I very rarely regret purchases bike related. Wince a bit at the cost of some but never actually wonder if I've made a mistake - until now.
After a few threads and posts about wheels, it was determined that I prefer riding my hard tail with 650+ wheels. They just feel very secure and take the edge off a quite rigid carbon frame.
Having made that choice I fancied treating myself to some new wheels for said bike.
Also, having loved the sound of Industry nine hubs since I first heard them, I went with some Reynolds Black Label Carbon wheels from Wiggle. Great savings but still rather silly expensive when the dust settled.
The wheels ride lovely. Nice and light (for what they are) and just give that warm fuzzy feeling of quality and performance.
That is however until I stop pedalling. The first few rides in, I loved the sound of the freehub. Now only a few more and it is as irritating as hell. Even fellow riders take the yellow liquid and make loud obnoxious hair dryer sounds as I go past. Shame I can't pedal everywhere!
Not sure if it will annoy me to the point of selling them (probably not tbh) but although not as loud as Hopes, the pitch and frequency of the sound isn't quite as attractive as it once was..... bugger.
Anybody else made a similar daft purchase and regretted it quickly?
Nope never !!
Horses for courses, jumpers for goalposts.
I happen to enjoy the unfeasibly loud Hope freehub. I'm currently still twitching from the purchase of a PRO drop bar dropper lever, it was FIFTY pounds.
Also some LTD edition Oakley's but they were worth it right?
Yes, some Ti axle, elastomer sprung, Onza clipless pedals. Satisfied my desire for light weight but in reality a bit of a death trap. Well maybe not death but pain and blood loss for sure 😀
@Merak My Hope reference came across wrong as I too love their sound. Have had Hopes since 1998 and never felt like the noise was too much.
Swapped Hopes for these I9 wheels, which compounds the lack of love the new wheels are currently getting.
650b, Tried it with two different hardtails (1 alloy/1 steel) that lasted less than a year each before admitting I'm a fully committed 29er convert. Would like another steel hardtail though.
I’ve had a couple of ‘wtf have I just done?!’ Or ‘this is getting a bit silly now’ moments where I’ve got a bit carried away, even for me, but generally no regrets. A few things I wouldn’t buy again though.
Ge really anything which hasn't lasted as long as expected.
Richey pedals, FSA titanium bottom bracket, Rockshox Rebas.
Didn't particularly dislike any of them in use, just died pretty quickly leaving me wishing I had stuck with Shimano or Manitou rather than going for something a tiny bit lighter and much more fragile
I had some nice Middleburn cranks, 10spd xtr and hope brakes on my hardtail.
All bought used.
However when it came to get replacement parts/consumables it all seemed too expensive so I mostly replaced with new Deore stuff which works as well or better and the price is much more palatable.
Can't say I notice much weight difference
A set of Deore mechanical disc brakes and hand built wheels from Merlin circa 2002. I was a student at the time so mega expensive for me.
The brakes sucked and the wheels buckled easily. Gutted. Should have just not bothered or saved my pennies for a new bike.
Just grease the freehub ratchets, it'll quieten down if that's what you're after. Even Hopes can be made to run quietly.
RE expensive kit - it depends. If something costs a lot and lasts a long time then it's £ well spent, you get the quality of function over all that time. I have 240 hubs that are 15 years old, 2 bikes with SON dynamo hub and light systems that I see as practical investments, a couple of framesets that were pricey but after many years of regular use without getting bored of them they look like a good buy. If kit looks likely to fall into that category I can justify the price within reason.
If it looks complex, unproven or spares may be a problem I'm less likely to go for a premium option.
Spent almost a decade looking at a maxxD, could never justify the cost compared to cheap shite eBay specials.
Bought a mxxD last year on finance.
I regret not buying one sooner.
Still liking my £90 stainless chainring.... I try and get good barely used stuff second hand if possible.... New bike for someone and they immediately change the brakes kind of thing.
From that other thread. Emtbs - they just do not appear value for money at the minute in terms of how long they will last to the cost
On the other hand I spent £1k on some lovely Zipp road wheels. They are amazing and bombproof and I just know I will get many years of use out of them
I don't have many regrets MTB purchase wise, but having spent a year on 29 inch wheels on the Spur, I wish I'd gone for a Solaris Max over my Soul. The Soul was convenience as I initially used the wheels from my old T130 and just swapped them between the two bikes, but as I subsequently built a new set for it anyway, the convenience of initial lower cost is gone. Now I just have that nagging "it's slower, heavier and has silly little wheels" every time I'm looking at which bike to ride. Safe to say I've picked the Spur. Every. Single. Time.
