[Closed] What have you bought that's a bit shit?

Timbuk2 messenger bag, the quick clip is poorly executed as is the stabilising strap, and the corners stick out and collect rain. The reality is it is at best rather basic yet incredibly expensive. Every time I see them getting recommended on here my face falls into my palms and I sob.

I've used mine daily for the last 12 years it's never let water in & is so much more comfy than a "back pack"

Although the Trek Fuel EX9 I bought in 2009 was far from a disappointment, the Jones XR front tyre was frankly terrifying. First ride was a bit wet and I was constantly stopping, checking stuff wasn't loose and came back a bit gutted that my new bike was a bit shit and had absolutely no front grip!

It's a summer tyre, absolutely brilliant fast rolling tyre in the dry, you were using it it the opposite conditions for which it was designed

I think this year's timbuk2 addresses the open corner issue.

American classic race29 er wheels........4 months of old bloke mincing and the rims are well dinged plus there's a load of bulges below spoke holes in rim wall......I'm 180 pounds and run 25-30psi......LBS currently fitting Ryde Trace Enduro 32mm new rims........maybe our cross country/trail stuff is a bit too aggressive for them or I've developed massive radness

Although the Trek Fuel EX9 I bought in 2009 was far from a disappointment, the Jones XR front tyre was frankly terrifying. First ride was a bit wet and I was constantly stopping, checking stuff wasn't loose and came back a bit gutted that my new bike was a bit shit and had absolutely no front grip!
It's a summer tyre, absolutely brilliant fast rolling tyre in the dry, you were using it it the opposite conditions for which it was designed

Hated my singletrack shorts. Funnily thry outlasted everything. Retired them last week as theyve shrunk too much and replaced them with..

Singletrack II.

The humvees were binned. Awful heavy things.

Zipp 303 wheels. Crap tolerances on the rear axle mean the bearings don't sit tight so the wheel rocks from side to side. Grabby, pulsating braking in the dry. Absolutely terrifying lack of braking power in the wet. Supremely expensive; yet supremely disappointing.

May I add Cyclo workshop tools to this list? Among a long list of shiteness, I have found:

Bottom bracket facing tool guide with a hole too small to get the shaft of the cutting tool through.
Headset facing/reaming tool with a set of guides too big so you can't get them into the head tube until after you have reamed it - but you can't ream it without getting the guide in!
Crown race facer too small so after cutting the crown race was a slack fit
Sloppy bushings on a rear mech hanger straightener and a plastic sliding holder for the ruler that cracked and broke after a handful of uses
Headset press with plates so large that they pressed a dent into the underside of the down tube on a steep-angled steel frame bike.
How I hate them.

Hope hubs for the last 20 yrs (i keep giving the 'british engineering' a chance but 6 months in, its grumbly bearing time).
Hope brakes (had 4 different versions, & gave up on them in 2000).
All riding packs apart from the lumbar res ones.

Phew, where do you start ? Best to avoid mentioning old girl friends so lets stick with mountain bikes.

2002 Spesh Enduro Pro provided my first taste of hospital food.
Any thing made Chris King, over priced and badly designed.
Intense 6.6, cost me a fortune and so was so badly aligned it was funny, they refused to believe me even though NWMTB agreed so I sent them a video clip and then they agreed to exchange it but then took over three months to ship out the new one. Intense is up there with CK as being over priced American crap.
Egg beaters - whats the point to them ? Ditto Whyte bikes
Any Push tuned shock, more emperors clothes !
A loft full of tyres, sooo many I honestly cannot recall their names.

But lets end on a positive note, my American Classic 29" wheels and my Campy Shamal Ultra 2 Way wheels are both outstanding examples of money well spent.

Orange X2 frame. Utter tosh. I just wanted to get into the FS thing too hastily. URT design is pointless. Pivots kept coming loose on every ride.

Every BB I've had since square taper (so about 50 then....)

Hope Vision 1: rubbish mount kept falling forwards, even on gentle commutes.

Exposure Flare: Crap design keeps getting knocked sideways, can't be adjusted up or down and the rubber band broke after 2 weeks, switch broke after 4 weeks. Also uses the worlds most expensive batteries

Formula disc brakes: Off or On sir?

Smartphones

The fancy green Michelin Wildgrippers.
Those Onza pedals with elastomers instead of springs.
That first year (97?) of RS forks that did away with the stanchion covers.
Most Schwalbe tyres I've ever tried.
Orange P7 frames (actually, I didn't buy that one).

VW T5 Kombi, worst vehicle I've ever had.

Avid Juicy 5 brakes, why make it so hard to replace the pads (or was it just me)?

Racing Ralph tyres, just didn't suit my riding style.

