Good bike shops do it as a part of the service when you buy the bike.

Jolly good. Do they fluff you also..?

Rusty Spanner – Member
Have you got a tape measure handy?

If you can change the contact points so they’re in the same places as on the old bike, it’ll give you a good starting point to work out exactly what you don’t like about it

This ^

Good advice.

Grab your old bike, measure all contact points, write them down.
Grab your new bike, measure all contact points, write them down.

Now see the differences?

I would also measure stuff like saddle to floor, bar/stem to floor. Bottom of peddle stroke to floor, top of headset to floor.

Once you’ve got all that data, you can easily replicate that across all bikes you come to own.
Also, you’ve pretty much got a baseline for incremental differences to try out..change..etc. etc.

For me, a bike should feel pretty much like it’s got something, you are almost there from the off. If it feels just wrong don’t bother making yourself like it. Life’s too short.

Have to disagree.

Bought my SB66 over 2 years ago, first ride was a wet one at North third with some mates, I genuinely had the ‘oh no, I’ve bought an absolute pig’ thought pretty much all of the ride.

Changed a load of cockpit stuff, binned the mental heavy dual ply tyres, spent some time playing with shock pressures and settings and thereafter, love blossomed!. Still my favourite bike.

This pretty much confirmed to me that demo’s are pretty pointless as well, so I don’t bother with those any more either.

I really wanted a steel hardtail, in particular a Cotic Soul, but couldn’t afford new. It took months to find a small second-hand frame and in the meantime I needed something more robust than my carbon Hardtail for a trip to the Alps. Mr Pea found a second-hand Blue Pig, and although it was heavy and took a bit of getting used to, I got really attached to it. Finally got a Soul frame but it feels very different and I was a bit disappointed. I’m determined to get attached to it, and after several rides it feels ok going down hill, but the front end wants to come up all the time when I’m climbing. I’ve decided it’s the length of the forks rather than the frame that’s affecting my climbing.

Oh God yes. An Intense Tracer. 2000 MY. Lusted after it for ages and we so excited when it arrived. Beautiful welding, great bright red paint… Got my LBS to build it up (almost) no expense spared (I was single and mortgage-free at the time). My first FS bike. I just couldn’t get used to it. Buggered about with shock pressure (it had a massive 80mm of travel, if I remember right), changed the forks etc etc. Always felt like I was perched on top of it. It was OK on road climbs, but scary as hell pointed downhill. It actually put me off riding for a couple of years. Sold it to a very happy scotsman on eBay.

My Roadrat just never worked for me. Nice bike I’m sure and on paper it fitted- actually had my first ever bike fit done on it, it made everything massively worse. I got it to work alright by setting it up, on paper, incredibly badly but at least that made it ridable… But I still didn’t like it.

My Kaffenback fits this description. It just felt dull, I bought it as a winter road bike, set it up millimetre perfect to me other road bike and I just couldn’t get on with it.

I’ve now given up on it as a road bike and use it as a gnarmac bike which it does well. Still dull and the fit doesn’t quite work but at least it’s usable.

Yep, Orange Clockwork both wheeled versions and more recently a Sherpa. Lovely bike but it just doesn’t feel right no matter how much I try and convince myself.

Possibly onto another one now as just purchased a Niner RLT without a test ride. Should be interesting 🙂

teadrinker – Member
Possibly onto another one now as just purchased a Niner RLT without a test ride. Should be interesting

I did this exact same thing – all was okay.

Most recent was a Trek Superfly. It was incredibly competent at going fast and climbing, but it was so dull.

My Kaffenback fits this description. It just felt dull,

What does dull mean in relation to a bike . Serious question here .

Yup my original Blur was the right size but felt like I was going to go over the bars all. the. time. Hated it.

just think of the pro’s, they just get a bike put in front of them and they just ride the thing.

Reminds me of something I read in a bike fit book a while back written by the physio guy for Sky. Some people are sensitive to very small changes, others aren’t. He offered the example of Geraint Thomas, who needed his spare bike in a race but was accidentally handed another much smaller riders bike. Apparently didn’t even notice until someone pointed it out after the race was over. Other riders you can move their saddle back 1mm and they’ll notice something is different.

I own two great ones now; Commencal V4 and the Defy

A Defy you say? The forum is always right 🙂

Yes I have done, very recently a 2015 Whyte T129 which I just didn’t get on with from new. Fiddled endlessly with it for 10 months . It was a very capable bike with great kit on it but I just did not gel with it at all. Called it quits in the end and sold it on. Funny as Whyte changed the geometry/frame design very slightly for 2015 then changed it again for 2016, maybe I would have got on with the 2016 version, who knows.

Pegoretti rebadged in a Tour for Indurain, other brands (Giant, Lemonds too) were others etc. I’m convinced there’s a lot more Giants in the peloton etc too.

In MTB I’m sure wheels, frames etc have been restickered or stickers removed as they weren’t the sponsors but we’re the riders preference.

The Defy Advanced? Yeah 😆 😀

I washed the V4 this week and MrsH said this morning ‘be honest is that a new frame’? Noooo. ‘Well it looks new/clean and its never looked like that before’ 😆

My old 2011 Spicy 516, had it a year, but never felt confident or comfortable once on it.