Come to think of it, a Foxy XR Carbon SE that cost a fortune, then cost even more of a fortune with all the upgrades I put on it. It still rattled itself to pieces and creaked more than anything I've ever ridden. Was very glad when that was gone!
1998 Marzocchi Bombers. Came into a bit of cash so built myself a decent hard tail with the new fanged suspension fork thingy. Hated it - terrible handling and pogoing everywhere. I even pined for my old fully rigid set up! Rode it, but didn’t enjoy it, for a couple of years and eventually replaced them with rock shox (Tora?) - that transformed the bike and made it really very good.
The bombers cost me a fortune, still annoyed by them to this day!
Like tomd, I bought Merlin’s hand built wheels for the bike but they rank as one of my favourite purchases - still running true to this day!
Yeah... I keep trying to buy comfort on the bike when pretty much 90% of the time I just need to do some physio work or tweak position.
About £300 of saddles in garage that I probably didn't need to buy... 🙄
I only regret expensive things that are rubbish (use vyce)!
I sometimes give a gulp when clicking 'bye now' but you know, nice things are nice....!
I often ponder if my Travers single speed specific ti frame is 'worth' TEN TIMES the cost of the scandal it replaced.... but it IS a lovely frame!
DrP
Splashed out on a Ti "bike for life" from a s****y brand. It does everything I want it to do very well, but just doesn't quite feel as "perfect" as I had hoped for the eye-watering cost.
Do not mention this to MrsMC.
Carbon rims on an ebike, what a ****ing stupid idea.
Tbf, I couldn't change them, that's what it came with, 5 rides in and I've predictably wrecked one of them. Back to Alloy rims we go!.
Currently going through this with my Evil Offering.
As soon as I bought it they brought out the V2 which put a downer on things.
I haven't been riding my XC bike for a few months and been trying to get into riding the offering. Its great pointed downhill but its over the top for most of the trails I ride.
I thought I had become really unfit until I switched back to my XC bike last night and realized the offering is so slow and heavy going up its just not fun for me.
Debating selling the frame and getting a spur but I cant get a frame due to the current shortage of everything, don't think I will sell the complete bike as I will loose too much money now everybody will want the V2.
I’ve thought of another. Not a single item that was expensive and regretted but the tub full of straps, clips and bags that I’ve bought to allow me to carry a spare tube etc on the bike in a minimalist style but didn’t really work out. Total cost of that tub full will be ridiculous for what it is.
A Ringle Moby seat post back in the 90's...WTF was I thinking?
I picked up a X01 AXS Groupset in June as my current drive train was getting close to end of life and the shortages of SRAM stuff was already appearing, I then broke my hand and have had this £1200 box of parts sit on the side in my garage... because I've not been riding and instead have spent more time at home, I can see where that £1200 might have been "better" spent in some house or garden improvements!
Had this with my Occam last Autumn. Long, low, pedal strikes, sluggish rubbish.
Then took it to done proper mountains to ride. Love it now.
Bought some Paul's Klamper brakes + Love Levers for my Stooge last year....£500 for mechanical disc brakes.
Luckily they're lovely and work very well. Though I do wince at the cost!
I regret going quite spendy on a short, 26in trail bike just before geometry started stretching and wheels got bigger. At least it was insurance money, but I should have just bought a newer van instead.
I happen to enjoy the unfeasibly loud Hope freehub
Me too, and its better than having a bell. Loud enough to announce to walkers that you're coming and you can add a few rapid back pedals to make the sound even more noticeable.
So much better than CK. That buzz was ok in the beginning but it got annoying fast.
They weren't expensive, but i don't like my Hunt's for the same reason you don't like your i9s. there's a freewheel down a road near the end of my rides with close packed or terraced houses on both sides. Just too much noise, so I pedal most of it, most of the time. Increasingly tickled by the Onyx hubs!
1998 Marzocchi Bombers.
Whaaaaaat? : )
One of my first big spends on a bike - Chameleon V1 with some XTR and orange 110mm Z1 BAMs. The XTR cranks died pretty fast but those forks changed my riding for a few years and lasted well. Fettled a bit along the way yes but that was one of the great things about them - they were basic so oil height and weight was an effective tune and easy to do.
MK 1 Santa Cruz Nomad. Mine came with a leaky shock which didn't help but it was a pig on the climbs. Definitely not the quiver killer it was reviewed as.
Chris King Hubs. I've had lighter and much cheaper wheels and the Kings seemed to contunually need some sort of fettling. Not quite the fit and forget I was hoping for. I appreciate that's subjective and others love them.
Increasingly tickled by the Onyx hubs!
