Talking bike related brands here. Are there any brands that you would think twice about buying but probably still buy if it was the right product at the right price?
For me they'd include:
Raleigh (but not Diamondback cos I like them so wouldn't think twice)
Saracen
On-One (but only cos they're so popular)
Boardman
Carrera
That's probably it for me. Now for yours...
Any particular reason for your choices?
fox, i'll never buy a fox product
I am surprised the forum favourite wasn't the first name mentioned!
Kona. Frames may be nice but the level of kit for the price they are is shocking. Ellsworth, mostly because the company seems to be run by a cock. Charge seem like nice bikes, but their advertising gets on my nerves. Bionicon, just 'cos they don't look right...(there's loads of manufacturers that fall into that category though )
There's probably loads...
U.S.E shockingly bad service when things go wrong
As above except for the onone. Would'nt touch ssc.
SSC
On-One
Ragely
Hope
Pace
[i]Are there any brands that you would think twice about buying but probably still buy if it was the right product at the right price?[/i]
This seems to imply that there are some brands you will buy without a second thought regardless of whether the product is right and regardless of the price.
I may have just discovered why my expenditure is less than my income. 🙂
Gary Fisher - why- well i've never seen anything of his that i like.
SSC- attitude.
Pace -would have to come up with something very special now for me give them any money. Attitude again really.
wouldnt go near (due to experience)....
cane creek for headsets
manitou for forks
endura for shorts & gloves
BigDummy - good point, wasn't suggesting I'd buy anything just because of the brand, was more trying to find out if there are some brands that people have a stigma about but are still able to overlook that stigma in the name of having the right product.
Trek
Specialized
Gary Fisher
Coz I'm a f@%king snob no other reason really, in fact I like the look of the latest Trek bikes I'm just a to$$er....
endura
Good call, but sadly their stuff so often seems to hit the function, availability and pricing I'm after, that I just cave in and shell out another forty quid for more of their glued-together rubbish.
Boardman - cant get past the name or the Halfords connection. Stupid I know, and I've never read a bad review or heard anyone say anything negative about them...
Crank Bros
Orange Bikes - I wouldn't have one of their 'fine' products if it were given to me.
Over-priced, poorly-built tosh.
There are far better built and cheaper alternatives if you want a simple single pivot.
Crank Bros good call.
Typical form over function design.
Cannondale - probably because I remember 3 frame failures in the same race in 92 & one guy loosing his front teeth as a result!
Any product distributed by Silver fish - worst customer service I've ever known.
Topeak - didn't return my phone calls or email enquiries about sets of HID lights.
SSC - although I've had 2 different BBs off the octo, his posts on here have put me off further purchases
Crank Bros & X-Lite components.
orange, industrial tractor build, with cheaper and lower value parts each year...
recreation quality wheels on a fr frame.......do me a favour... 🙄
Crank Bros.
Crank Bros- i've never had anything from them , but i was talking them at MM in the summer a about 30 secs in to their reply i was thinking "tossers". I say them that was CB's distributors.
i wouldnt even think once about buying anything from dmr.
does that count?
Shockwave. 😕
Orange - pretentious overpriced tosh. Oh, hang on, doesn't that apply to most of the "niche" brands?
[Edit] Doh, misread the title. I wouldn't think once about buying any of these and would never consider buying. Maybe we need to start a separate thread?]
no one really comes to mind I'm not a fan of hope brakes but like there other kit. Wouldn't use dave hinde bikes again 2 weeks for some wheels and i hear i was a lucky one, not keen on billys bikes and richardsons cycles ain't the best.
that counts olly.
Crank Bros is a very good call. It'd have to be seriously good value for me to try them. I had a few sets of their egg beaters only cos they were free!! put me off anything they do that contains bearings as they died in about 3 weeks and i'm normally really light on bearings. head many an FSA headset and never had to service them once in years!
actually, yeah, theres one.
Hope brakes
while im very opinonated, and wouldnt even consider once, crank bros, DMR and a few others, i would think twice about hope.
pretty
feel nice on a static bike.
never had anything nice to say about anything ive USED thats younger than C2s though
You only buy stuff off DH as a form of punishment.
"Now son spend £50 at Dave Hindes as your penance, and wear boxing gloves in bed for 2 weeks"
Titus, after I had no end of problems with a Racer-X, mainly related to their distributor at the time being rubbish. Shame, it was a nice bike until then!
