored HDMI cables.

Nice bit of journalism. I’d like to see more of this sort of thing.

Perhaps trying to find out the truth about the hebcotro spat or reporting on what actually happened with vulpine.. or maybe these are too close to home

This is like back in the 90s when everyone tied elastic bands to the strings of their tennis racquets to ‘reduce vibration’…..that died out pretty quick too.

Its not even very convincing woo.

They need to have a word with some “nutritionists” Alkalised Water and Activated Almonds sound much more convincing

Would be interesting to read the response from Axxios and the Radon and Commencal teams, respectively.

Those graphics from the press material are like some sort of dystopian motivational poster.

I stuck my Axxios sensors onto my power balance bracelet.

You’ve no idea how awesome I’ve become.

In other, unrelated news…. the rate of smoking cessation in bicycles is up 170%

You’ve no idea how awesome I’ve become

I bet surfmat has an idea

does it matter? half the battle is for the person riding it to believe.

i bet if the rider believes in one of those stickers its more worthwhile than a few psi in the tires either way?

yes its BS but does it matter?

I had something similar stuck on the wheels of my car when I bought it!! Claimed to reduce wheel vibration!!!! Utter nonsense. I took them off straight away. Though there is now actually quite a lot of vibration, especially around 70mph.

does it matter? half the battle is for the person riding it to believe.

Yes, it matters. Dodgy advertising with no basis in scientific fact for a product which costs 1,000 euros that exploits the placebo effect is taking the piss. Some might call it a “stupid tax”, but I’d like to see how Axxios defend themselves.

It’s not like they’re trying to sell you tat for a fiver that may or may not make you feel “luckier”, this is exploitative.

Is this any different from a whole host of products that cost nothing to manufacture but we buy at stupid prices to make us feel better?

I know a bloke who imports all the die-cast belt buckles, buttons, sporran clasps and skean dubhs for 10p each from China and sells them for 50p each to a factory in Leeds who build them into Scottish paraphernalia that they export to homesick Scots all over the world, to make them feel better.