[Closed] Are there any brands you'd think twice about buying?

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'