Orange
Pace
Maverick 👿
Marzocchi
Ragley Frames (hopefully brants new seatpost will hit the mark?) 😉
Gary fisher/Trek
Saracen
Kona
Crank bros pedals
these are just some of the products i've ownde that have been poor products and i've had poor service from. If i think about ot they'll be loads more.
Race Face clothing 😯
Never again. I have had two Aquanot jackets (one replacing the faulty first one). Shocking quality. Not waterproof and the zips all disintegrated within a couple of rides. Also had a pair of shorts that literally fell apart. Just my experience but never again!
No, I'll buy anything if the price is right....
Crank Bros is a very good call. It'd have to be seriously good value for me to try them. I had a few sets of their egg beaters only cos they were free!! put me off anything they do that contains bearings as they died in about 3 weeks and i'm normally really light on bearings
In defence of CB, I think their products are ok - I've had 2 sets of their pedals, and both have lasted ages (well they're still going) ................... BUT I did open them up when i first got them and the bearings were dry, so I packed them with grease before riding, and I redo this on a regular basis. I think most of the problems people have with them are down to low or nil maintenance.
Anyway, here's some stuff i wouldn't buy.........
Bionicon - looks and rides nice (mate has one) but too much to go wrong IMO.
X-Lite - back in the 90's I bent 3 sets of handlebars in a row. Customer service was top-notch, but the products weren't up to it. Actually are they still going? 😕
Nike, and the 'like Nike but more Rad' Nke 6.0. Blegh.
And sorry Cove, lovely bikes (a few mates have one or other of them) but I just cannot have a bike with a rude word on it. Imagine me turning up to work with my vulnerable/upset/abused teenagers on a handjob or a stiffee...
[i]Crank Bros- i've never had anything from them , but i was talking them at MM in the summer a about 30 secs in to their reply i was thinking "tossers". I say them that was CB's distributors. [/i]
care to shed any light on that speshpaul?
Specialized - don't know why, just never liked them (since the 80's)
Crank Bros - I like my pedals to last more than one ride.
Ragley - Not a fan of the owner and his internet groupies.
Giant bikes - cheap & nasty.
Not a brand, but I avoid Bristol LBS's at all costs.
Can I say it? Pleeeeeze - oh go on
superstar components - about the only company I would never use
SSC.
Regardless of price, his tactics are shocking
Fox Forks, even if the price was halved I just wouldn't do it.
Anything RaceFace that's designed to rotate.
Hope brakes, good for a year and then it's a battle to keep them alive.
Surprised to see Marzocchi in this thread!
i would as long as i live never ever buy superstar sh*t ever again pads that last one ride and when i asked about sending them back it was surggested that i hadn't fitted them right lol iam a mech engineer with 20years of working on forklifts or plant machinery oh and ive got a 2:1 in mech engineering so up yours superstar 👿
Anything RaceFace that's designed to rotate
lol it true.
SSC fit the bill perfectly, I've had my fingers burnt buying some kit from there despite damning reviews and then finding that the reviews were spot on. But I still get sucked in by the odd deal on the website.
Howies for me, feel nauseous when I read their 'we canoe to work after a goat cheese sandwich'
Won't buy
RaceFace but i think thats more to do with shit service from Silverfish.
Marzocchi last 3 forks i've had has had problems.
Hope brakes.
Seriously what are some of you people talking about, Saladdodger how are Giant cheap and nasty. Wozza surely fox forks are great :¬(
There will always be brands that I shy away from due to irrational adverse associations.
I find brands which have huge budget ranges or associations hard to take seriously, my memories of loads of kids at my school with £200 giant ATBs in the 90s makes it hard for me to take Giant seriously or lust after.
Bit of Top gear esque snobbery really like when Vauxhall try and make sports cars and Jezza et al take the piss.
I have never used crank bros or and spd pedal but I'm surprised they are mentioned so much as I thought that egg beater pedal was the market leader in spd's.
Also giant bikes WHAT they are surely one of the best big suppliers of quality bikes covering all disciplines in the world, and I heard the customer service is superb.
I'd think twice about Truvativ cranks after the last set I owned (ISIS) developed an annoying habit of falling off (non-drive side) at the most inconvenient time.
Avid brakes. Great when they work but [b]VERY[/b] high maintenance.
Fox clothing (I'm too old)
Marin - not that old!
Crank Bros again, their pedals bearings are terrible and they had the audacity to claim that the first generation were "maintenance free". Then the second generation had grease-ports. Hmm.
Gore clothing, because I don't have a money tree in my garden.
