bottles and bottle cages were ok in the 80s, but come on... who really uses one now!? Totaly pointless IMHO.
Also, innertubes with car valves! ( Schrader )
Whoops ... I like my Race-king ss's but do limit them to flatter fitness rides on a 1x9 carbon stumpjumper build. They are just so indecently light. Yet to see how the X-kings hold up by comparison on the heavier rides / bike (still trying to get them to seal).
What is absolute pants though is Crank Brothers, cobalt headset dead in a matter of months. Lockon grips with end caps made of brittle plastic that shatter when you fit them, and sponge grips that disintegrate after 4 rides. Im just hoping the stem doesn't explode as well ... they must have made the Formula R1 torx bolts as well.
Bah ...
bottles and bottle cages were ok in the 80s, but come on... who really uses one now!? Totaly pointless IMHO.
I do and so do quite a few other folk. It means you don't need to carry a rucksac.
There ok untill you hit a techie section or a drop or jump or a root for that matter and boyng out the stupid thing flies and disapears down the banking, how can you really go on a ride without a camelback!? were do you keep your innertube and butties and multitool and car keys and so on?
Have to agree on the mountain kings .. used them on a bike when they had just come out (3/4 years ago?) God awful tyres. No problems with punctures but absolutely atrocious grip - esp. in mud - sliding everywhere. Could not ride with any confidence.
Speed Kings not much better - nice and quick but the side knobs are so flexy that you can feel the things wobble in a tight turn!
Other awful components
- Crank brothers Headsets - rust up almost immediately
- DT swiss rims used to dent with no effort at all
- Look quartz pedals - come with almost a booklet of shims, and the cleats chip to pieces in weeks.
Speed Kings not much better - nice and quick but the side knobs are so flexy that you can feel the things wobble in a tight turn
I had that - more pressure fixed it.
There ok untill you hit a techie section or a drop or jump or a root for that matter and boyng out the stupid thing flies and disapears down the banking,
Decent cages don't do that.
As for butties - many rides don't require butties, and multitools go in your jersey back pockets along with keys, phone, spare tube, puncture kit and optionally pump.
That always happens with normal tyres run tubeless. Stops after a short while.
Spesh 2Bliss aren't "normal" tyres, they're supposedly tubeless ready. And it doesn't stop.
Apart from that you're spot on 😉
Tubeless ready meaning the bead is nice and fat. Not the same as actual tubeless UST style.
It should stop after a ride, otherwise your sealant is no good!
It should stop after a ride, otherwise your sealant is no good!
Must be that, then - cos they never stopped. Not got them anymore, though, so no longer a problem!
Look quartz pedals - come with almost a booklet of shims, and the cleats chip to pieces in weeks.
mine have been fantastic, take loads of abuse, long lasting no problems with cleat longevity and only needed a 0.5mm shim to get them to work perfectly with northwave and specialsed shoes. The whole booklet of shims aren't all meant to be used at the same time 😯
mountainman123 - MemberThere ok untill you hit a techie section or a drop or jump or a root for that matter and boyng out the stupid thing flies and disapears down the banking, how can you really go on a ride without a camelback!? were do you keep your innertube and butties and multitool and car keys and so o
I have dropped a bottle once in 20 years. Trail centre red and black no issues. I ain't the gnarliest of riders but I am not wheels on the ground all the time and like the rooty stuff where available
Multitool and tube in seatpack. Pump on frame clips. food in jumper pockets. I don't have car keys 🙂 I don't carry a load of useless uneeded crap around with me.
Obviously winter nightrides and far out into the wilds I may need to carry a bit more and sometimes have to wear a rucksac but it is so much more pleasant not to have one on. 3 - 5 hrs local / trail centre rides its fine not to use a cmelback
Last Wendesday nightride about half the folk did not have camelbacks
SRAM X9 rear mech. The might be light weight but only as it is made of cheese. The thread stripped before the replaceable drop out snapped/stripped defeating the point some what.
Didn't really get on with a Santa Cruz Chameleon as it made me feel like in was on a bone shaker.
Manitou Nixon Platinum forks from a few years ago.£500 and failed straight out of the box,and repeatedly after fixing.
Race Face x-type bottom bracket bearings.2 months in dry conditions and then had it.Utter junk.