That is a bullet I’ve dodged (for now). It’s not even the ridiculous price or weight that have stopped me, it’s the thought of expensive hard to obtain spares being needed in the future
just got a granite cricket bell, my last few bells have been £2-6 so £18 seems frivolous,
the reviews say they are good but can break so i'll happily cut into amazons deep pockets.
I'm also not overly keen on an FSA outer ring i'm waiting delivery, that seems to be only avaiable in the usa, and so already spent double the price of the last one i bought
I read that as "granite cricket ball", twice.
😀
my last few bells have been £2-6 so £18 seems frivolous,
I have a couple of Crane ENE bells now, £25 or so. First one felt a bit daft £-wise but they do sound good - loud with a good tone. Much less tinny than the cheap Spur copies. Makes more difference to my riding in busier places than anything else.
Chris King ceramic BB. Fed up of HT2 BBs not lasting long so spent on a posh one. The bearings may be high quality but the sealing just isn't up to winter use off-road. Got fed up of grease-purging it every few weeks and it's sat in the spares box. Might put it on a summer best road bike one day.
That is a bullet I’ve dodged (for now). It’s not even the ridiculous price or weight that have stopped me, it’s the thought of expensive hard to obtain spares being needed in the future
weight has come down on the newer Vesper. still £150 more for the hub than the entire Hunt wheelset cost me though! And the trouble is, I've got more than one bike, so even the quieter hubs would sound horrendous after riding the Onyx!
I've certainly regretted;
1. Not paying for someone to do a bit of maintenance and screwing it up myself.
2. Not paying for a part / upgrade that really fixes the problem.
Just grease the freehub ratchets, it’ll quieten down if that’s what you’re after.
What kind of grease?
Echo'ing the comments above, I just don't like the sound of the Hunt hubs and also find myself pedalling unnecessarily just to keep it quiet, especially coming home after a night ride.
SRAM XO Eagle cassette, bought a couple of weeks ago as an impulse buy ! Ouch...sat in it's box looking expensive, just in case
Lightweight chains and cassettes.
What a waste ...
@twonks - not sure which Industry Nine hub you have, but they do recommend specific oil (loud) or grease (quiet) for tuning the loudness
andybrad
Lightweight chains and cassettes.
What a waste …
The higher end SRAM chains last a lot better, I think they're worth it. SRAM XD cassettes worth a premum over Shimano too, for same reason
I bought a second set of 36s 2months ago at full RRP after not getting on the a Pike.
I felt sick buying them, even though I know they're a brilliant fork. I'm still unhappy about it now, and every time I think about the cost my mood lowers.
Then every time I ride them my mood improves!
Not really, not since the lightweight craze. Back in 2k I spent (for me) an unfeasible amount (over 2k) on a brand new Rocky Mountain XC build. Frame was handbuilt Easton Custom Taperwall. It was even painted beautifull (Golden metal-flake-to galaxy black with maple-leaf transitions)
Chainstay sheared on it’s second ‘proper’ ride following a 12” tree-root drop-off. Inches, not feet. Completely sheared.
Had to walk the broken bike home carrying it on my back. 6 months wait for a replacement from Canada. They replaced it with a different frame (Vertex) which LBS thankfully re-built using my old parts. Then the first week of owning the replacement I rested the bars on a wall. It rolled minutely, slid, and kissed the edge of the bricks putting a crease in the top tube.
That was the end of my hair as I went mostly bald that year. Luckily had a (rigid) steel Kona which gave me zero bother and had cost £70 used. Much better, and still handbuilt. And Canadian. I also bought some blingy Hope QR skewers and tbh never enjoyed using those horribly short, knobby levers (which always seemed far inferior in action to a nice smooth-acting set of Shimano Deore skewers). The force and silly angle required to undo the Hope levers lead to many a skinned knuckle.
Lately it’s just the Hope Pro freehub. I too like a quiet ride.
To date I remain largely convinced of Deore FTW.
Carbon rims - only took second Lakeland ride to destroy - probably don't suit for my weight and (lack of) riding style... been back on the trusty EX471's for past few years now.
Not a bike bit but a whole bike.
I wanted something a bit more bouncy than my (then) current FSer and managed to get hold of a bike that I'd always like the look of but never thought I'd own, a Mondraker Dune.
Hated every second of it. although it was the perfect size for me it never felt like it fitted. Was fine going down hill although not at all exciting, but going back up, and more weirdly on the flat, it was an absolute slog, seemed to suck up any power put into the pedals and not push it out afterwards.
And then it tried to kill me at BPW so I got shot of it as quickly as I could afterwards.
I'm now riding my GT Sensor, which has about 2/3 of the travel but fits like a glove and rides like a dream.