For bike brands, I wouldn't buy a Giant as they made the second worst handling mtb that I've ever ridden. Or a Trek for no good reason.
I may be cutting my nose off to spite my face, but I wouldn't buy a Santa Cruz thanks to a certain group of riders who were all kitted out with them and acted like tossers.
Turns out, I'm more angry than I thought I was...
Can only think of 3.
SRAM gears, not because of anything they've done, I'm sure it is great, I'd just use the equivalent Shimano kit instead, but conversely, if at all possible I'll use a (is it a or an?) SRAM chain over a shimano one.
Ellsworth, because the owner is a thieving cock
Continental Tyres - just don't work
Erm, thats about it
I thought the about turn by many people on here when Madison/Saracen showed the new Kili and Ariel was quite funny 😉
What is so bad about Ellsworth's owner?
Kona because of the shocking design/vfm combo.
Cannondales have just never appealed to me aesthetically.
Marzocchi because of their shocking reputation.
Ditto Crank brothers.
MARIN I forgot MARIN I hate MARIN!
I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY!!!
Maybe I need help? I loved them in the late 80's early 90's
Trek, very good bikes, but their associations with Lance, George W and one or two others puts me right off.
As a company, they also had a habit of buying up smaller, more innovative firms and damaging their image. Icon,bontrager, Rolf, Lemond( Gary Fisher seems to be doing OK though)
More than the rest though THEY KILLED KLEIN!!! ,THE BAS****S!!! 👿
Race Face - their bearings are shite, so is their customer service.
Extralite - one of their seatposts nearly killed me when the seatclamp sheared off whilst doing 40 plus down the side of a mountain.
Anything out of the XACD factory (Airborne etc). - because its bound to break.
SPECIALIZED - For stealing other peoples ideas.
LYNSKEY - Don't like the way they are trying to own the custom titanium market.
yeah what did the ellsworth owner do?
Ran
"2pure - Member
Crank Bros- i've never had anything from them , but i was talking them at MM in the summer a about 30 secs in to their reply i was thinking "tossers". I say them that was CB's distributors.
care to shed any light on that speshpaul? "
Yeap more than happy to sure.
Buy the time MM came round i had basically all of my new bike ready to build except for a headset. I quite fancied a CB Cobalt XC, quite a bit of cash, i liked the look of it but i wanted to touch one before i parted with my cash. My LBS would order one, but if i didn't like it in the flesh, i'd feel obliged or they would be stuck with it.
So there is your stand at MM, i wondered over and asked if you had there i could look at?
The reply i got back was basically that you didn't sell headsets to the public because you are all idiots and would trash both the frame and the headset when we tried "bodge" them in!
Although there is probably some truth in that, i didn't ask to buy i asked to look! Failed the 1st test, not listening.
1st impressions and all that.
A bit worried to see hope brakes mentioned a few times,just bought a second hand bike with hope m4,s,why are they so bad,what should i be looking out for.I always thought hope stuff was good quality(never had any hope stuff before mind you!)
Sram- just not a fan of the feel.
Crankbrothers- I like bearings that last.
Hope- unreliable stuff with poor brake lever feel.
Superstar- the most unpleasant, rude, decietful, unreasonable, lieing little man in the entire bicycle industry pedalling taiwanese toss.
Mikey - hope brakes seem to be love or hate. I have nothing but praise for them myself. some folk seem to find difficulty with them - others not. IMO easy to fix if they go wrong which again IME is rare. all parts available easily if you do need them.
I am not sure if there are " friday afternoon" sets out there or if it is user error. Personally they are the only brakes I would use. Pads last thousands of miles and lots of power - single finger braking to lock wheels.
Other folks experience seems to be totally opposite to mine.
I have six sets bought secondhand, used by me for years - one caliper rebuild and one master cylinder rebuild - neither of which was difficult to do.
Blimey i'm going to have agree with TJ on the hope one.
Crankbrother pedals.
Fox forks.
garmin toys.
Any niche 29er/SS brand .. as irratating as the sorts that ride them...
fatsimon mk2 - Member
i would as long as i live never ever buy superstar sh*t ever again pads that last one ride and when i asked about sending them back it was surggested that i hadn't fitted them right lol iam a mech engineer with 20years of working on forklifts or plant machinery oh and ive got a 2:1 in mech engineering so up yours superstar
What part of your degree required you to fit disc pads to a mtb?
+1 for the Hope brakes - I've done 10s of thousands of miles with them since my first C2s back in 1997 (I think) currently running Mono M4s Mono minis & V2s - all work fine & the pads (only ever use genuine Hope or EBC) last ages even in the Alps.
