Bad bikes and components..

Conti Verticals worked fine for me, back when they were fashionable 🙂

Specialized 2bliss tyres are always worrying, the way the slime bubbles out through the sidewalls. Worked fine, so perhaps more of a psychological thing.

Only really crap component I’ve had in the last few years were Mavic quick releases, nothing like your back wheel popping out all on its own when you’re riding 👿 And thank god for lawyer tabs! Definitely not user error – the first time I gave them the benefit of the doubt, the 2nd, 3rd &c. time: no. Now using Shimano QRs, and all is well.

DT rims – Oversized Cheese. Not only a bugger to get tyres on and off (a nightmare if you’re trying tubeless!) but soft enough for the Cadbury’s Caramel Bunny!

And I’ve not tried a Conti tyre yet worthy of not slinging in the bin…

the way the slime bubbles out through the sidewalls

That always happens with normal tyres run tubeless. Stops after a short while.

i agree with the OP, montain kings are shite. really sketchy. the new version aren’t much better. the compound is too hard and i lost several side knobs on my first ride with them. swapped them for Rubber Queens. RQ is a good all-round trail tyre. so impressed i actually bought a set in 2.4″.

infact most of the conti tyres i’ve used aren’t up to much. Verts are ok-ish, but nothing special. the race series from conti are pants. may as well run slicks.

always liked Maxxis HRs. can’t see why some people don’t like them.

Admittedly, I can’t see a reason to run Conti tyres when Schwalbe are available.

bottles and bottle cages were ok in the 80s, but come on… who really uses one now!? Totaly pointless IMHO.
Also, innertubes with car valves! ( Schrader )

Whoops … I like my Race-king ss’s but do limit them to flatter fitness rides on a 1×9 carbon stumpjumper build. They are just so indecently light. Yet to see how the X-kings hold up by comparison on the heavier rides / bike (still trying to get them to seal).

What is absolute pants though is Crank Brothers, cobalt headset dead in a matter of months. Lockon grips with end caps made of brittle plastic that shatter when you fit them, and sponge grips that disintegrate after 4 rides. Im just hoping the stem doesn’t explode as well … they must have made the Formula R1 torx bolts as well.

Bah …

bottles and bottle cages were ok in the 80s, but come on… who really uses one now!? Totaly pointless IMHO.

I do and so do quite a few other folk. It means you don’t need to carry a rucksac.

There ok untill you hit a techie section or a drop or jump or a root for that matter and boyng out the stupid thing flies and disapears down the banking, how can you really go on a ride without a camelback!? were do you keep your innertube and butties and multitool and car keys and so on?

Have to agree on the mountain kings .. used them on a bike when they had just come out (3/4 years ago?) God awful tyres. No problems with punctures but absolutely atrocious grip – esp. in mud – sliding everywhere. Could not ride with any confidence.

Speed Kings not much better – nice and quick but the side knobs are so flexy that you can feel the things wobble in a tight turn!

Other awful components
– Crank brothers Headsets – rust up almost immediately
– DT swiss rims used to dent with no effort at all
– Look quartz pedals – come with almost a booklet of shims, and the cleats chip to pieces in weeks.

Speed Kings not much better – nice and quick but the side knobs are so flexy that you can feel the things wobble in a tight turn

I had that – more pressure fixed it.

There ok untill you hit a techie section or a drop or jump or a root for that matter and boyng out the stupid thing flies and disapears down the banking,

Decent cages don’t do that.

As for butties – many rides don’t require butties, and multitools go in your jersey back pockets along with keys, phone, spare tube, puncture kit and optionally pump.

That always happens with normal tyres run tubeless. Stops after a short while.

Spesh 2Bliss aren’t “normal” tyres, they’re supposedly tubeless ready. And it doesn’t stop.

Apart from that you’re spot on 😉

Tubeless ready meaning the bead is nice and fat. Not the same as actual tubeless UST style.

It should stop after a ride, otherwise your sealant is no good!

It should stop after a ride, otherwise your sealant is no good!

Must be that, then – cos they never stopped. Not got them anymore, though, so no longer a problem!

Look quartz pedals – come with almost a booklet of shims, and the cleats chip to pieces in weeks.

mine have been fantastic, take loads of abuse, long lasting no problems with cleat longevity and only needed a 0.5mm shim to get them to work perfectly with northwave and specialsed shoes. The whole booklet of shims aren’t all meant to be used at the same time 😯

mountainman123 – Member

There ok untill you hit a techie section or a drop or jump or a root for that matter and boyng out the stupid thing flies and disapears down the banking, how can you really go on a ride without a camelback!? were do you keep your innertube and butties and multitool and car keys and so o

I have dropped a bottle once in 20 years. Trail centre red and black no issues. I ain’t the gnarliest of riders but I am not wheels on the ground all the time and like the rooty stuff where available

Multitool and tube in seatpack. Pump on frame clips. food in jumper pockets. I don’t have car keys 🙂 I don’t carry a load of useless uneeded crap around with me.

Obviously winter nightrides and far out into the wilds I may need to carry a bit more and sometimes have to wear a rucksac but it is so much more pleasant not to have one on. 3 – 5 hrs local / trail centre rides its fine not to use a cmelback

Last Wendesday nightride about half the folk did not have camelbacks

SRAM X9 rear mech. The might be light weight but only as it is made of cheese. The thread stripped before the replaceable drop out snapped/stripped defeating the point some what.

Didn’t really get on with a Santa Cruz Chameleon as it made me feel like in was on a bone shaker.

