[Closed] Spooky 650b review (issue 52)

that wasnt the vibe i got from the article.

but then maybe i just looked at the picture and saw a bike that just looked damn right. that, to me, is a good looking bike.

also a website worse than on-ones! what a company!

Quite like the bike ... just couldn't believe the price!

indeed.

$860 or £1,000 to you sir.

Bend over Britain and take it like the bitch you are! 😈

Makes a steel Niner seeem VFm @ £850ish.
Not to mention an On-One/Lynskey Ti29 at £1100 ish.

indeed.

$860 or £1,000 to you sir.

To be fair, I think it's wightmountain rather than ripoff britain in general.

I spoke to Spooky about ordering one of these a month or so ago- you can order direct from them, and it seems they've ogt some sort of an arrangement with HMRC whereby they sort out the vat and duty via an agent in Londons.
Can't find the original email and figures about this now, but despite Spooky saying the price would be the same if you ordered from them or Wight moutain, with the only difference being they made more money from direct orders, it seemed a good couple of hundred cheaper by ordering direct.

[i]Can we have some more objectivity in future please?[/i]

Out of interest, what would you consider an objective review?

Presumably one that agrees with his POV 🙂

To be fair Nixon_fiend has got a point.

If Benji had said in the review that he HAD tried the bike with 26" wheels and big tyres, and it handled the same as it did with 650b then fair enough. But Benji didn't say that, he just PRESUMED the bike would handle the same.

Considering how easy it would have been to have put a pair of 26" wheels into the Spooky it just boils down to lazy journalism. Now I think about it 'lazy journalism' pretty much sums up issue 52.

I have no axe to grind, I love the mag.. but when the reviewer proclaims 650B "pointless" and himself "big-wheel-phobic" before even getting into the review it doesn't sound like it's going to be a balanced viewpoint.

If he enjoyed riding the bike, I guess 650B 'works'? But benji seemingly didn't even want to consider being open minded on this one.

Ian, I would consider an objective review to be one that examines the pros and cons of a product without any obvious bias or ill-placed cynicism, both or which Benji laid on pretty thick.

I've had a 650B since Easter and ride it several times a week along with my 26ers. the best way I can describe it is its got the rolling goodness of a 29er with the handling of a 26er. best parts of both but the drawback, price and choice of rims and tyres.

I quite like the idea of 650b, I'm only 5'10" so 29er would probably be overkill for me, but as an owner of 6 bikes, I have enough intercompatibility problems to shake a stick at already thanks ...

I've loved the idea of 650b mountain bikes since Pacetti first started to do them, it makes prfect sense. I used to ride 650b wheels forty years ago on my old BSA, they were standard twenty seven and a half by one and a quarter tyres. Benji's review made me cross, saying that a 'lightweight' 26x2.5" tyre gives the same effect. WTF! A 2.5" tyre's gonna weigh around 900gm; I know, I've used them. A 650b 2.25 is going to be around 300 gm lighter, which makes a huge difference. I had 2.3" Big Earls on my Remedy when new, and pedalling those made me lose the will to live, they weighed 940gm!
If I could get a 650b wheel and tyre in the back of my 'Bred, I'd be a happy bunny indeed.

anotherdeadhero - Member

I quite like the idea of 650b, I'm only 5'10" so 29er would probably be overkill for me...

[i]Only[/i] 5'10" or average height as it's also known...

or "shortarse" as it's known to me 😉

Well most of the people I know are ex-rowers, so they're all 11'8" or so.

Besides, 29'ers only look proper on people 6' plus, short people like me riding wheels taller than them look stoopid IMO.

[i]the reviewer proclaims 650B "pointless" and himself "big-wheel-phobic" before even getting into the review it doesn't sound like it's going to be a balanced viewpoint.[/i]

I thought he was just being upfront and honest about his assumptions and opinions on 'big' wheeled bikes...thats a good thing imo.

However, with regard his comment "But this was due to virtually everything apart from the 650b wheels", I don't think this is fair comment as unless he tested it with 26" wheels; how are you going to assume the ride you loved isn't down to the increased wheel size? The fact he "didn't really notice the increased 650B-ness of the wheels at all" would seem to me to be a compliment to how well the frame was designed.

I think one of the points in the review was that a large diameter tyre on a 26" wheel is almos identical to a 650B with a pancenti tyre- also that tyres available aren't that good at the moment, which I why he said he couldn't feel the difference! If you ride a large volume tyre (speciffically some of the WTB one's with high side walls) your already riding the same diameter wheel as a 650B! As to lazy journalism it certainly didn't feel like it here.

Besides, 29'ers only look proper on people 6' plus, short people like me riding wheels taller than them look stoopid IMO.

Im 5'10", and had a Swift (29er), and imo opinion, they look just right. On anybody "average" height, 26" wheels do look a little BumX'y, imo.

I'm only 5'10" so 29er would probably be overkill for me