Any Altura clothing, only seem to last a few weeks before stitching starts coming apart (however their bags are great).

First and foremost have to be the RaceFace X-Type cranks I bought a few years back. The bearings died in four dry, summer months and within eighteen months the spline interface bit the dust.

Then there were the Mallet pedals that ingested a bearing after less than a year.

Northwave SPDs where the mesh uppers has "disolved".

Too many seatposts to remember (all broken).

Castelli Mitts that disolved in under a year.

DHB gillet zip went in under a year (am I too fussy?)

Lapierre OEM handlebar 2011 now corroded all over.

Oh, and the super thin SRAM chainring that bent almost double with a dollop of awesome power!

Can I please add Lupine lights circa 2007, £400 even after discount for yet another hyped product whose customer support was utter shit,Howies merino, the clowns used to stitch in labels that then caused huge holes in the said merino and last but not least planet x titanium quick release skewers.

In my opinion they are the most dangerous biking product I have ever used, on my Spesh road bike every time I went close to or over 30mph (this required a descent of some sort 🙂 ) the speed would produce a violent front wheel speed wobble and on 23mm tyres dressed in lycra thats not funny, its very similar effect to when you see a caravan thats being towed start to go crazy. I had this happen 6 times and every time I re ran the event in my head trying to figure out the cause of the problem. Every bloody component was double and tripled checked.Only when I exchanged these skewers for some normal ones did the problem go away. I can only conclude that at speed the skewers flex enough to cause the wheel to momentarily lose contact with the road surface and induce the wheel wobble and its only a matter of good luck that one of these did not result in me smashing my head in to the tarmac at high speed 😕 Thanks planet x !!!!

Forgot to mention the Crank brothers headset that rusted on the outside after about 10 not terribly wet rides.

Forgot Hope seat collar QR's.
Had two - they work poorly then they break.

They do look nice though. 🙂

KMC Chain

Michelin XC something-or-other tyres (although could be ace for 2 wheel drifting on a towpath)

I had them Michelins.... for 1 ride.

Mondraker Dune Frame - Do they have tape measures in Spain, or threadlock, or bearings larger than those used in matchbox toy cars ?

SealSkinz waterproof socks - let water in but not out - yay balloon feet

Formula RX brakes - rubbish power - pump up - requires one set of uber expensive pads per ride.

Shimano bottom brackets - available from the cheese counter at most supermarkets. (everything else by Shimano is ace)

Crank brothers foam lock on grips - having heard bad things about almost all their products I have steered clear.... but grips - surely grips would be OK! Nope - fell apart in a week

That's not bad actually considering the amount of stuff Iv bought over the years.

Although the Hans D's are pure emperors clothes. Utterly shit tyres yet constantly raved about clearly by people who have no clue!

For those of us who get on with HD's, what should we be using oh wise one?

Forgot about Crank Bros headset - I bought one really cheap from CRC thinking, how bad could it be? Just as bad as people said...it was replaced without question and now sits in its box. If they spent as much time designing the product as they did the packaging, they'd be pretty good.

QR20 has got to be up there too - it was a pain in the bum and the little clamps used to break all of the time.

My Hope seat clamps haven't been too bad, but the wheel skewers suck. Hope XC4 brakes were dire too.

For those of us who get on with HD's, what should we be using oh wise one?

haha no idea matey, I tried to love them, tried them in all conditions and I just hated them. Choose wisely young padawan for the trails are alive....

Have to agree with the Crankbrothers sentiment. Nice stuff visually, but utter tripe performance wise. Seatpost clamp that doesn't clamp, silk screen printing that rubs off with your fingers, terrible wheels that are virtually disposable.

My Hope hubs have survived 2 Welsh winters and are still going strong (and as noisy as ever) but the QR skewers are useless. I want them to release when I'm removing a wheel, not at some random point during a ride.

I bought a Fat Spanner external bottom bracket tool that won't fit the bottom bracket properly.

Endura baggy shorts and gloves fall to pieces (the jerseys and bib shorts I have a great though).

Zipp Service Course CX bar tape that fell to bits after about 5 dry road rides!

Charge saddles (Spoon/Knife) are great value and comfy but creak horrendously after not a great deal of use (Scope is going pretty well so far though).

And after finally trying something else after nearly 3 years of mtb’ing I've decided that Nobby Nics are pretty shit.

nukeproof headsets.

avid brakes.

formula hubs.

cycling clothes not cut for cyclists - which just about everyone is guilty of

(recommendations for cycle clothing that'll fit a skinny 6footer gratefully received!)

haha no idea matey, I tried to love them, tried them in all conditions and I just hated them. Choose wisely young padawan for the trails are alive....