I often ponder if my Travers single speed specific ti frame is ‘worth’ TEN TIMES the cost of the scandal it replaced…. but it IS a lovely frame!
@drp if it helps you justify it a bit more, I've found myself looking very hard at one of those over the last week. I've even added it to basket twice...
Regret buying? I think a pike u-turn fork, it was great but the spring was never quite right for me, it wasn't really what I wanted when I bought it and I never got past that I think. It ended up being sold (for a loss obviously) and replaced with the DT fork I'd been toying with at the time which had gone up £300 in the interim so the pike probably cost me about £500 to never quite be happy with it.
Nothing on the mtb as it is all seems to be useful (well the Ti rotor bolts may be the exception), or looks fab (Hope coloured trinkets on the seatpost and steerer) but on the road bike…
Carbon wheels - they are lovely and I think I g o a bit faster but not £1000 faster.
Finned rotors - maybe I get less brake fade, but I didn’t really get much fade anyway
Carbon blade pedals - maybe they are light and yes my feet do feel planted so I can “get the power down”, but I’m no Sagan
Token ninja BB - yes it is easier to fit and applies a threaded approach to press fit and the solid axle seems to make things stiffer (so again I can get the power down 💪) and it doesn’t creak (but then the last one didn’t)
Would be better to spend more time losing chub than gaining stuff.
Enough I’m off to search bike bargains
Agree with I9, i had a couple of sets over the years, completely underwhelming and noisy, have been DT ever since.
Back in the olden days, any magnesium fork that would fizz away in a UK winter, or X-Lite part that was just built to be ugly or fail early, Hope Cranksets, look great, but Hope really do try to be the apple of the bike world with toolings and standards that are not compatible with the normal tools!
The custom steel frame i had from the US that ended up getting a fatal dent in the top tube after about 8 months of ownership :o(
After 30 plus years of this caper, I've had loads of stuff not perform or last as it should but the biggest regret was probably my Intense Tracer V1 (Horst link 100mm) frame. Nothing wrong with it as such, but at the time I also had a 115mm coil spring Uzzi so the tracer was hardly ever written. Lesson learned, second bike should be very different to the first.
Some great posts, and it's clear there are a few of us that spend money somewhat silly.. haha.
Cheers for the video link to the i9 quieten your hub above. It's almost as if they are expecting people to get annoyed and want to quieten it. Mine are the hydra and even in that video it sounds annoying. Strange how I've liked it for a while, until I bought a set!
Will get some of that grease and see how long the thing stays quiet. The Torch hub sounds quite like Hope don't mind that at all.
Interesting that there are one or two comments about the higher end Sram cassettes. I don't put that in this category tbh, as I love the X01 eagle cassette on my other bike. Engineering wise, the looks and weight are very impressive and so far it is working really well.
That is more - stupid expensive but love it. 😉
I've quietened hubs with grease (DT stuff) before. Lasts a few rides before enough of the grease gets pushed out to return to normal noisiness.
many many times. 2 specific thing spring to mind.
a pair of Nukeproof carbon hubs in the early 90's. axle sheared on 1st ride. both hubs died withing 6 month.
a pair of handbuilt Pete matthews wheels. cost me about £500 in the early/mis 90's
1st descent down a mountain above courcheval, my chain jumps onto the inside of the cassette ( no plastic guard ) and buzzsawed through every spoke on the hub, causing the wheel to collapse.
my present Ti Fargo is also a thing i look at and think is it worth 10 times more than a on one frame which i have happily ridden over everything in the past.
Part of me also thinks I’d be be better off in innocence of nice bike kit, if I never tried stuff above lower to mid range, I’d never know what I was missing but now I’ve tasted that sweet nectar, it’s difficult to go back.
I bought a pair of XTR SPD pedals way back (something like 2005) and immediately regretted it, for all the normal reasons; only a bit lighter than 520, same mechanism, wouldn't be able to feel the difference, scuff them up on my shoes....al that.
Still doing sterling service on my Scandal, although a bit of me thinks 520 would have lasted just as well. 😁
Race Face carbon cranks, proper shit!
Speaking of i9 hubs...
I spunked close to two grand on a set of reserve rims on i9 hubs!
Again, probably not worth 4 times to cost of a decent alu set...but they ARE lovely and they do feel both light AND strong.....!
DrP
Carbon Fibre mudguards. They sounded like a good idea at the time. Drill your own holes, poor mounting and rattled. Since replaced with PDWs via even more broken rear SKS P35's. The PDWs are superb.
28 spoke Crests on xc3s .
Not because they were bad wheels but because.....after a couple of seasons spares were fun.
Yes pdws one expense I don't regret.