Manitou Nixon Platinum forks from a few years ago.£500 and failed straight out of the box,and repeatedly after fixing.
Race Face x-type bottom bracket bearings.2 months in dry conditions and then had it.Utter junk.
Finally,and controvercially,the Orange 5 i had for over a year.Would be more at home on the Antiques Roadshow than on the trails.Just right for middle aged overweight baldies who have more money than riding competence.

My Conti Mountain King 2.4 Black Chilli Protection are the best tyres I have used. Used them all over the place on my HT inc very rough Alpine tracks, and fast road descents, all at 30psi.

Hardly any punctures (none in the Alps), and the compound is hard wearing and feels planted to me.

I think the problem here is Conti make many versions of these tyres… I got the most expensive ones, about £35 per tyre IIRC… I know they make a cheapo version that is non-black-chilli and non-protection. I guess if you use those versions in a gnarr / burly manner, you get what you deserve.

If anyone wants to throw out the quality versions of these tyres, throw them to me please…

Just right for middle aged overweight baldies who have more money than riding competence

Or, decent riders who know how to get the best out of a bike? 🙂

I’ve never been a fan of Contis, ridden some that I’d describe as unridable. But bought some Race Kings recently (just basic 2.2 wirebeads for £15 each) and they’re great. Light, pliable, fast rolling on tarmac and grippy enough in our dry sandy soil. So there ya go – finally a Conti I like and I had to put aside my prejudices. 😀

2007 marzocchi 66 SL1 ATA

Without doubt the worst component ever made! Not fit for purpose! Luckily windwave are very helpful chaps and we came to an agreement

I have those!

What was bad about yours?

Thumbs up for conti tyres – they’ve been good to me.
Thumbs down for my 7 year old Hope quick releases – tight was never tight enough.
Thumbs down for cheap n nasty no brand tools.

Anything by Crank Brothers. Their stuff looks great, but after my experiences I’ll never buy anything else from them.

The exception is their Cobalt ISIS BB – still going strong.

Molgrips, if you meant me then those forks went back 3 times for a warranty repair, when I did some more digging it turned out lots of others had similar issues- replaced with rc3:)

I had the wind-down issue. Went back to WW and was fixed for free. Not had a problem since. Hardly the only product to have a design flaw like that although I admit it was pretty big and should’ve been spotted!

However they are headache for other reasons. Setup is a black art and you cannot get all the travel ever. But those things probably only affect me as a bit of a compulsive fiddler.

I probably would have changed them by now but anything I’d replace them with was £800! They came on a bike so I didn’t pay that much for them.

Obviously winter nightrides and far out into the wilds I may need to carry a bit more and sometimes have to wear a rucksac but it is so much more pleasant not to have one on. 3 – 5 hrs local / trail centre rides its fine not to use a cmelback

Last Wendesday nightride about half the folk did not have camelbacks

Yeah, but you live in a part of the UK where 15C is considered hot!

Hope Tech M4’s that offered no more stopping power than a £50 set of s/h Juicy’s. Duly sold on. And quickly.

Did you bed them in and set them up right? I just bought a pair second hand. I tried them out first because they looked to be in a right state. I spent time setting them up right, sanded the pads down, bedded them in and they’re 10 times better than my Juicy’s.

IMHO i think all hope brakes are shite!!! Formula all the way for me.

ISIS BB’s I will add I have not tried the Crank Bros ones, but when you hack one to bits to try to understand why they are so SH!t you have some ball bearings fall out that could be used on the tip of a biro they are that small. Made I guess to allow for a large spindle for added strength/lack of flex, but whats the point when the bearings are so small. Number of spindles snapped = 0 BB bearings killed = Lots (by me) why not a smaller diameter spindle with larger more survivable bearings? I guess a broken spindle could result in someone really hurting themselves and a lawsuit, whereas some seized bearings means just another BB re-sale…….

IMHO i think all hope brakes are shite!!!

You’re wrong then 🙂

Santa Cruz Nomad replaceable dropouts. Went through 3 in 6 months. Guess it could be my riding style or lack of 🙂

molgrips – Member

“IMHO i think all hope brakes are shite!!!”

You’re wrong then

Or a shite mechanic? Or a troll?

Quite possibly 🙂

No problem with conti here. I used to run 2.3 Vertical Protections front and back in the Purbecks – seemed to grip well and no real puncture issues. Now run a Tubeless Vertical on the front and a Bonty tubeless on the back and again hapy enough.

Had an alu BMC Elite HT race frame for a while which may have been great on a race course, but it was a harsh bumpy pain in the wrists and backside on long rough rides. More wrong choice than bad kit though.

Crank Bros seems the epitome of style over substance – would never buy anything made by them, cannot be arsed with the unreliability.

It’s great that they design stuff that has some flair and creativity to it, but if they can’t engineer it properly then it’s a waste of time.

Conti race king. Stupidly thin tyre that gets ripped if you sneeze. I’m only 11 stone and i pinch flat below 45psi

Silly light race versions? My 2.2 USTs are fine. And I weight 12st and run ’em at 25psi.

And I often run one on the rear of my Orange Five. 😉

“Tubeless ready meaning the bead is nice and fat. Not the same as actual tubeless UST style.

It should stop after a ride, otherwise your sealant is no good!”

UST is a registered name and technology, similar to Hoover vs. vacuum cleaner or Polartec 200 vs. mid-weight fleece.

Whether one is better than the other is up for discussion, but brands/names tend to be registered to protect what the developer perceives to be a good, commercially viable product that could be reproduced using inferior materials or manufacturing processes.

IMHO i think all hope brakes are shite!!! Formula all the way for me.

I’m glad someone has ridden every set of Hope brakes ever made. Makes a great base from which to draw comparison.