[Closed] What bikes have you ridden and couldn't stand?

2009 marin mount vision, according to all the bike press it should of been amazing......it was just cack.

Orange 5 , had fond memories of riding on washing machines, just didn`t live up to it!!!!!

Couple of years ago I had the use of a Boardman HT Pro for a couple of days - hated it, rigid bone shaker, and didn't even feel fast.

A few more years ago my wife, just getting into off roading, had a Giant Rock. What a pile of crap. Should have been an OK towpath bike, but it just never worked - a real Friday afternoon bike. Put me (and her) off Giants ever since!

Santa Cruz Tall Boy, so sluggish up hill even compared to my Iron Horse MkIII, which ain't light. Adequate down hill, but a bit too slow on the steering.
Scott Scale 29, fine in a straight line, but it didn't want to turn at all.

someone posted a 24seven DH bike earlier... that was my first proper mountain bike. The whole bike was bombproof, from the frame to the components nothing broke in 2 years. I had some Hayes HFX9s which had no modulation, but stopped as quickly as a brick wall for some reason. Apart from complete reliability it was utter cack. It doesn't stop me wanting to get another one, for old times sake...

Shyte E5. A bike that was faster uphill than down, which for a 5 inch travel bike was a remarkable achievement. My hardtail at the time was faster down...

Specialized Epic (c. 2003?), bought new, crashed most rides for a year before I gave up... just too steep in the front for me. Guess it's not it's fault (plenty of others obviously don't have my issues 🙂 ), I was just riding where it wasn't expected to go...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that the Dialled Biked Prince Albert Mk1 wasn't right!

It's the only bike I ever regret buying, I sold on a Saracen Zen frame to get it and so regretted doing so.

I've found a lot of bikes just aren't 'fun'. They're competent and do the job but lack that extra something which makes you want to go out and ride them.
Bike's I've demoed or owned that have disappointed include Giant, Trek (£6500 EX9.9 felt sluggish and heavy), Specialized (the Camber was nice though) and Marin.
Those I've had fun on are Santa Cruz, Ibis, Cove hardtails, Cotic, On-One and Gary Fisher.
Orange bikes seem to have lost the fun factor as have Cannondale.

I didn't 'hate' it but I had one of the early Cove Stiffee's with the easton RAD tubing, it was sooooooo rigid that after 10-15 miles it gave me chronic back ache. So I just didn't enjoy riding it except for short mid week night rides, saying that for that it was fantastic 🙂

There are many more bikes I regret selling than buying 🙁

Years ago iIbought a GT I-drive off of ebay late one night after a few beers thinking it would make a great "do it all bike", it didn't....
I did however make, peak district rides very hard work, local rides slow, lots of bad sounds after a few rides..... sold it quick and deleted all memorys of it,, until now, oh bugger

Blur

most of the vpp bikes I've ridden

soul
soda
trailstar never really lived up to the hype
giant reign

Curtis Freeride hardtail. Looked gorgeous, but just felt - erm... - odd. Really stiff,high bottom bracket, short top tube.

Maybe I was just riding it wrong. Or should have hung it on the wall to dribble over.

Spesh Epic... Epic Fail for me but mrs Rickmeister likes it...

I've still got it 😆

1996/7 Columbus framed Kona Explosif - twitchy ditch magnet bast&^rd constantly tries to kill me. I was going to sell it but I dented the top tube in a huge crash two weeks after getting it and have been stuck with the fri*&er ever since.

Either this bike is going to kill me or I am going to kill it. I did break the chainstay at the dropout... but I got it repaired so I can continue to try and kill the f*&*er properly 😈

It was the same size as my Handjob, which was great!

But then I bought a mk.2 Handjob and found I sat 'on' it rather than 'in' it - that didn't last either.

I think I just don't fit the Cove sizing blueprint...

Was just saying 🙂 🙂

Worst bike i ever demo'd was a cannondale prophet, on paper it should have been good, but in reality it was heavy, sluggish & the fork / shock just didnt make for a nice ride for me, I jusmped on my mates 5 Spot so he could have a go, it was like heaven & he agreed the Prophet was a dog of a bike...

456 SS, rode it, hated it. Spent a few weeks staring at it, then splashed some cash on the spec, and now its fantastic.

Proves bad components can ruin a good frame.

Mind you, have a Pompino ss, with a flip-flop hub. Its going on ebay real soon. Its just not fun..

2009 Trek fuel ex8 snapped frame after a week, weighed a ton

Oh! My SX Trail, forgot about that because I barely rode it. Climbed like my downhill bike does, descended like my trail bike does. Still, any time I criticise it I get told I'm wrong by people who've never ridden one, so that's entertaining.

Oh! My SX Trail, forgot about that because I barely rode it. Climbed like my downhill bike does, descended like my trail bike does. Still, any time I criticise it I get told I'm wrong by people who've never ridden one, so that's entertaining.

You're so wrong. 🙄

PS, does anyone want to buy an SX Trail? It's bloomin amazing, climbs like a trailbike but descends like a downhill bike!

I've found a lot of bikes just aren't 'fun'. They're competent and do the job but lack that extra something which makes you want to go out and ride them.

Yep 🙂 Whilst my BFe was very stable and easy to go fast on downhill it felt like a bit of a tank and so was a bit dull and uninspiring to ride. My Trailstar isn't as stable but it's more exciting to ride. I love my Bullit for this reason as well. For a downhill bike it has a fairly short wheelbase and "steep" angles but it's such a fun bike to ride especially on anything jumpy.

