Sheldon Brown is one of the best resources on the web on any subject.
It’s getting a bit out of date since the great man himself died though. There’s not much on there about I beam saddles, 2×10, suspension forks etc.
There’s a lot of questions get asked over and over again on this forum; brake adapters, cassette/derailleur compatibilty and so on.
Weight Weenies looks like it is the work of one person, or a small team, with input from lots of other people.

Put it all together, and could STW do some sort Sheldon Brown for modern mountain bikes/FAQ/Will This Part Fit My Bike type section.

It shouldn’t be too much work for STW staff, if a thread was started on each subject and the sensible answers were compiled in to one article.

So, next time someone asks “Which adapter do I need for a X post mount fork, Y IS caliper and Zmm disc ?” or “Which headset do I need to fit this fork to that frame ?” they can be pointed to the relevant article.

I know all the information is already there, but it would be easier to find all in one place instead of trawling through previous threads and picking out the useful stuff from all the banter, arguments and uninformed opinion.

IIRC Sheldon knew what he was talking about.

And actually rode a bike.
A lot.

There are a number of people on here I trust to give a excellent, informed advice.

The rest just seem to spout whatever seems to be fashionable at the time & what they’ve read since they traded in the golf clubs. 😀

It’s taken a good few years of posting on here to be able to tell which are which though.

Sheldon knew what he was talking about.

There is an almighty amount of bollix spouted on here that is promoted as fact.

baggsy the bike with 3 bars

No one would ever agree what the right advice was 😉

Sheldon was great but he didn’t always get it right.

It’s taken a good few years of posting on here to be able to tell which are which though

That’s my point.
When I first started posting on here, I didn’t know one name from another, so didn’t know how to value the replies.
It’s only later, after I’d been racing for a while myself and learned a bit of who’s who, that I realised I’d been getting personal training and racing advice from Rob Dean and Aiden Harding. At the time I didn’t give their opinions any more weight than anyone else who replied.

That’s why I think this would need to come from STW themselves.
Someone with responsibility could filter out the rubbish to compile a trustworthy source of information.

There is an almighty amount of bollix spouted on here that is promoted as fact.

So your statement might be a fact or it might be “bollix”

There are a number of people on here I trust to give a excellent, informed advice.

The rest just seem to spout whatever seems to be fashionable at the time and what they’ve read since they traded in the golf clubs.

This, and what makes it worse is most of them actually believe it.

Sheldon Brown is at least fairly reliable, if not 100% accurate. I’d trust the information on there far more than anything I read here.

The rest just seem to spout whatever seems to be fashionable at the time & what they’ve read since they traded in the golf clubs.

Fat 29″ bike is what you need.

That’s why I think this would need to come from STW themselves.
Someone with responsibility could filter out the rubbish to compile a trustworthy source of information.

How about if they published a magazine with the good stuff in it? 🙂

Can we have some examples of the ‘bollix spouted as fact’ please, so I know what to look out for in future? 🙂

That would be pretty useful actually.

Steel feel would be a good one to start with 😀

Ok:
High Rollers/Damp Hands or whatever is currently fashionable are the best tyres ever, for everyone.
No one needs a compact/triple.
Everyone needs tubeless/dropper posts.
Wider bars are always better.
Crank lengths don’t matter.
Mainstream bike brands are crap.
Oversimplification about frame materials.
And a particular favourite, no serious mtb’er would ride at night with a cheap light.

All examples of one size fits all tossery and ill informed opinion masquerading as fact.

IMO, obviously 😉

Continued;
29ers are best for everyone
26ers will die soon
Boutique brands are rubbish as they don’t have lots and lots of R&D

WD40 is not a viable lubricant…

It shouldn’t be too much work for STW staff,

and

Someone with responsibility could filter out the rubbish to compile a trustworthy source of information.

Mmm… I might see a problem given the amount of opinion that’s peddled as fact on this forum.

But apart from that very minor point I think it’s a great Idea

PS I don’t want the job as I prefer to ride my bike 😯 . Which is fitted with tubes, fixed seat post, normal bars, avid brakes, 3×9 chain set and tyres that work all year round. 😉

Can STW become the new Sheldon Attwood?

STW couldn’t even dream of becoming that powerful.

Besides, where could you hide a wok on a website?

This isn’t actually a terrible idea. I’ve wondered about it ib the past; obvious way is to set up a wiki (which someone has probably already done). Two issues as I see it:

1) Who pays for the hosting? St Sheldon’s website is an offshoot of a bike shop site.
2) Quality control – how do you filter out the bollocks? Even Wikipedia struggles with this.

Andy

There is a need for a wiki site similar to Sheldon Brown, however the STW Massif have not got the best reputation for writing plain and concise English and do talk poo rather a lot.

So NO.

And how are STW themselves qualified to know who’s talking about what – particularly when you’re talking about technical stuff. Plenty of people on here know what they’re talking about on certain subjects, but may still get some things wrong.

So, that’s a No, then.

Now I think about, I don’t suppose it would work.
A lot of questions come down to opinion. MBUK readers might believe that a 140mm full sus is essential for trail centres, as that’s what their magazine has told them, but that then once you buy one and get overtaken by someone on a 120mm hardtail, you end up doubting everything else they have told you.

Even if you go for a majority opinion on a subject “Which tyres for…” using the combined experience of hundreds of forum users, that gets dangerously close to unbiased, independent product recommendations, and no magazine that values it’s advertising revenue is going to risk that.

