[Closed] Following on from the most over-rated bike thread...

gravity dropper seatpost................should come with a warning, 'no use for fat ****ers'

Most stuff works, high end stuff is a little lighter and can work better or worse but costs 3 times the price...

gears

singlespeed.....no seriously front forks get my goat.cost a kings ransom & you treat them like royaly & they shit on you from a great height after 20 rides.

one single component would be cb mallets.

agree with the OP but would like to add in hayes brakes as a rubbish stopper.

also SRAM X5, X7 and X9 - made of crap.

and lots of endura clothing which falls apart (some has lasted), also dt swiss hubs, i go through them a little too quickly...

Hope brakes squeal like a Pig, pistons stick they're just rubbish IME

Sram,gripshit,lefties (for me),heavy things,flat pedals,non assos shorts,non oakley glasses,propedal.

rock shox forks - I've tried plenty and they've all felt horrid compared to fox or a nice set of bombers from a few years back. RS seem to have all the bells and whistles in terms of adjustments and gimicks, then lack basic adjustments like (coil) spring pre load. I had a go on my mates yeti with pikes with an extra firm spring and they were so soft I was almost bottoming them out just riding round the car park.

I've tried sids, pyslos, rebas, pike and recon and thought they were all gash

agree with the OP but would like to add in hayes brakes as a rubbish stopper.

also SRAM X5, X7 and X9 - made of crap.

Hayes are a little too un-subtle IMO, effective but as the old Pirelli advert used to say... "Power is nothing without control"

SRAM gears I'll also agree with you on...

Now DT Swiss hubs... I've had a pair of DT440's for a few years now, possibly the best hubs I've ever owned! Glad I didn't pay anywhere near RRP for them though (otherwise I'd have bought Hope for sure), but they're fantastic.

Large camelbaks...always full of shite you take everywhere and never need.
Ditto the coment on some endura kit, stiched up by monkeys and then falls apart after a few rides.
Best kit Swobo, lasts for ever....

Endura here too - shoddily made.

Don't agree about Hope brakes - I like mine.

Following on from my answer in the "Over Rated Bike Thread"...

I have never had any luck with Hope brakes and God knows I've tried. I've found them painful to set up and quick to leak. However they recieve rave reviews so obviously they must have something going for them.

Now, Marzocchi forks. I've always used Marzocchi. They have a fit and forget reputation. Can be rebuilt and repaired by an enthusiastic amateur. Well, that's what I thought. Got some Marzocchi AM SL 2007. They've gone faulty. Marzocchi have ceased support for them after 3 ([b]yes 3![/b]) years. The distributor has offered a mahoosive discount of 25% YES!!! [b]25%[/b] off the RRP of a new set. After 3 years! Arse to that.

Shaun at Windwave has fixed them as best as he could ([b]*Star Man*[/b]) but it doesn't change the fact that I now view Marzocchi as over-rated tat that is living on past glories.

Anything made by av(o)id.
Those brakes are utter shit.

Mini - rant:

Thomson seatposts. It says on the tin:

• Impact absorbing clamps - clamps, head, and assembly will spread and flex on impact to protect seat, rails, seatpost and rider.

Giro Helmets (Crash replacement policy): you can buy a new one online for less than they charge for the "benefit" of a crash replacment.

Specialized accessories - eg saddle bags that last 3 weeks, pumps that last 3 months, helmets where the strap adjusters keep moving,..... To be fair - if I can find receipts they do replace stuff (eg I've had 4 free saddlebags and a helmet in the last year but I dont want the hassle).

BETD / Endura HTII bearings.

Rockshox lower inner damper seals. 3 times in 3 years I've had to send different forks back under warranty for EXACTLY the same problem. Still better than the Fox stanchion reputation I reckon 😉

giro crash replacement??? - new one for £30, I'm on my 3rd e2 (rrp about £80)

I dont know what an e2 is - but my 2 week old Xen replacement worked out more expensive than buying a new one from Ribble 🙁

17 posts and no one has mentioned chris king.

What's wrong with everyone tonight?

Hubs are expensive, not the fastest, and not the lightest. So bling only.

Headsets as everyone knows score steerers (proud owner of ck headset and scored steerer).

17 posts and no one has mentioned chris king.

Good point, though until the fiasco with the steerer scoring on long travel forks, Chris King Headsets had been fine for about 15 years straight! I've had them in the past (usually 2nd hand) and they just go on and on. Though now I tend to just buy an FSA on the cheap as they seem to do an equally good job for long enough for me to have changed the bike anyway.

