Getting a few things off my mountain biking chest.
Sometimes it’s good to moan. It can help get rid of frustrations. A problem shared is a problem halved and all that. Clear the air and move on.
With that in mind, these are the 10 main things that have been bugging me with bikes for the past few years.
Semi-lightheartedly, here goes nothing…
Carbon (apart from rims)
Let’s kick things off with a biggie. Aside from the ecological argument (that I don’t want to get sidetracked by), I just don’t think carbon is worth the money. The amount of extra £-pounds you have to spend to save one or two lb-pounds is faintly outrageous. Arguably most of that weight saving is due to the bike industry seemingly having given up on even trying to make metal bikes light(er), especially North American brands. And a lot of the time I think it’s a worse performing material than metal. The one exception is wheel rims. Carbon rims can be the best rims available. Still loads of money, mind.
High-set helmet peaks
I’m going to pin this one on Specialized. Although other brands are hopping on board this aesthetic, I think Spesh was the first to bring out helmets with peaks set bizarrely far-too-high. High to the point of actually being pointless. Even if you don’t live anywhere that sunny, these high peaks now make dusk rides an exercise in squinting and, quite frankly, dangerous.
Thru-headset anything
Yep, the classic. People may be bored of moaning about thru-headset cable routing but we need to keep up the pressure. Not only does it add complexity and cost to routing service jobs, it doesn’t even look better than regular routing. It’s a disease that’s drifted over from dropbar bikes and it can drift off back there thanks.
Torx bolts
Is it just me, or are torx bolts more prone to rounding out than Allen key bolts? Especially on items that aren’t disc rotor bolts. Any test bike from torx-tastic Scott, for example, usually ends up heading back post-test period with all of the torx bolts looking scratty and mashed. Hex FTW.
Disc mounts on chainstays
Am not exactly sure if brands are putting calipers on the chain stay for suspension-v-braking reasons but I am sure that such a location makes it much more difficult to get at the caliper mount bolts, especially with a multi-tool. And as for the introduction of the patently awful flat-mount standard coming in from roadie world… No. Just no. Can’t we just bring back I.S.? That was clearly superior.
Tokenistic adjustments
One reason why I don’t pick on brands that don’t offer proportional chainstays or flipchips, is because the brands that do offer these things very rarely do it to a sufficient degree. 11mm difference in chain stay length between Small and XX-Large? 0.5° change in geometry via a flipchip? Hardly worth it. If you’re going to market sizing/adjustments, at least make it justifiable.
Curvy rates
Whether this is suspension frame leverage or air springs, I rarely get along with curves that aren’t consistent. I can get them to function okay but in a world where most riders (understandably) don’t want to spend hours and hours setting up a pushbike, these curves are often a recipe for extremely poor bike setup and thus handling. The marketing idea of ‘supple at sag, rampy at the end’ is not what a lot of riders end up sat on.
Silicone grippers
Helmets. Knee pads. Liner shorts. Any of these that have silicone grippers frequently get on my wick. Sometime literally. Essentially using hot glue to keep cycling apparel in place. Ugh.
Car industry aping
All these ‘Works’ bikes. Or eebs with stronger motors in the top tier models. Feels very Beemer M Series. Naff.
And finally…
The tenth slot is open to you. Add your suggestions below!
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I don’t, eMTBs are just better IMO. Not better in every way, but over-all better. I’m 50 now, but I’m fit and well, I don’t need one, but I love them.Â
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This. Whoever signed this design off deserves to be made to set up every mech with them on forever. A truly stupid piece of design engineeringÂ
Probably goes without saying that I don’t do big sends… but do have my peak in the high position if using goggles. Adjustable peaks, so you can pop you googles up there, or drop the peak down for low sun, have their uses. It’s the “always high as to not stop sun or rain" peaks that Benji was complaining about, I think. Adjustable is good.
goggles and half shell helmets is something I thought (and was happy) went away. not sure we can blame “the industry" for that, more likely it was minor gravity pros and influencers with goggle sponsors who didn’t want to wear a full face helmet on easier terrain.
