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Seeing as every other thread contains, "yes, I bought Product X and it's teh orsumz", let's hear about your purchasing errors.
I bought some Hutchinson Pythons once. Oh my, they were shitter than shit. Fine when it was bone dry, but just sneeze on the trail ahead and there'd be enough moisture to make you crash.
most cycling magazines, written by kids for people with to much money to waste on stuff they didnt need but are convinced they do now to save nano grames of weight
B&Q Value spade. Snapped on the very first dig.
Fosters
nobby nicks
[s]cock enlar[/s] err, that's pretty much it, really
Superstar chain device. I really should have known better...
Volkswagen Passat.
A raceface headset, discounted at the bike show (NEC) back in the day, lasted 1 trip to Wales and a month of dampish riding in thetford before seizing,new custom bevelled bearings from rf were more than I paid for the headset!
Schwalbe performance line tyres, f-ing lethal in the wet and sidewalls made of tissue paper
a orange sub zero
a fisher fat possum
a fisher pro calibre 29r
a fisher super caliber 29r
some lake winter boots
a edinburgh bike coop tourer
a spa cycles saddle
some nukeproof carbon hubed wheels 20 odd years ago
i could go on for hours
4x B&q builders buckets. Split 2 and broke the handles off the other 2 the first time I picked them up after filling with sand.
tonights chinese.
turned up an hour early.....
fake oakleys - utter garbage
mud tyres - great for ploughing up hill through gloop, but ruin the descent
proper cycling socks - much prefer normal terry sports socks
those tyre liners to stop you getting punctures - what a pita...
Apple AirPlay. Never worked properly.
I can't do cars too painful
The manitou SX (the base model) forks on my Orange Gringo (the base model). There was no valve to make the rebound damping more than the compression damping!! Just a solid plastic plunger. So much worse than the manitou PRO C (the base model) on the previous bike, which had rebound damping
But to be fair most of the stuff I've bought is fine
Oh ONZA "BuzzSAW" inner chain ring. It looked so cool in the shop all cut out from steel. It had such a cool name. It chain sucked like mad the whole time it was on (in dry Colorado). The chain suck stopped as soon as it was replaced by a cheap stamped Shimano one
LOL at CFH.
i was recommended pythons too. Dreadful tyre, were just about ok in a straight, flat, line. Dreadful in every other respect. To this day the guy who recommended them (bike shop manager) insists they were a good tyre.
currently i think my Nokia windows 8 phone is shite.
A merida
oh and some panaracer spike tyres, so squirmy they folded on me and i fell and broke my thumb.
also any of the 5 or so sets of avid brakes.......utter tripe.
Spesh fast trak. Bought a month ago for the rear of my quick bike. It's been mostly underwhelming and not particularly predictable. Anyway it met it's end today - a flint tore the sidewall. Kinda happy to bin it
Avid brakes - although calling them a bit shit is being generous....
Plus in my BMX days anything made by Haro, GT or Mongoose....
A Tesco chain tool. Which was apparently made of cheese. I knew it would be made of cheese. I don't know what I was thinking.
New Five Ten Impacts XVI. Feel like shooting your feet with anaesthetic. I almost got used to them then today I wore my old Freeriders and realised what I'd been missing.
Bose noise cancelling headphones
Specialized fsr
ESI grips
Tag Heuer grande date watch
Abarth 500 esseesse
Global knives
Shimano XTR mech and shifters
G shock watch
Sony ps2
Special K
Charge saddles
Pretty much any Continental tyres I've ever bought, special mentions to Gatorskins which are terrible.
Biemme winter tights from Planet-X. Odd fit, basic design, sent back sharpish
[url= http://www.dx.com/p/oulaiou-bicycle-explosion-proof-glasses-outdoor-sun-glasses-transparent-black-304066#.VBS3F6MwAtU ]"Bicycle Explosion-proof Glasses"[/url]
[img] 
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Call me a cynic, but I suspect [i]genuine[/i] explosion-proof glasses retail for a touch more than £1.43
If they don't make me look gnarsome when they arrive, I'll see about an [s]scientific[/s] ill-thought-out test and have my next of kin get back to you all.