Don't even regret my Rohloff even though it's shite for the most part.
Also regret almost any tire made by continental.
Love my Hydra hubs, love the sound too. If you want to quieten them, just use a bit more grease in the freehub. I've just serviced mine and took them apart again to wipe some grease out. They were too quiet 😉
I use Dumonde Tech Freehub grease BTW
This takes some thinking and I still argue whether each purchase was a mistake:
1) Tioga Disk Drive - it was flexible, it deteriorated, it broke, it cost loads. But ooooh, the rumble...
2) Powertap Pro - 9 torque tubes in 4 years. £££££ and shitty warranty/service
3) Hope hubs- they work, but....they're not really 'trick' anymore
4) tioga high mileage road tyre - never do I want to repeat power sliding in a wet road race at Thruxton. I kid you not, the tyre lethal.
5) ritchey was seatpost - the saddle never stayed level.
That's it for now.
Kudos to Onza for the buzzsaw chain ring. I never did wear it out
Ps. If you hate loud freehubs, stay clear of Newmen hubs. Utterly brilliant hubs but louder than that a vulcan lighting up the after burners 🔥
Bullet Bros tensioner and Crud claw.
I don't especially regret it but my previous full sus was a top end YT (before they were well known). It had top spec parts all over it. Mostly everything worked fine but when anything did break or wear out it was crazy expensive to repair or replace (I couldn't face downgrading parts). It also meant upgrading was silly money. I know you can't buy an high end bike and expect cheap running costs but it was very cheap as a full build.
It says something that it's been replaced with a bike running utilitarian parts, no carbon and no bling.
DT Swiss and Shimano do a specific freehub grease, not sure exactly what the difference is from other specialist grease but they are expensive so must be good!
Not mega expensive in comparison to some on here but for me, by far the purchase i regret the most was a set of the yellow Crossmax Enduro wheels for my old 26" Alpine 160. No idea what they were thinking with the narrower rear rim and lower spoke count. I ended up having a front rim built up on an old grey crossmax rear hub to make a more acceptable matching rear (saw a few mavic sponsored EWS riders doing the same) after way too many failings with the rear wheel - on multiple occassions i had the spokes eject from the hub flange on heavy landings! The freehub slipped from new as well on the original hub and the tyres they insisted on including (and charging for) were shite as well. Put me off Mavic for life.
An intense tracer frame in 2010. Sourced from a “I’m not dodgy and these are fully warrantied chap”, to be fair there was nothing wrong with it but I couldn’t get the suspension working to my satisfaction ever, including a TfTuned shock personalisation and then a conversion to coil. It always felt horrible to ride and was a money pit.
Im thinking ahead here, the cheapskate in me wont accept that spending over £20 for Swiss Stop pads to replace the Uberbike " E Bike specific"🙄 brake pads that howl like a banshee but are half the price will be money well spent 🤔 Quieter maybe but last twice as long at twice the price? Doubt it somehow.
A set of Hope wheels.
Not for the hub or the rim. The spokes. The bike shop did me a deal on some straight pull versions they had in stock rather than the J-bend ones I was after and as I was in need of wheels fast I bought them. This was the early days of 650B so I knew that spares would be a bit harder to find, let alone straight pull, but they came with a few spare spokes so a bit of forward planning would mitigate that. Cue the fifth ride out the rear mech being pushed into the spokes and taking out 8 spokes, I had spares for 4. That rear wheel then spent a few weeks in the shop waiting for more spokes and the wheel builder to fix, where in the meantime I bought a regularly spoked rear wheel from eBay to keep me rolling. Sold the Hopes at a big loss a few months later when I got fed up of continuously snapping spokes in the rear wheel most rides, always where they entered the hub. The emergency wheel was a cheap OEM one but was absolutely solid for the whole time I had it.
Somebodies making far too much money along the way with this stuff.
£15 for a thimble full of what is probably relatively simple generic grease.
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Same old story, supply and demand I suppose.
Will have a play over the weekend and see if it quietens the hub down for more than 10 minutes.
I wouldn't spend as much on bits now probably as I have in the past, although I wouldn't say I regret that I did (although I've never been at the really spendy end of the spectrum).
The only exception is a pair of red Hope QR skewers (to match my hubs, obvs). Looked fantastic but were pretty terrible at actually, you know, holding your wheels in reliably and without fuss. They were a Bad Buy and I went back to Shimano pretty quickly.
No real regrets I don't think as most of my 'nice' stuff is 2nd hand.
However, although I really like my Enve/Chris King wheelset, I couldn't imagine paying full whack for them. I find it very hard to find any way they're significantly 'better' than a £500 pair I must say.