Thomson seatposts

IMO a product that is highly rated, but deservedly so. I've not broken one, I've broken several other seatposts one way or another. Default component for me.

DT swiss rims. Or perhaps I'm just too fat.

Well I disagree with some on here - Avid Elixirs are brilliant as is the SRAM X-9 groupset.

Love my Thomson Elite seatpost and also my Spesh "accessories" including the utterly brilliant 2D helmet.

Cateye front lights - now they ARE cr4p.

And Zyro - how did they do so well? They are the most hateful distributor ever.

rock shox forks - I've tried plenty and they've all felt horrid compared to fox or a nice set of bombers from a few years back. RS seem to have all the bells and whistles in terms of adjustments and gimicks, then lack basic adjustments like (coil) spring pre load. I had a go on my mates yeti with pikes with an extra firm spring and they were so soft I was almost bottoming them out just riding round the car park.

I've tried sids, pyslos, rebas, pike and recon and thought they were all gash

Wow, exactly the same experience here bizarrely. I keep trying more as they get flawless reviews, and plenty of people rocket around using them, but for some reason I can't click, my frontend feels much less grounded.

Tried 2007 Revs, 2010 Rev Race, 2007 Rebas, 2008 Toras, all a bit bobbins compared to all the Fox I've owned (similar sized range). EVERY year the reviews claim the damping has been improved, making it as good as Fox, yet curiously the same claim is made the following year.

back packs that have more pockets, zips and 'bag' than space to actually put anything in....

The original X Lite seat posts from 1994 / 1995.
Ti bolt with no anti seize on it, bent the shaft TWICE. Proper toss.
SS BBs aren't the best, but it did for me at the time, mind you they didnt really have much of a rep anyway, but the cups are easy to bosh some new bearings into.

For me, High Rollers. Should come with a free voucher for physio.

Rock Shox rebound adjusters and bar mounted lockouts - the adjusters just fall off, and unless you strip them after every muddy ride the lockout just seizes. The return spring inside the fork has gone on mine, so it's useless anyway now.

Any other backpacks apart from Alpkit or the old Lowe Alpine Freewheel ones - overpriced, overcomplicated, too heavy and fall apart under daily use.

Giro lids - very good, but is my E2 worth three times as much as my partners Trek? They both pass the same tests, fit well and look as good as a lid can, so IMO, no.

5 10's - great grip, very comfy, but £80.00 for a pair of shoes with a cardboard midsole that turns to mush in the winter? No ta.

Blackspire seatposts-unbreakable-not true. lifetime warranty- non existent
The head came unbonded on mine, phoned distributer who didn't want me to send it back and told me to take it back to the shop i bought it from who had closed down, so they told me to take it back to another shop,who wouldn't let me leave it as it wasn't bought from them and they didn't see the rep for months on end,so after 3 calls and a 25mile round trip i gave up and got a Thompson and will never buy that overhyped shite again

Mace gloves. Absolutely horrific quality, it's like they've stitched two sponges together with thread the thickness of hair.

Shadow rear mechs - flimsy and very weak return spring.

air inside suspension components (instead of coils)

E.13 back rings, mine broke

Hope mini brakes

SPD's

rear suspension generally

internal bottom brackets

hairspray to keep grips on. GET SOME LOCK ON GRIPS

I'll go with CK headsets. Sure, they look nice. Sure, they're 'good', but how 'good' can a headset be?

I've got a FSA XL11 that's five years old, on it's second bike, and works as well now as when it was new. However, let's say, for argument's sake, that it breaks tomorrow. It cost a quarter of what a CK headset would cost, so for the same value for money I'd expect 20 years' life from a CK headset.

20 years? Is anyone going to have the same headset for 20 years?

wheels
just wheels in general
totally over-rated

Does everyone now love external BBs now then? I thought they were the universal object of "bearings only last 3 months" hatred?

I have a CK headset, bought second hand 3yrs ago, was about 3yrs old then. Still as smooth as. Paid £35. Wouldnt buy a new one though.

Nobby Nic tyres. They have to be the biggest overhyped pile o' shite I've ever bought.

topeak - anything - except joe blow.

IHN - chris king for thirteen years so perhaps i'll get 20!

[i]IHN - chris king for thirteen years so perhaps i'll get 20![/i]

Fair enough. If you do, I'll buy you a pint 🙂

I'll go with CK headsets. Sure, they look nice. Sure, they're 'good', but how 'good' can a headset be?

I've got a FSA XL11 that's five years old, on it's second bike, and works as well now as when it was new.