Yes, it was mentioned earlier, as was the lack of access to post mount bolts when mounted on chainstays. Now as I see it, because flat mount bolts from the bottom upwards, it solves that issue.Â
Of course what it doesn’t solve is having mismatched calipers on the front and back of your MTB.Â
Those Specialized helmets (and similar brands) look terrible and the visors are just a waste of time like that. I’d rather have a smaller, lower peak that works better both aesthetically and practically.Â
Stop making pedals that can only be removed or installed with an Allen key, my knuckles prefer it when I can use a nice big pedal spanner!
I think it went away once the ews mandated full face helmets.Â
Another one. The way the axle on fox 36s narrows so it’s harder to line up and then needs a pinch bolt tightening up as well. Why? Has anyone ever managed to drop a front wheel out of a fork that doesn’t have a pinch bolt. Just more unnecessary complicationsÂ
It’s not to keep your axle in, it’s because it’s a floating axle: to accommodate the (small) variations in hub widths, the axle floats in the right fork leg, until you do up that pinch bolt.
If it bothers you, you could switch to the QR axle, that uses a sleeve you fix with the pinch bolt, and ever after all you do is unscrew the through axle.
All the ‘standards’ that are anything but standard
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Trying to sell bikes at silly prices based on the assumption higher paid people will buy them on salary sacrificeÂ
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An industry led by people who don’t appear to be able to learn from the pastÂ
Heres the rub though.
Would you like still riding about on a 26 1 3/8’s cottered cranked sturmey archer’d bike with a 1inch threaded headset and loose ball bearings all over the shop?
“Standards" don’t mean it comes as standard. It means that within tolerances separately engineered items, constructed to the same specification, will function together.
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i just use a socket set with a massive breaker bar, keeps the knuckles plenty far away
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I grease the pedal axles when installing. Then remove pedals with a multitool.
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And on the “pushing of e-bikes" subject, just been chatting to a colleague about him getting into mountain biking.
He’s been “researching" and had decided that the best thing for him to get is a Levo Turbo and chipping it. This has come from some of his other mates and a couple of shop guys that he spoke to. (I’d hope they didn’t suggest the chipping).
He’s also not yet 30 and runs on and off road marathons and ultras.
I was somewhat taken aback at the instant leap to a 6 odd grand ebike from his current riding to work and back on a 3 speed town bike…
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Just use a nice big T handle allen key! its well easy, and much easier to install with an allen key.
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I’m annoyed when pedals DON’T have the allen key option
Has to be a contender for euphemism of the day
Surely the same logic applies to recreational cycling?
…….
Ah yeah, but have you tried to buy a bottom bracket lately? Or a headset? OK, with your own bike that you’re familiar with, but **** me, the number of combinations to choose from is quite ridiculous.
eg. one brand, top level, there are multiple options below most of them
This is where the industry as a whole has truly shot itself in the foot.Â
They’ve made it pretty much impossible for a shop to have the right parts in stock for a repair, whether that’s one the customer wants to do themselves or they want to take the bike in for repair.
No shop can ever have every BB or headset or freehub now. Everything needs to be special ordered. This makes it frustrating for the consumer and more likely that they’ll shop online which in turn puts the shop under financial pressure.
I do wonder if riders who’ve gone straight to eebs will really appreciate the assistance? And if they ever try a neeb, won’t it feel like absolute torture?
Or direct mount chainrings? Why oh why oh why couldn’t they just have settled on one standard pattern?
So distributors need to step up, not the LBS. In my (B2B IT) industry, I can place an order with a distributor up until around 5pm for next day delivery to my customer.Â
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What a weird argument. Weird because this is thread is about what we would like the industry to stop doing – we say increasing the number of “standards" – you say the distributors need to step up. So, the increasing standards is a good thing for us and we’re just being idiots? Fair enough.