Finally,and controvercially,the Orange 5 i had for over a year.Would be more at home on the Antiques Roadshow than on the trails.Just right for middle aged overweight baldies who have more money than riding competence.
My Conti Mountain King 2.4 Black Chilli Protection are the best tyres I have used. Used them all over the place on my HT inc very rough Alpine tracks, and fast road descents, all at 30psi.
Hardly any punctures (none in the Alps), and the compound is hard wearing and feels planted to me.
I think the problem here is Conti make many versions of these tyres... I got the most expensive ones, about £35 per tyre IIRC... I know they make a cheapo version that is non-black-chilli and non-protection. I guess if you use those versions in a gnarr / burly manner, you get what you deserve.
If anyone wants to throw out the quality versions of these tyres, throw them to me please...
Just right for middle aged overweight baldies who have more money than riding competence
Or, decent riders who know how to get the best out of a bike? 🙂
I've never been a fan of Contis, ridden some that I'd describe as unridable. But bought some Race Kings recently (just basic 2.2 wirebeads for £15 each) and they're great. Light, pliable, fast rolling on tarmac and grippy enough in our dry sandy soil. So there ya go - finally a Conti I like and I had to put aside my prejudices. 😀
2007 marzocchi 66 SL1 ATA
Without doubt the worst component ever made! Not fit for purpose! Luckily windwave are very helpful chaps and we came to an agreement
I have those!
What was bad about yours?
Thumbs up for conti tyres - they've been good to me.
Thumbs down for my 7 year old Hope quick releases - tight was never tight enough.
Thumbs down for cheap n nasty no brand tools.
Anything by Crank Brothers. Their stuff looks great, but after my experiences I'll never buy anything else from them.
The exception is their Cobalt ISIS BB - still going strong.
Molgrips, if you meant me then those forks went back 3 times for a warranty repair, when I did some more digging it turned out lots of others had similar issues- replaced with rc3:)
I had the wind-down issue. Went back to WW and was fixed for free. Not had a problem since. Hardly the only product to have a design flaw like that although I admit it was pretty big and should've been spotted!
However they are headache for other reasons. Setup is a black art and you cannot get all the travel ever. But those things probably only affect me as a bit of a compulsive fiddler.
I probably would have changed them by now but anything I'd replace them with was £800! They came on a bike so I didn't pay that much for them.
Obviously winter nightrides and far out into the wilds I may need to carry a bit more and sometimes have to wear a rucksac but it is so much more pleasant not to have one on. 3 - 5 hrs local / trail centre rides its fine not to use a cmelbackLast Wendesday nightride about half the folk did not have camelbacks
Yeah, but you live in a part of the UK where 15C is considered hot!
Hope Tech M4's that offered no more stopping power than a £50 set of s/h Juicy's. Duly sold on. And quickly.
Did you bed them in and set them up right? I just bought a pair second hand. I tried them out first because they looked to be in a right state. I spent time setting them up right, sanded the pads down, bedded them in and they're 10 times better than my Juicy's.
IMHO i think all hope brakes are shite!!! Formula all the way for me.
ISIS BB's I will add I have not tried the Crank Bros ones, but when you hack one to bits to try to understand why they are so SH!t you have some ball bearings fall out that could be used on the tip of a biro they are that small. Made I guess to allow for a large spindle for added strength/lack of flex, but whats the point when the bearings are so small. Number of spindles snapped = 0 BB bearings killed = Lots (by me) why not a smaller diameter spindle with larger more survivable bearings? I guess a broken spindle could result in someone really hurting themselves and a lawsuit, whereas some seized bearings means just another BB re-sale.......
IMHO i think all hope brakes are shite!!!
You're wrong then 🙂
Santa Cruz Nomad replaceable dropouts. Went through 3 in 6 months. Guess it could be my riding style or lack of 🙂
molgrips - Member"IMHO i think all hope brakes are shite!!!"
You're wrong then
Or a shite mechanic? Or a troll?
Quite possibly 🙂
No problem with conti here. I used to run 2.3 Vertical Protections front and back in the Purbecks - seemed to grip well and no real puncture issues. Now run a Tubeless Vertical on the front and a Bonty tubeless on the back and again hapy enough.
Had an alu BMC Elite HT race frame for a while which may have been great on a race course, but it was a harsh bumpy pain in the wrists and backside on long rough rides. More wrong choice than bad kit though.
