Funny thing with tyres, they can all measure the bead, but none of them can measure the width.

Bottle bosses – any full suss frame that can’t fit a bottle cage inside the front triangle is automatically off my list of potential buys.

Also replaceable chainrings, no idea why some of the modern single ring stuff means you have to buy a whole new crank when it’s worn out.

Are you sure about this? I thought the chain rings attach directly to the crank with no spider, but not aware of any one piece designs, unless it’s really cheap BSO parts.

@tthew – I could be mistaken, or I have much lower standards for BSOs than you! 😂

I will have a scout round as I’m sure I remember seeing a few Shimano models where that was the case.

Admittedly it’s not all single ring cranks, as that would be madness especially given the price of some of them.

Bottle bosses – any full suss frame that can’t fit a bottle cage inside the front triangle is automatically off my list of potential buys.

Yeah, this is really annoying when you’re used to riding with a hip pack and bottle on the frame. Bought a secondhand 2021 Pivot Firebird, so fairly high end bike. No bottle cage bosses in the triangle. Bought some strap on fidlock ones but there’s nowhere in the front triangle where they will fit (2022 frame has bottle cage mounts so Pivot must have taken feedback on board).

At least one zip pocket on jerseys. Even expensive onse sometimes don’t have this and I hate riding with the constant possibility of losing my keys/cards/money. Just give us a zip!

Mud isn’t the issue. It’s cow, sheep and dog poo that make it a need for me

Bottle cap covers

Yeah – not seen this as a thing before either – either as something I could buy or would wish to buy. It could be a right nause to have to flip up before drinking every time. I’d rather just gob on the bite valve or as said spit out the first mouthful….but then again my hygiene standards are pretty low!

Bottle bosses……I do feel rather smug about this one. When I ‘converted’ (hence username) back to MTB from road/tri in 2004 I was a proper outlier in the mtb world with my insistence that bottles were a thing. The world carried a bag on their back on even the shortest blasts around the local woods (and as they had a bag, they might as well fill it to the brim with other tat while they were at it). Not saying backpacks don’t have their place but they are a necessary evil not a default option. A bottle and oneup tool inserted in the orifice of your choice sees you right for 90% of rides.

Missed out sealed headset bearings. Most bikes now come with a sealed lower bearing thanks to tapered steerers but some bikes still have a loose ball one up top, seizes up at the first sign of moisture.

I’ve not seen a non-replaceable chainring on anything over about 150 quid (complete bke) since forever…

The original chainset on my Hoodoo had a supposedly replaceable 4 bolt chainring but it’s such an odd BCD that no-one can source replacements. It also uses a ridiculously long Square Taper BB (to match the Boost rear end) that is also unobtainable so that’s a £500 bike with a throwaway front half of the drivetrain! My Merida hybrid also has a triple chainset that is riveted together, that was a £400 bike when new and is only 4 years old (bought second-hand for £80 during the pandemic, had never been used!).

Mags and online reviewers often don’t help here. I’ve lost count of the times the phrase ‘nice touch’ is used to describe some absolutely basic functionality on an extremely expensive item. Reflective accents on a garment are not a ‘nice touch’ they are the bare minimum!

When I got into MTBing, my Isostar bottle (remember when a slightly bitter lemon flavour powder was literally the ONLY energy drink?!) had a flip top.

A group of us on an MTB trip to Dartmoor – one guy was horrendously ill as a result of that. It wasn’t food – we’d all eaten the same things – and eventually we isolated cow shit as the cause, we’d ridden through a few farmyards and bridleways across cow fields. He was really sick.

Zipped arm pit vents on all jackets

And removable hood so everyone is happy!

Speaking of cranks, especially with 1x. It’s handy to be able to remove the chainring without having to remove the whole crankset, as you have to do with the majority of cranksets where the axle is fixed to the driveside. Some of the old 104 BCD cranks, you could unbolt (silly old bolt standard aside) the chainring and slip it off down the crank arm. You would in some cases have to take the pedal off, but it was easier none the less!

Ooh, hood stowage! Forgot that one!

And removable hood so everyone is happy!

That’s a good one. When I want a hood I really want it, but that’s only a handful of rides a year.

Like buttons.

Those cheap Bell water bottles they sell in supermarkets have a cap cover, mine broke off years ago but the bottle is still going strong. Handy to know Decathlon sell them!

Agree helmet peaks should accommodate goggles with a retainer clip at the back.

Never had a top headset bearing seize up, ever.

@jimmy Topeak Joe Blow pumps have bleed valves. Or my Sport/Sprint does at any rate.

If you buy a new bike that has air shocks, should a shock pump really be an extra? I suppose for serial bike buyers you probably have one already but for so many people it’s their first/only bike so it should be part of the deal.

As well as hood stowage, a volume reducer should be standard for when wearing the needing the hood when not wearing a helmet. Only needs to be a little strap with a bit of velcro.

I had a bottle from Halfords in the 90s that had a lid on it, so they’ve been around for a long time, I suppose most bottles are made to be ‘quick draw’ though so you don’t want to be faffing popping a lid open then trying to close it properly on an alpine decent….

Never wanted or needed a zip on a jersey – anything I carry goes in my pack or my short pockets. I’m a mountain biker not a roadie and want a plain neck.

Similarly for the bottle/cage mounts – I had my small frame made specifically without them – I almost always ride with a pack unless I’m doing uplifts so it would be unnecessary and I preferred the DT to be clean. To fit a cage the seat tube would have had to have been 3-4″ taller and that would have looked awful imho.

If I were to run a bottle it would have to have a cap as I don’t want to be drinking from anything that low to the ground without a cover. Don’t get me started on bottle bosses under the dt!!!

just shows that there’s different sides to each argument as people have different requirements

Agree helmet peaks should accommodate goggles with a retainer clip at the back.

Is this a specific full-face helmet thing, or a suggestion for every MTB helmet? Disagree if the latter, literally no-one I ride with, spread across 3 or 4 groups uses goggles, I think they’re a pretty niche product so an accommodation for them is certainly not needed as standard.