Have you ever just 'not got on' with a bike?

I didn’t like my Motolite either.

Cotic Solaris, horible horible horible!

Another Specialized…..
I really don’t like my Specialized Sirrus. The geometry is awful. BB is too low and head tube is far to high and long. It looks silly. It feels like a granny’s shopping bike, except the frame and fork are so stiff and lifeless it sucks all the fun out of riding it. It’s going as soon as I can find a nice steel road frame going cheap.

Oddly the Sirrus gets rave reviews. Especially in magazines sponsored by Specialized. Hmmmm!

dialled prince albert, just felt horrid, I rode it once then sold on, back the the 456 straight after.
weirdly i had a love/hate which i really liked.

I’ve never fully got on with any mountain bike if I’m honest. Road bikes are different. I know what numbers work for me. So, as long as I like the colour and brand image I’m done. But a mountain bike just has to cope with so many different situations that it can never be ideal everywhere and it’s always a case of “it’s great there but maybe something else would be better there”.

2007 Norco XXXX when I was into jumpy bikes. Was bloody awful! Otherwise not really. Some have taken more getting right than others, and I’ve liked some more than others, but apart from the Norco I’ve got on with all of them.

09 Mongoose Teocali Comp – just felt plain weird. Didn’t like the geometry it felt like the bike had a super steep head angle even though it didn’t and didn’t like the weird moving bottom bracket thing.

2011 Genesis Core – just found it too harsh. Stiff yes but it battered me whenever I rode it. Much prefer my 2000 Kona Muni Mula aluminium bike to the Core so the Core went.

I must not be fussy, I still love my old 100mm travel Stumpy FSR ’04 with 585/120 bar and stem as well as my recent Trance 29er with 730/100 bar and stem. I loved all the Marin steel and Spesh M2 and M4 hardtails I had before too, the Marin Rift Zone with coil spring, the Cannondale road bikes x3, and the Kinesis Crosslight was ace.

I’ve only just thought of one I didn’t like and that was something my dad bought me when I was a kid, some poor imitation of a Raleigh Chopper with both wheels the same size.

Yup, bought and sold the same Soul within three months!

I had a go on a Cotic Hemlock out in the Pyrenees a few years ago. I’d ridden a Soul in the UK and loved it – truly brilliant bike.

But I just couldn’t get on with the Hemlock which was a real shame, I’d been looking forward to it. I love 4-bar suspension but it just felt like I was “on” the bike rather than working with it. Really hard to describe. It wasn’t BAD, it just didn’t feel “right”.

06 stumpy sworks & C456 for me ! Hated them both, no matter how much I tried didifferent setups, I just couldn’t get them to feel right for me, hence the quick exit out of the man cave 😉

Ellsworth I.D. The worst.

Commencal Super4. Tried to like it but I just couldn’t get on with it. It was heavy, It climbed like a pig and it kept throwing my into the undergrowth. Sold after9 months.

S Works Epic. Old style with the brain shock at the back.Beautiful looking red machine, but total crap. Lasted 2 weeks before i moved it on.

Specialized Allez road bike put me off them for 2 years.
Specialized Pitch not sure why but never really liked the feel and kept shredding rear tires for some reason
Heckler to short and could not get it to fit.

Pretty sure there will be many more

Gary Fisher 29er. Bought into the 29er hype and spent a fortune trying to make it right – superlight wheels etc etc. Problem was, whatever I did to it the wheels were still too big.

Dialled Bikes Prince Albert. Very heavy frame and really low front end even with 150mm forks on it. Replaced with a Soul which I love.

My 5, bought to replace my hustler.

Tried a 14″ diva, which was too small, so bought a 16″. Was far too long in the top tube, never really got on with it. Hustler was a much better fit.

Now have a small mega, which fits great with its really short top tube.

Send me all these 90s Zaskars, I LOVE mine..

Didn’t get on with a Dialled PA, swopped for a Kinesis Maxlight and im much happier onit, think I like my hard tails Aluminium. Going to try a charge duster over winter, see how I get on.

Interestingly I feel this way about my Bandit which I’ve not quite got totally to grips with yet. It’s turned out better at some things than I expected (e.g. climbing) but I’ve started thinking the bike might be to blame for (too many) recent crashes EDIT – since I obviously can’t blame myself

I test rode a demo Bandit in the Peak and it didn’t do a lot for me. I put it down to the bike being a lot better than I am.

But I just couldn’t get on with the Hemlock which was a real shame, I’d been looking forward to it. I love 4-bar suspension but it just felt like I was “on” the bike rather than working with it. Really hard to describe. It wasn’t BAD, it just didn’t feel “right”.

I had a go on one of those once, for a few days, it didn’t do a lot for me. I put it down to the bike being more capable than me.

But both of them were at least a million times better than a Klein Palomino which was just not a lovely bike.

But it’s all so personal. Loads of folk love Bandits and Hemlocks. I wonder if maybe my expectations were simply too high.

As for ‘right’ – Ragley Ti. Just a mad combination of slackness, lightness, climbing ability and a weird penchant for the improbable.

I bought a Marin Attack Trail and hated it, it just rode like a dog. Replaced it with a Santa Cruz Blur, which had less travel but was way more capable on the downs.

Marin Wolf Ridge 09, orrible, sluggish thing.

I’ve enjoyed all my Inbreds though..

20 ” Ragley Ti. Perhaps I was expecting too much but I just found the rear end harsh and unforgiving. I tried a variety of wheels, tyres and pressure combinations, could not get it to suit. I was hoping for a longer travel version of my Litespeed Kitsuma, but there was no comparison. Kept the Kitsuma and sold the Ragley.

I have ridden an 18″ Ragley Ti and whilst being the wrong size, felt more forgiving- perhaps a case of quite subtle geometry changes affecting the frame in a big way? The seat stays on the 20″ are more vertical?

Put all the bits onto a second hand £80 On One 456 frame.
Much nicer
Just goes to show we are all different!

Borrowed a pace 405 for 1 night while my SS hardtail forks were being serviced….

Utter pants……Kept wanting to throw me over the bars on stuff that the SS would go down with no probs….

SC Heckler – I’m 5’7″ and still a medium was too short in the top tube with a stem and bar width suitable for a 5-6″ trail bike (50mm). Add to that the High BB the high top tube and dirty great hole in the middle of the suspension action (RP23) and I got rid with relatively little riding on it.

I HATED my 2010 Trek Remedy. Spent ages trying to talk myself into it. Never did. Can’t emphasise how much I disliked that bike.

My ragley Td:1 on the other hand is one of the finest riding bikes I’ve ever owned.

Another Specialized FSR here. Thought it would be better than the Sworks hardtail it replaced but turned out to be a pile of crap. Final straw was when the chain snapped and I smashed my nuts. Would never have happened on the old bike…..