Crank Bros seems the epitome of style over substance - would never buy anything made by them, cannot be arsed with the unreliability.
It's great that they design stuff that has some flair and creativity to it, but if they can't engineer it properly then it's a waste of time.
Conti race king. Stupidly thin tyre that gets ripped if you sneeze. I'm only 11 stone and i pinch flat below 45psi
Silly light race versions? My 2.2 USTs are fine. And I weight 12st and run 'em at 25psi.
And I often run one on the rear of my Orange Five. 😉
"Tubeless ready meaning the bead is nice and fat. Not the same as actual tubeless UST style.
It should stop after a ride, otherwise your sealant is no good!"
UST is a registered name and technology, similar to Hoover vs. vacuum cleaner or Polartec 200 vs. mid-weight fleece.
Whether one is better than the other is up for discussion, but brands/names tend to be registered to protect what the developer perceives to be a good, commercially viable product that could be reproduced using inferior materials or manufacturing processes.
IMHO i think all hope brakes are shite!!! Formula all the way for me.
I'm glad someone has ridden every set of Hope brakes ever made. Makes a great base from which to draw comparison.
bottles and bottle cages were ok in the 80s, but come on... who really uses one now!? Totaly pointless IMHO.
I do and so do quite a few other folk. It means you don't need to carry a rucksac.
I use both.
even more so when riding up Slovenian mountains in 37C sunshine.
3 litres of water in the camelbak, 2 bottles on the bike, and still needed refills from a spring and numerous stops at cafes.
Nothing to add as particularly bad (other than my old Peugeot road bike that would eat QR axles).
I take any user review (and certain "expert" magazine reviews too!) with a pinch of salt. Everything is always the dogs danglies and cheese at the same time.
Epicyclo - Crank Bros ISIS BB? Really? Mine lasted about as long as the RaceFace ISIS. 3 rides I think.
"IMHO" goes a long way for an opinionated disclaimer. But not from someone who thinks that Calderdale is better riding than the Ranger Path....
😀 to the ranger path.
I think my Hope Mini's are great. over 6 years of great stopping.
Race king's are great tyres, when used in the right place.
In fact I haven't had a truly awful bike component since rock shox indy sl's.
The cheap wtb prowler I got from CRC didn't work so great at the weekend but then it was the light version and the trails were a bit much for it....
the intense uzzi vpx frame i had a couple of years back was utter junk. it rode ok but was extremely badly made. hand made in the us of a? thats clearly nothing to boast about.
I've got a set of 2.4 mountain kings, they are not good tyres, wouldn't say that they're a bad tyre though, just don't give me a lot of confidence when really pushing them.
I love my Hope brakes, just bought another set (second hand) and having set them up properly, there's plenty of power and modulation available.
PIMPMASTERJAZZ........Some of us on here have mates, and when you have mates and they have bikes some tend to have used Hope brakes and as im sure you will now not all bikes come with the same brakes, for example, xc bikes have diffrent Hope brakes to DH bikes and so on and on and on.
I hope i have answered in basic English so you can understand. 😉
Love my Magura forks but the remote levers are absolute bobbins.
1 Nm recommended tightening torque... not enough to hold it to the bars and any more and it breaks the clamp. 😕
hutchinson bulldog tyres *shiver*
a race king in the depths of winter would be better than one of those things
High Roller 2.1 "XCeption series" - 3 punctures (one was actually slice rather than a thorn hole - not fixable) and a pinch flat today. Now I remember why I changed to the heavier dual ply DH version a while ago!
I've had good experience with Continental but I've only used the Race King. However I think that since learning the "proper" cornering technique their side knobs probably aren't very good at keeping grip when leaning the bike over.
Pace forks utter utter crap I foolishly had 3 sets
1 elastomer jobbies siezed up every ride
2&3 Rc 36 proclass2 and Rc 39's needed too much maintenance to keep em working every 3 rides and strip down
Orange bikes
Clockwork now I loved that bike
P7 4 framesets returned in as many weeks the first bikes to be made with dropper seatposts
Sub5 the pivots should not rip out when riding up hill were orange interested NO
Positive shout
I do like my maverick SC32 forks brilliant design with constant wet stanction lubrication
Planet X On-One frames had 4 of em total and utter ace love em