They're a rear tyre only for me now that I'be discovered the Magic Mary as a front tyre.

I've found them to be pretty good in most conditions, not exceptional on anyone just good on a variety which suits me as I'm too lazy to change tyres. Easy to run tubeless, not too heavy for a big tyre. What I will day is that when they die, the grip is useless (once the knobs start to tear they get squirmy).

Rockshox Pikes.

I bought a Fat Spanner external bottom bracket tool that won't fit the bottom bracket properly.

Also this, utter pile of rubbish. Always had to make it fit with a rubber mallet.

On aye squirmy as a mofo, I found as they wore down they were really erratic handling wise, breaking away on stuff that usually they ploughed through. I remember railing a left handed berm at our local trails one I had done a million times same line as usual and the bike slipped right under me. I pissed them off pretty much that day. Now on Nics and love them! Crazy.

Nothing beats a tioga farmer john as everyone knows hahha

Any PF30 BB. SRAM, PSA and Wheels Mfg. All SHIT.

MRP 1x - Broke it putting it together the plastic is that soft.

Truvativ XO Chain Device - Should have learnt from above about how bad the design of that MRP top device is and how soft the plastic is.

I'd like to say Zee mechs, i've bent three of them now but that's more my fault than the zee mech, but they all bend in the same place...

Nothing wrong with HDs and I do know what I'm talking about :p

However, Superstar rear hubs..... utter rubbish - need to be supplied with at least two spare freehubs.

DMR V8s. Hopeless pieces of grumbly crap

Those shiny superstar bar ends, not the ones that serve for climbing hills, the ones that tidy up the end of the handlebar.....look lovely, but forever falling off and getting lost!

Crank Bros Cobalt headset, a lovely bit of design, diabolical execution.
Was rough after about three rides, was dead within six months.

Race Face X type bottom bracket, the bearings disintegrated in five rides, yet the Hope one that replaced it is still going strong five years later.

Hope Mono M4 brakes, it was all but impossible to get through a ride without one of the pistons sticking - lovely looking brakes and really nice modulation but so temperamental.

Pop / Pushlocs, just shite, work for about two rides before they stick, moving the compression knob yourself is just so much less hassle

On One Pompino - dull
Funn titanium seatpost - weighed more than the bike it was going on
Gobi Saddle - probably me rather than the saddle..
Various Mucky Nutz fenders which to be fair I never actually finish putting on and usually just resort to any electrical tape that happen to be lying around.

Superstar tesla rear hubs..... ruined god knows how many rides and cost me a fortune in wheel builds.AVOID AVOID AVOID 👿

Avid brakes. 🙄

Non black chilly contis. 😯

All soft alloy/ti hex/torx bolts. 👿

Fox suspension (i have it but it took £350 of tft pushing to make it work) 🙁

Met Parachute. 😐

BMW X5. First and last beemer I'll ever buy. It looks good and the Mrs enjoys tailgating whilst driving it. But it is absolutely useless: noisy, rock solid suspension, would struggle to venture onto a blade of wet grass or gravel without wheel spinning all over the place.

kayak23 - Member

I bought a Fat Spanner external bottom bracket tool that won't fit the bottom bracket properly.

You bought a fat spanner and you're complaining that it's too fat?

MRP 2X utter cheese
E13 30mm BSA BB fell over beetle style after the kettle had boiled
Hope QR seat collar as said looks great but unable to do what it is actualy designed for.
Shimano XTR trail pedals three pairs all distanced themselves from the axles.

BMW X5. First and last beemer I'll ever buy. It looks good

😯 😆 😆 😆

Schwalbe Dirty Dans - they cower in the face of decent terrain
Altura Attack jacket. How can you put a jacket together with GLUE? Idiots.
Avid Juicy 3s, for reasons too tedious to get into
Every set of proper MTB shorts - best ones I have now are pro sailing shorts.
Waterproof socks. There's no such thing.
Royal gloves, Altura gloves, On One gloves - every pair except my old Spesh fingerless have fallen apart.
Parktool multi-tool - snapped.
Topeak 'power' tyre levers - great design, terrible quality. They sort of, well, melted.

Any of those cheap tyre levers that either bend in two rather than lever the tyre, or worse, fracture and send bits spinning towards your face
Conti Vertical tyres, weak walled & squirmy.
Hope QR's, the older type. Deliberately designed to be difficult to get the tension right, and painful to open when on tight.

I'm glad somebody else thinks Park tools are crap. They always seem to get such rave reviews yet the two I have had have both failed in some way eg pin on chain tool snapped after very little use.

a fisher fat possum

Avid brakes.

Panaracer Fire XC's nearly killed me in the Mendips.

So much user error.