Strangely a Trek EX8 that I test rode while my Heckler was getting its fork fixed. Just could not get on with even though I looked forward to testing it out and thought I'd love it.

A stumpjumper, that I thought I'd not like I actually really got on with despite the ride position putting me over the fork - actually I had to turn the brain bit off the rear shock 'cos that was really crap before the bike worked for me.

Turner 5 spot total shite

Intense 6.6. Why so much travel yet so steep and nervous feeling. Horrid thing.

Soul. Flexy! Tried to love this bike as folk rave about them, tried lots of different setups. Got a Sovereign instead now.

Scott genius. Gate. Too many levers on the bars. Scary proprietary shock. Climbed well, i'll give it that.

Orange X2. I bought it after stupidly selling my rocklobster and wanted to get into this FS business. Saw some pics and a few pros looked good on it, so I bought a frame.. Early FS design, URT total sh*te, sus only works when sitting, how pointless. pivots kept coming loose and if tightened, impaired the action.
Oh what a shame it got nicked - I then bought my first Stumpy FSR - infinitely better.

Climbed like my downhill bike does

descended like my trail bike does

Ibis mojo, don't know why just never got on with it

neallyman - Member

No surprise there given it's designed for gravity riding and not climbing...

<snip>

That'll be the pilot.

Point is, since it climbs as badly as a downhill bike but doesn't descent as well as a downhill bike... why not just get a downhill bike? It's sacrificing descending ability for no real gain or, if you prefer, sacrificing climbing ability for no real gain.

As for the descending... I took it to fort william for the endurance dh, took it down the mountain once, and it wasn't as good as my Hemlock. Slightly better in the air (I guess for people who're all about jumping that'd be a bigger deal), but worse everywhere else. So I robbed it for spares on race day, and never bothered to rebuild it. if a "gravity riding" bike can't beat an allrounder trailbike for a job like that, when can it?

Give us some reasoning...
An SX trail isn't as slack as a downhill bike, will have a steeper seat angle and will be similar weight. Chainstay and front triangle geometry should also be in it's favour so why will it climb 'just as badly' as, say, a Demo 8, which would be the obvious comparator? Surely it's got to be slightly better, even if the improvement is only marginal? Without reasoning your claims are just unjustified opinion.

Same for descending. I've no doubt you raced the Endurance on the Hemlock rather than the SX Trail, but that counts for little. Give us some decent technical reasons as to why the SX Trail wasn't as good at descending - because all the obvious reasoning would suggest it should be (by far) the more capabale.

catvet - Member
Turner 5 spot total shite

Really? I liked it when i rode my mates, bit of bob on climbs but lovely going down!!

PS, does anyone want to buy an SX Trail? It's bloomin amazing, climbs like a trailbike but descends like a downhill bike!

😆

Scott Endorphin

An awesome piece of kit in a straight line and very comfy on long haul rides but it was a pig on stilts in the corners, it just couldn't do them.

neallyman - Member

Without reasoning your claims are just unjustified opinion.

Seriously, you're saying my opinion is "just unjustified opinion" then say things like "all the obvious reasoning would suggest it should be (by far) the more capabale". Forget real world experience, what I need is [i]obvious reasoning...[/i]

You can "should be" all you like, it'll not become "is". On paper it looked amazing, but in the metal it felt excessively high and front-endy, not all that stable despite being so long (which robs it of agility), and wallowy. Even in "long-and-low" mode it's a little bit steep and tall (I'd liked to have tried a set of 66s in it but that'd make it even taller). Oh, and the frame design gives you a very limited range of seatpost movement, I needed a Scoper to get both a good pedalling and descending position, couldn't be done with a standard post. And for whatever reason, it bobs like a duck.

To be fair, if I'd got one in 2005 it'd possibly have blown my mind. And it does fly superbly.

Transition Bottlerocket, tried one at UKbike skills, hated it and the dude had a white saddle and kept being 'nice' and smiling at me a lot.

Forget real world experience

But I'll respect your opinion.

ps what year SX Trail is it? Mine was a 2010 - great geometry, 180mm forks, thoroughly capable for it's intended use. I realise from your 05' reference that yours may be an earlier (different) model?

Lynskey ti 29er with twisty tube thing. Certain the set up was wrong but other people said they liked it ? It did Not go round corners. A bit of a lean should be all that's needed, but you need to book 6 months in advance for a corner.

Trek 9300
GT Ruckus
GT I-Drive
Whyte E5
Santa Cruz Blur

All of them where Gash

Only had one i really didn't like which was a 2001 Cannondale Jekyll.Just so boring and uninspiring to ride,and then it cracked.Got it replaced under warranty and sold it straight away. Funny how much peoples opinions can vary so much.Kiwijohn finding the sc tallboy sluggish and slow to turn whereas i think its lightning quick.

I have ridden a number of other peoples bikes on which the setup didn't suit me so felt really bad to me but as others have said set up is individual so I wouldn't dismiss them on such short experience. The worst bike I owned was the 2008 Trek Top Fuel 9.8 carbon that broke after 35 miles riding... most of them on the road, but that is another story

Orange Patriot (old one) - yuck.

Orange Alpine - horrid feeling, just dead and lifeless. Not sure why as all the angles are there - but i rode it and ploughed it into the back of a double!

Orange Patriot (old one) - yuck

What year patriot did you try out? I loved the ones i tested in 06 and 07, a bit annoyed i bought a Coiler over it now.

It was an old patriot. But the five and the alpine have both reinforced my views that oranges are shite.

But the five and the alpine have both reinforced my views that oranges are shite.

I guess some people just don't like single pivot bikes then.....