SCOTT bikes for me. Don't know why, but just never ever liked the brand.
cannondale; because they are ridden by fascistic types
superstar - plonker- shit components
661 gloves; last all of 10 minutes
hope brakes - to many kneecap smashing bolts
truvative/sram/bontrager chainsets - preload and sealing is rubbish bb's last all of about 3 months.
crank brothers - apparantly the pumps are good but the pedals are shocking; everyone who has them talks about maintenence and rebuilds; fine but shimano last forever.
SRAM and Avid - pish.
Scott- skinny 9 stone kid bro had a frame crack at the swingarm pivot weld, just out of warranty (the last 6 months being in a riding-free foot-and-mouth epidemic) and they told him where to go. Had some Scott spd shoes that fell to pieces quickly too. Wont touch a scott product again.
Trek, though I like the Remedy Ive always seen them as a souless megabrand (dont have an issue with Giant or Spec though...). Gary Fisher as I've never liked any of their bikes and hate the "inventor of MTBing" shctick.
Marin as I've never figured out what the point of them was. Fugly full sussers whos Mondeo like popularity drowned the market of individuality for a while, and worthy but forgetable hardtails overshadowed marketing-wise by the farm-gate full sussers. Not particularly rational but hey.
SSC purely on reputation here.
Continental after they seemed to stop putting rubber on the sidewalls and my XC's split after a few rides, many years ago.
I'm actually a bit conservative and loyal as a consumer, Ive always loved Konas but will happily admit that their spec/value balance plunged about 10 years ago, and they lost all small manufacturer nichey value when they went to halfords, and will always look at Camelbak as hydration pack of choice having been served well by them (still use my 1998 Havoc as my main riding pack). Only wear Giro lids etc.
Cosmic Trail. 8)
(Only Local Motion framepads for me...)
mikey3 - I'm one of the hope brake haters and have spoke to TJ on the forum before about this, for me I have no complaints about build quality, the pads do last, they look smart if thats your thing.
My problems were, they didn't feel strong, which for me I want to stop on a coin. The rotors warped something rotten, every month I'd spend a hour with washers trying to centre the rotor and the squalled like you wouldn't believe. Also pad change was a faff in comparison to magura or shimano saint, whose systems are very simple so a little unfair perhaps.
Hopes floating rotors are on the other hand amazing, comparing saint power to mono mini power is not really fair although I have run some giant MPH brakes that were better than the hopes.
Anyway I wouldn't worry if they are not right for you just flog them and by some shimano.
@tails, anlegov
Remember when Turner's were 4-bar bikes with a linkage system that the turner guy pretty much came up with? Not the horst link, that was the Nicolai guy.
When Turners changed to use faux-bar, that was essentially because Tony Ellsworth thought "Hmm, nice design, I think I'll patent it", then started trying to charge Turner (and others) to use his own design.
Blatant IP theft, but unfortunately unless you are a huge corporation you aren't going to have the funds to fight it, as the US patent system is horrendously ballsed up.
Tails - have yo seen teh hope video on how to centre pistons? - it really is a revelation. You only need do the washers once - to centre the caliper on the rotor. then you centre the pistons in the calipeer according to hopes instructions.
Horse for course - mine have plenty of power but there is a much softer lever feel than other brakes and less initial bite - Thats very much a like or not thing. if yours were short on power something was wrong.
khegs - the US patent is unenforceable in Europe however on the horst link = simply because it had been done before.
haha! good to see Kona, Marzocchi and DMR in here! I own a Kona with Bombers, and a DMR Sidekick with Kona P2's 😆
From previous experiences I'd never buy Manitou or Rockshox, though I imagine RS have improved since my last set since everyone seems to rate them again now.
Trek/Gary Fisher/Specialized - irrational and non-evidence based dislike.
Bell Helmets - (IME) Crap fit and fall to bits easily.
I once had a SSC bottom bracket for a couple of weeks..................
Conti Explorers - *shudders*
Garish anodised anything! Some folk weren't around in the 90's??
Cheers tails i,m quite happy to see how they go ,i,m not to hard on my brakes usually but as the bike i,ve just bought is the last bike i,m ever going to buy i,d like to know the stuff on is going to last(apart from the things that are going to wear out with use of course).
The bike i,ve just bought second hand is a cove hustler and the way it rides i can,t see me ever wanting/needing another bike,rides like a dream.