Whatever I did the front had a life of it’s own, it would skip and bounce left and right, never holding it’s line. It felt like all my weight was over the back wheel all the time, and not in a good way, like riding a penny-farthing backwards. I refused to believe it was the bike’s fault though, the reviews were always so glowing!

Swapped the crappy non-black chilli Conti’s for Maxxis which at least meant it had grip, even if you couldn’t really feel it, messed around with pressures, endlessly changed suspension settings – even asked Mojo set it up for me, only for them to say it was “about right” in the end it got stolen. I bought a cheap 2010 316 because it was all I could afford, despite being lower spec and having ‘older’ geometry it was actually a lot better!

To this day I don’t know if it was the crappy OE Open Bath damper on the 36s, the very very light Fulcrum wheels (IMHO too light for that sort of bike) iffy geometry, a combination of those things or something else, but never, not once did I enjoy riding it.

Sounds like predominantly the forks

I have several bikes, all very different; road bike, suspension and rigid mtbs, hybrid, and a Brompton. Getting on one when I’ve been riding another is always a weird feeling (especially the Brompton!). But I get used to it. Maybe it’s down to muscle memory r something; perhaps you can get ‘too used’ to a bike.

Yup BFe. As harsh as a BSO IME, front end lifts on climbs like no other MTB I have ever ridden, it just doesn’t work with long travel forks like Cotic claim it can! felt more like a dirt jump bike/offraod BMX, looked nice though.

What does dull mean in relation to a bike . Serious question here .

That’s a good question and difficult for me to answer. The best I can do is that some bikes make you want to ride fast or do more, when I ride my summer road bike I feel it urges me to go fast, every pedal stroke feels direct, the wheels feel fast and it just fits me, the Kaff was heavy and flexy and didn’t inspire me to ride it at all. This this is a poor answer but about as good as you’re going to get!

What does dull mean in relation to a bike . Serious question here .

I think it’s feel related. It’ll feel “dead” when riding, numb and a bit remote.

For a lot or raod bikes that means the wheels are the culprit, change of wheels or certainly tyres and up the pressures will help, may not take away the numbness but help a little for rolling resistance.

I bought a 2014 Boardman CX for MrsBouy (we were intending going CX touring) and it was the dullest lump of lead this side of the pacos’. No amount of tinkering helped. It was dead as a dodo. I see them around and wonder how on earth folks still ride them.. Anyway, I sold it and she was happy. She probably didn’t want to go touring anyway so made it all up, but I rode it a bit to see what the fuss was about and she was right.. 😆

What does dull mean in relation to a bike . Serious question here .

For me I ride for fun. I need to connect with the bike. I love playing, so that means popping off things, kicking the back out, wheelieing, manualing, etc. I don’t mind doing this on any bike (CX, XC, FS), although it’s obviously less accomplished on some.

The Trek just felt sterile. It was no fun to kick the back end out and I just didn’t feel connected. I used a S-Works Epic a while back and that was incredibly fun, despite being even more XC focused than the Trek.

I really knew it wasn’t right after taking my T129 out and realizing how much fun that was. Grinning ear to ear despite being slower & harder to climb.

I say “waggy tailed”. Some bikes are definitely dull, they’re lifeless tools that get a job done. But some egg you on and always want to play a little bit harder. Once you’ve had a great bike, competent bikes can seem barely better than awful ones.

Bought a Ventana’s once.
Not new, Christ, I’d have been even more gutted had I paid the £1600 that the first owner did for just the frame, but hung all sorts of posh bits off it. Had shock rebuilt etc, but have to say it was just not that good. Very stiff, but just bobbed all over the place.

Opposite end of the scale, I bought my SIR.9 & instantly loved it.
Four years on Its still the best bike I’ve ever ridden. Truly lovely.

My definition of “dull” is similar to lunge’s. I have a reasonable alumniumn road bike, nothing fancy, but when I got my more expensive carbon road bike it just felt totally different, like it wanted to go faster, and more of the energy put into pedalling seemed to go into driving the bike forward. With the alumniumn one it feels like some of the pedalling energy is absorbed by the frame.

Whyte 46. Great bike with a great spec. Got great reviews including 5 stars from the master reviewer Steve Worland. Always felt like I perched on top of it, ridiculously so. Don’t think I was but could never get it to feel ‘right’. Sold it to a mate who loved it. Wasn’t too impressed with a Santa Cruz blur lt I got. Just felt like hard work, got it because I’d got a superlight which I loved and thought the blur was a progression of that. Strange how a bike that one person dislikes can feel great for another.

Trigger 4 – bought it on a whim due to the sale. Still not been out on it properly, just tried it a few times around the drive and garden. I think it’s just too short and twitchy for me as I am used to a C456 with lots of seat post showing (long and low). Everyone else seems to love theirs though which is really frustrating. Will try a few more tweaks but the reverb just made it worse as it’s inline.

Years ago I had a Rocky Mountain pipeline – very cool looking bike in the day and touted as a great free ride bike. It was horrendous! It was a unified rear triangle design (for those old enough to to remember them) which meant it sort of unhinged as it went down steep stuff pitching you forwards and steepening the head angle just when you didn’t want it too! I thought it was me that was crap (although I am a bit) but when I finally gave up and bought a giant XTC hard tail it was an utter revelation – it fit really well was responsive, light and fun! Made we realise how critical good bike design, fit and geometry is!