Biggest disappointment has to be my old Trek Fuel Ex 5, 2007 model with the older 100mm travel suspension. It was heavy, slow and the suspension was constantly pumping making every climb a pain. Sold it and got a HT. It was almost new when I bought it and I was expecting much more from it after replacing my old Scott G-Zero. But it was heavier and felt much slower. The newer HiLo suspension Top Fuel I have now is much better, probably even better then the NRS described below.

Biggest surprise was my NRS, got the frame cheap from here (as always wanted to try one) and I was not expecting much from it. It turned out to be super efficient on climbs and with a newer shock improved the suspension even more, very quick and efficient bike for not much money.

Next surprise was a Kinesis Maxlight XC, great handling xc bike that was reasonably light, while was not as bad on my back as the older Giant ATX I had.

Best surprise: mate gave me an old ridgeback tange frame with homemade track ends welded in. It was just supposed to be a stop-gap bike until I got my ‘proper’ bike sorted. But it turned out to be FUN FUN FUN. It’s like Tigger became a bike. Lovely feel, hooligan silly-arse ride.

Hugely disappointed by Spesh Epic (nearly threw it off the Forth Bridge), also disappointed by a ZX1200….

Really surprised by an Orange Crush.. loads of fun!

Surprise – another Pompino owner here. I got mine to do experiments on – eg hack open the back end to shoehorn a belt drive in. (Didn’t want to do that with my fancy road bike). Pompino works better or as well as than stuff costing loads more.

Same thing happened when I bought a Scandal.

Disappointment as in not as good as I expected – Moulton – but still like riding it and still have one.

Surly KM cheapest bike ive owned by far,i now have two.The Blur and Blur LT were the two worst bikes i eva owned bloody awefull both of them

Surprise – Another vote for the Pompino. I bought my frame second hand off the classifieds here after I trashed my previous CX frame when falling off cornering too fast on a cattle grid. The Pompino’s not dripping in bling components, but I did build it up slowly and chose what went on it carefully. And I love every single mile I ride on it.

Disappointment – Any time I borrow a fancy bike and have to give it back…