One of the chaps in our riding bunch has a really nice stumpjmper with a brain shock, but, he’s got the queerest setup in the world with his stem/bars.

just feels wrong.
Would be such an easy fix.

So as a result you spend the whole time cursing the setup when you ride it.

I had a GT something-cheap frame built as a single speed. it was a dog.

I also had a fixie built from an old frame rescued from a skip. That was like riding a barge. Still commuted almost 3000 miles before the back wheel bearings collapsed and I decided it needed ebaying.

had a kona coiler. never really got in to it the chain always bounced off & it weighed alot. tried chain tensioners etc but as soon as the rear suspension kicked in off the chain came. it never felt right either. 2007 model. never tried the later ones maybe they improved

Love the look of Specialized full suspension bikes but just cannot get on with them. Also rode a Norco DH a couple of years ago and hated every minute on it. Can’t put my finger on what is was but it just didn’t feel “right”.

2008 Orange 5 pro

GT Peace

Tsk tsk Poddy. Wash your mouth out… 😉

Where is he then?

Perhaps he’s typing a detailed description of all the bikes he’s hated, and why.

If he stays up all night, he could hit the ‘send post’ button about lunchtime tomorrow. Possibly. As long as he keeps it to one sentence about each 😀

A slightly surprising one for me as it’s almost universally liked, a Giant Anthem x. A horrible, horrible bike. By that I mean I hated it, it is undoubtedly a great bike, it must be, loads of people love it. I thought I would love it too, perfect for me on paper but just couldn’t get on with it at all. Spent so much time and money playing about with different set ups e.c.t, tried pretty much everything to unleash this ‘amazing bike’ but always felt rubbish, dead feeling and wrong both up and down.
Finally resigned myself that we were never going to get on and it was just a very costly mistake. Was very happy to see it go. Although saying this I still wouldn’t say it was a bad bike, just not a ‘me’ bike.

If he stays up all night, he could hit the ‘send post’ button about lunchtime tomorrow. Possibly. As long as he keeps it to one sentence about each

Will it be a little like “and there was this one bike, at band camp…“?

I’m going to post my Klein. Actually I quite enjoy riding it but only as a SS at which it’s great. As a geared bike, I’m pretty sure it’d be awful.

Had a Superlight, and loved it.

Replaced it with a Heckler5, and hated it.

It got passed onto someone who likes it.

Tastes differ.

There are very few bad bikes, but plenty that don’t suit everyone.

spesh fsr from about 1998? My first full suss, it was just like a riding a pogo stick, I detested it.

I persevere for a long time to try and set up a bike to my liking but the following have failed and were sold,
2005 Marin Mount Vision (Fox fork and Hope brake issues)
2005 Marin Wolf Ridge (Fox fork, Hope brake issues and flexi frame)
Pace RC303 (Harsh ride, very steep head tube and appalling build quality)
2007 Orange P7 (Heavy, unresponsive)
Rock Lobster Tig Team (Harsh ride, 90’s geometry)
2007 Stumpjumper (Unresponsive and a harsh ride)

Keepers include
2007 Orange 5 (Pre 2009 so steeper head angle)
2007 Orange Clockwork special edition (Terrible paint quality though, chips easily)
2008? Cotic Soul (Mmmmmm, Custard with green graphics)
2009 KTM Lycan 3.0 (The actual bike tested by WMB and a rarity in the uk. Proper Horst link rear with lower shock pivot on chainstays)
2008 On-One 456ti (Sweet)
2008 On_One Summer Season (Needed some time to set up properly. 130mm fork and 50mm stem sorted it out (18″ frame I’m 5’11”)
2010 Gary Fisher Paragon clown wheeler (120mm fork and 70mm stem make it a technical trail blaster)
2011 GF Rumblefish II 29er (Brilliant fun on everything but the very tightest singletrack, it’s long!)

Toys – they just needed a decent shock tune to firm up their midstroke compression (or smooth riders). shame it wasn’t done from new.

2006 Scott Genius. Hated every second of the ride on it. Needless to say I didn’t buy it.

I had a mid 90’s GT Zaskar that was so rigid it hurt my back to ride more than 5 miles ON ROAD! if I dared ride it off road it was similar (I would imagine) to an S & M session with Max Mosely…

As a few people have suggested Specialized Stumpy 08 ish (Anniversary edition.

Just felt vague and remote at the rear unless the shock was pumped-up high, then felt like a hard tail.

Also, and only just thought of this, Spesh Epic 2009. Bought used from ebay and had a rear brain shock with rebound adjustment only. Felt like a flat rear tyre most of the time, hated it. Fast though.!