Panaracer Trailrakers. May as well ridden with the brakes on, they dragged that much
Northwave Arctic Boots, dire
I liked Python tyres in the dry, fast and rolled well
O.O smoothie headsets, absorb water like a teabag
Hope Pro 2 SS hub.......... for me, was the worst Hope product to date. Bring back the XC hubs.
Avid brakes.........mmmmmmmm
Planet X shower cape for road rides. Lining disintegrated in 6 months. Should have guessed at £20.....
Panaracer Fire XC's
a fisher super caliber 29r
I had one (red/yellow), brilliant, just didn't survive my lardy arse but I had a good few years out of it
non-black chilli rubber queens awful as was the website that declared them black chilli and the shop that refused to refund
Garden Manure
Hans damfs. I wanted to like them. I so wanted to like them. Everyone else liked them. They were the draggiest, slowest piece of dung I have ever used.
Gatorskins...? Really.? They're Proper winter training/ commuting tyres.
Schwalbe tyres. All utter ****ing **** and £50 a pop.
Raceface Aquanot Jacket. Not breathable and not waterproof. Bloody expensive and the zips all fell off.
Nobeerinthefridge - MemberHans damfs. I wanted to like them. I so wanted to like them. Everyone else liked them. They were the draggiest, slowest piece of dung I have ever used.
As far as I can tell, everyone who likes Hans Dampfs either came to them via Nobby Nics, or at the time when there were absolutely no good 650b tyres.
Fox 34 FIT, Rock Shox Monarch Debonair, Matchmaker clamps for shimano brakes to sram shifters, titanium XTR pedal axles.
That Specialised bar tape with the gell pads under. It was really really comfy but made the bars so fat I could barely reach the brakes on the drops.
The roubaix is a much better compromise!
Easton wheelset, freehub issues 😥
An all inclusive holiday to Turkey, I would rather be in Grimsby.
Bought some Maxis Ardents four years ago. Fitted them to my old kona then immediately flew off to molini with them. In the words of Captain Bertorelli: "Whatta mistaka do makka"
Tioga Psycho II...
FSA gossamer cranks with the pre-load cap that always comes undone no matter what I do to the ****in thing.
Aztec shimano road brake pads, 2 frikkin rides in the wet and they were done.
Shimano Goretex winter boots, great in the dry, complete utter turd in the wet when they just turn into mobile ice baths.
Giro gloves - just fall apart.
Continental Vapour tyres. So bad, I genuinely thought they were actively trying to kill me.
I read later that they were developed solely on marketing grounds "we were told to bring something new to the market for a particular bike manufacturer" was the excuse
Bastards
On one smoothie headset.
Aldi cycling shoes.
At least three Oasis albums.
Ice V8 dropper.
Continental mountain kings.
Bavaria lager.
Tom Waits rain dogs (I mean, really, what so ****ing good about it).
Some £20 DVD about the 1974 Lions tour to South Africa, that was nothing but interviews after they'd been on the piss at some dinner thirty years later.
Too much other crap to mention.
Gatorskins...? Really.? They're Proper winter training/ commuting tyres.
Hateful things, vague feel, not much grip and not great at repelling punctures. I really didn't like them at all.
Gloves made by
Scott
661
Giro
Fox
Kona
Dakine
Specialised
Mace
Aldi
Raceface
All of them disintegrate within a few months, stiching fails, holes in palms, Velcro comes away, rubber armour falls off, silicone grips on fingers- these last a couple of rides, just shit
No other piece of riding kit I've ever own fails so quickly on me as gloves
If anyone knows of some long lasting gloves , let me know
Not really shit, but certainly biggest disappointment was the Ragley Ti in 20" size. Wanted to love it, just couldn't get past the overly stiff rear end. Expensive mistake on my part.
I have briefly ridden an 18" frame that a friend still has (and loves) and it felt more lively, more planted. Strange.
On the other hand, Nobby Nics really are crap.