To be fair, years ago before FSA were really making any decent cartridge bearing headsets, the options were buy a CK, or buy something that you knew the bearings would die on in 6-12 months and you'd have to replace. Back then buying a CK made sense!

I had my first CK headset on a bike I bought off lookmanohands off this forum back in 1997, it was a couple of years old when I bought it off him he said, I had the bike for more than 6 years, sold it to my best mate who had it at least another 2 or 3 years... Headset was fine the whole time!

DT swiss rims. Or perhaps I'm just too fat.

Agreed. It's not that you're just too fat, it's that they really do make shockingly bad quality rims! Not only are they soft, but they're extremely tight to get a tyre on, so much so than when trying to run a tubeless setup with the DT rimstrips and a Bontrager UST ready tyre, I couldn't even get the tyre on no matter what! I broke 3 tyre levers, then gave up... Bought some Mavics the next day. And before anybody says "use the correct technique or MTFU", I am used to getting UST tyres on and off UST rims without tyre levers, I have a reasonable technique.

I never seem to have much luck with 661 gloves. The fit is great, really comfy but they just disintegrate. Or, more accurately, one of them does. WTF??

In order of shiteness:

1 Speedball seatpost (saddle rocked back on descents, overtightened, stripped internal thread. Fixed it to find uppy-downy motion then non-existant)

2 Crank Bros power pump (only managed to use it successfully when tyre completely flat, otherwise let out any existing air and was mostly powerless)

3 Crank Bros acid pedals (very happy with egg beaters, also like mallets even though they have a bad habit of falling to bits, but acids are ****ing lame! The needle bearings rust and fall to bits with the merest sight of water and are impossible to replace. Got exchange on them 3 times before going for mallets)

Have come to the conclusion Crank Bros stuff looks nice and sounds a good idea, but is largely shiiiiite!

P.S.
4 DT Swiss cheese rims (apparently made to ding on impact rather than fold in two so you can still get down the hill?? As a serial rim taco-er this should appeal, but having a severly dinged rim within a few descents made me feel a little nervy 🙂 Have now got 729 EXs with only a couple of dings)

hollowtech bottom brackets are shit and don't last 2 minutes

hope seat clamps, made of cheese

funnily enough ive got a set of minis that have performed faultlessly for 8 years, 2 megavalanches, trips to frnace, spain, scotland wales, thetford etc

Race Face X-Type cranks. Utter, utter, utter crap.

They come paired with awful BBs, and the cranks themselves quickly develop play. I can't believe they went from square taper Turbines to that cack.

I've had great results from my Hope brakes. And Hollowtech II bearings 🙂

The only pair of Rockshox I've owned have been ace too - Revs - better than the Fox Floats I had by miles.

air inside suspension components (instead of coils)

E.13 back rings, mine broke

Hope mini brakes

SPD's

rear suspension generally

internal bottom brackets

hairspray to keep grips on. GET SOME LOCK ON GRIPS

Funny, isn't it, how people's experiences can be so vstly different.

Reba and Lefty air forks- superb.

Hope Mini Brakes - had mine for 7 years, been bled only 2 times (once was only 'cos I needed to shorten the hose), performed absolutely perfectly with bugger all 'maintenance'. Pads have lasted ages too, longer than the Avid and Hayes brakes I've also had.

SPDs- had two pairs of basic 515s for 9 years. Still faultless. No maintenance on either pair. Got other SPDs which are perfect too.

Internal BBs- UN52/72s have lasted me years. Even cheapo LP22s or whatever they're called have been great for ages.

Hairspray- s'worked fine for me for all the time I've been riding! If it ain't broke...

Having used a fair amount of kit in my 20 years of riding mountain bikes, most expensive stuff is well overrated. Unless you're racing, I can't really see why a hardtail need cost more than about £1000 max, and a Full susser more than £1800 really. It's just gilding the lily. No harm in spending more, just don't kid yourself it's really 'worth' the extra. If you really want to buy into the marketing hype, then it's your choice I spose.

As for Chris King; I just can't see the point when plenty of other stuff is just as good. My experience with Hope stuff means I'll probably never buy any CK bits. No need to spend extra. I don't need to spend twice as much for 'aerospace standard engineering', 'cos it's a bike, not a fighter jet.

Crank brothers eggbeaters.

I foolishly thought Id swap my time atac for eggbeaters, then after about 6 weeks bought a set for my 2nd bike so I could use same shoes on both bikes. Then first set broke (cracked), and got exchanged, then the 2nd set broke (bearings collapsed), then the replacement set broke (cracked)

So i put my old time pedals back on, and they still work perfectly.