Having a flick through some of the recent threads, and I find it surprising that some components/brands people hate quite fanatically, are the same brand that some (including myself) have found reliable, worthwhile, and generally 'good'!
Now, I know we're all individual and have our own attitudes etc, but I've never seen a crowd so love/hate over the same items as the MTB crew!
Is it that MTBing involves our leisure time, so if an item fails/doesn't immediately perform, we instantly dislike it as it's 'wasted' our leisure time? Or is it that generally MTB components are pretty pricey, and we expect a lot from them - failure to deliver is not an option?
I've had a few, so forgive the philosophical approach to it all!
DrP
I know what you mean, particularly noticable on the love/ hate thread. Hope for some reason really get it, when I can honestly say mine have been the most reliable brakes you could want, two sets, both over six years old, minimal fettling, still working just fine. Same for my six year old RF Turbine cranks and ISIS BB. All I can imagine is that some things aren't properly set up and cause a problem, and continued messing by the owner just exacerbates the issues. My prejudice towards Shimano gears stems from their Rapidfire shifters which were just bloody awful from an ergonomic point of view, ie a thumb lever that was too small to comfortably fit your thumb on. SRAM was a revelation and I've never had a problem in again six years, where others seem most offended by them. Go figure.
I think it's in part because bikes are such simple machines, really, that it causes us to intensely focus on anything that can discriminate one bike, or component, from another. This is particularly important if we've just paid a considerable amount of money for something bike related and need to understand why we have done so.
At least with mountain bikes you have differences in rear suspension design that merit pseudo-legitimate debate on their relative strengths and weaknesses. With road bikes there are no such gross differentiating factors and the love / hate attitudes and ridiculous obsession with minutiae are ten times worse.
I know what you mean, like Xipe Totec all I'd use is Hope brakes. (I'm still using some original Minis & M4's never been a problem) & Pace RC40 forks (service & performance) I mean, WHY would I need to change?
"I MIGHT BE A GEORDIE BUT I'M STILL BRITISH!!"
No different to any other aspect of our lives...