So its just two Speshes I didn’t like but nothing against the brand.

Without doubt the worst bike I ever demo’ed

Without doubt the worst bike I ever demo’ed

I’m glad you’ve said that. It lessons the schoolboy pangs of wont that I get everytime I see a picture of one.

Toys – they just needed a decent shock tune to firm up their midstroke compression (or smooth riders). shame it wasn’t done from new.

Too late I sold it whithin weeks. My next full suss was a giant NRS in 2000, that was brilliant.

It lessons the schoolboy pangs of wont that I get everytime I see a picture of one.

Well, you were clearly never at school with spelling like that! If you were, you clearly didn’t pay attention in lessens. 😉

Demo’d loads, worst was a Charge Duster. Felt like a supermarket special.

And an early Giant Reign which pedalled uphill about as well as a blancmange.

Norco Sasquatch – wrong bike for the riding I was doing, incredibly heavy and pretty uncomfortable. No doubt good for what it was meant to be doing!

Sunn Xircuit Maxx – Sunn’s trials frame which a friend had in the mid/late nineties. It was lovely when he was using it as a trials bike with rigid forks. But he got into more pedally/less bouncy riding and put a pair of 130mm Manitou Xverts on it, which made it incredibly slack and generally unpleasant.

Duster Ti – just so wrong!

CaptainFlashheart – Member
you clearly didn’t pay attention in lessens.

Brilliant 🙂

Well, I was just pointing out errors of spelling, as is my want. 😉

as is my wont 😉

Indeed. If only some people knew the difference between wont and want, eh? 😉

Ti456. I’ve no idea why it got 10/10 in the mag review. It felt flexy as hell to me.

In second place the Ellsworth ID. I had a stunning Rocky Mountain Vertex before that and it was alot faster than the ID with zero rear suspension. The ID felt wrong and awkward.

Never liked the Orange 5 just seemed a lot of fuss for quite a dull bike.

Worst bike I ever rode though was one of the first Whyte full sussers that came out. It cost a fortune and to me ride shockingly bad

Corratec X bow, I think it was called. Steel unpleasant nastiness ( guess some of you will have to look that up) GT LTS boingy boingy thing, was just not right, too much plushness, however I set it up. Mates got a new Marin something full suss, maybe mount vision or that spec anyway. That just feels like a hovercraft. No feel to what you are riding terrainwise and just feels so bland and uninspiring…….

Never really got on with my GT i-Drive 5. Not sure if it was too small or the suspension system, but I just didn’t quite get it. Followed a bloke on one the other day and it does seem to get rid of a lot of pedal bob, but replaced it with a sub5 which is 5 years older with a shock without propedal which feels much more responsive and fun.

2010 Orange P7, just felt horrible.

I think my biggest bicycle disappointment was the Intense Tazer HT. I’ve bought and sold loads of frames which just didn’t suit me, size or angles-wise so disillusionment is almost par for the course but being an avid Intense fan, that build promised so much. It looked amazing, fit was spot on, weighed burger all, climbed really well and even coped pretty well (in my very incapable hands) with the local downhill track . . . but after 2 days’ riding I could hardly move 🙁 . . . but I’d buy another tomorrow . . . just to look at 8)

Stumpy 120 in 2007, replacement for a cracked 2003 Enduro. Absolute pants 🙁

Yes, OK – I got me wonts all mixed up.

My Pompino.

I certainly didn’t hate it, that’s way too strong a word, but it just didn’t come together for me, despite lots of different bar/stem/saddle/fork swaps, it just didn’t ever work. I prefer a bike to have at least some stiffness too, rather than none.

I’m not at all sure about my Onza T-Rex (trials bike), but then, I don’t think it’s very sure about me either. It always feels like a kinda stupid cartoon-wrestling match whenever we go out together, and usually involves swearing, and injuries.

As an appropriate measure of our relationship, I have had more bee stings whilst riding/wrestling that bicycle than at any other time in my life. That’s not some unusual/odd colloquialism ‘either, it really is as simple as just being stung by bees. 😯

Jonnyseven, same here: cracked 2003 enduro, warranty replaced with 120 stumpy: horrible thing!

Truly the worst bike I ever cocked a leg over, too short and imbalanced between front and rear travel.
Think I owned it for 3 months and then moved it on.
Vowed to never have another ‘dale again.

Not many in the modern age. But I found my Idrive 5 incredibly annoying, because the complicated bit was done well, loved the way the idrive itself worked… But the geometry was terribly ****ed, which turned it into an 8lb plus, long travel, XC frame. I could’ve tolerated it more if it didn’t do some things so well.