All that leaves is the basic technical questions where there’s no room for dispute. “Which brake adapter/headset/BB do I need ?” and you might as well just look that up on Hope’s web site.

I still think there’s need for an authoritative guide on certain subjects, which tyres work well with which rims tubeless would be a good one. I don’t know who’s ever going to put the effort in to doing it though.
I could make a start, but it would just end up as one thread lost among the thousands of others.

I think we need to get that lad that has just sold the info app. for a millions to sort out an app for it, he could also sort the insults into appropriate orders and uses, wee in shoes, bombers, childs face etc 😉

It’s already pretty good IMO.
You get replies here, which is more than can be said about some sites. Then it’s just a case of sifting through the replies for the right info.

I’m suspicious of those that seem to know too much, smacks of the University of Google.
Rather like the folk that are total experts, seem to know every fact about every road race and rider that ever was when the Tour hits our screens. And you find they’ve only been into it for a few years.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/chain-growth-have-i-got-this-right

🙂

^ come again?

Edit; ah I’m with you now.

Sheldon’s website is unfortunately one of a kind, and now a relic of a bygone era. A person who genuinely knew what they were talking about, and was willing to spend an inordinate amount of time sharing it for free with the rest of us, just beacause of his pure love of cycling.

Showing my age here, but in the early days of the web there were lots of sites like that on all sorts of subjects. Now most of the genuine ‘experts’ have given up on the medium as they got drowned out by the idiots, or were driven out by the overt commercialiasation that came in with the first dotcom boom. Content is now mostly written by generalist web-authors simply to drive hits and ad revenue to commercial sites, or is crowdsourced, and it’s near impossible to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Of course there is going to be a load of old b0ll0x spouted all the time- its an open forum unlike Sheldons site which was just 1 clever man. I talk it all the time as its fun yet slightly less usefull I suppose.

Implementing some sort of clever BS detector might help – but then it would get awfully quiet on here.

My biggest problem here is that whenever you post a question roughly half the responses seem to be from people who haven’t actually read your question and just spout whatever facts they happen to know.

I like to keep an eye on this website since it’s updated fairly regularly, especially for suspension stuff:

http://www.peterverdone.com/

http://www.peterverdone.com/archive/index2.htm

http://www.peterverdone.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

When it comes to modern bikes I tend to listen to his advice. I still try to use a critical eye but mostly his stuff seems to be pretty good.

which tyres work well with which rims tubeless would be a good one.

Yeah but….

The variables on tyres alone are too many to trust though let alone rims, one persons POP will be another’s PITA, if you see what I mean.

Ah, yes, the old ”Which brake fluid ?” question again. I should have guessed it wouldn’t be long before this one came round again.

Not really something where there’s room for a variety of opinions. Either it’s compatible or it isn’t.

See what I mean ?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/is-citroen-oil-bad-for-xt-brakes

Everything on the net. comes with a ‘beware false prophets’ warning IMO. 😉

There is alot of rubbish talked by supposed experts with their own website/blogs

There are some gems on here, but you have to sift through a sea of sh1t to find them.

STW seems to attract people who spout complete bollox, but have an unwavering belief in what they talk about.

Sheldons site is the opposite. A humble man who actually new what he was on about.

STW life seems to attract people who spout complete bollox, but have an unwavering belief in what they talk about.

ftfy

Does it need to be questions and answer format. On a Lotus forum I’m a member of we have a large technical resource in wiki format where any forum member can edit or add articles. There are a few moderators who keep things tidy and a separate forum section for draft articles to allow discussion before publishing. Typically you get users who are doing work on their own car photographing and describing the work, which then evolves with other users experiences of the same job.

Now I think the number of user on STW is greater, so making addition and editing completely open would not be the best idea. Maybe a only premier users, or perhaps and open suggestion/election of those deemed sensible (ha :D)and accurate enough to be granted add/edit permission. New Articles/ suggested edits could be discussed in a forum section by all then added/edited by the wiki editors once complete.

To work though it need minimum input from ST themselves, perhaps only provision of the wiki hosting, link from the nav and forum space to discuss. Actually upkeep would be by the community. Yes this will cost STW money but also should provide greater traffic and add serving opportunities.

Could STW become the new Sheldon Brown ?

god i hope not

I had to solder a nipple onto a sturmey archer cable the other day and guess what – sheldon didn’t have the answer. nor did STW – I had to looka t as many as 3 different websites and then come up with my own technique.

While a wiki of up to date bike facts would be handy sometimes – all the information is out there somewhere – if not look for a relevant thread – then if required start one. Somebody helpful will turn up eventually.

Sheldon’s site was a goldmine for the retro stuff but lacking in more modern aspects and will stay that way now. The best info sites, whatever the subject matter, are usually the result of one man’s total dedication, rather than a conglomeration of other info from multiple sources.

I don’t really need a one site does all source as I like to conduct my own research and its all out there, but typical forum attitude is ‘I can’t be ar*ed to find out myself so I’ll bang up the question and someone will do it for me’.

The result of this is when a question is asked and there are 40 replies probably only 5 will be relevant and useful, 10 will be typical STW responses like ‘grass needs cutting, pebbledash needs sorting, slam the stem, wrong colour, you will die!’. The rest will be a mish mash of uninformed, biased 4th hand information not gleaned from personal experience. So sorting out the wheat from the chaff to compile useful info would be almost impossible.

Must admit that most of my research leads me back to the Park Tool site repair help section, which although biased for their own tools, is written by experts in the field (probably).