Is there anything that annoys you about the bike industry?

As the title says really

just wondered what irritates people about certain aspects within this fine industry i work in?

they seem to insist on charging for their products is what most annoys me.

Not actually having a standard standard so everything swaps between bikes

why not use the same groupset throughout the whole bike…..

Their failure to give me stuff for nowt has always rankled TBH

In my two stints within it, which I thoroughly enjoyed, they never paid me enough to fund my lavish lifestyle.

And, just to annoy Binbins, they gave me a LOT of free stuff!

The constant telling us we need things, which differs year on year, and the magazines delivering the message. I can only deduce that most mags are completely in the pocket of the brands (not so much ST and dirt but certainly the future mags and MBR). Recently we’ve been told that 140mm bikes are the most versatile, then 120mm was the sweet spot and now we all need bigger wheels apparently. Transparent market stimulation.

The pay is rubbish, the parts are over priced, there is a clique to belong to, nothing fits together (shimano, sram etc) Cloathing is sub standard with a few exception, and servicing is a right Rip of everyone should learn to do it them selfs.

They smell funny.

oi!

Not actually having a standard standard so everything swaps between bikes

This is really really annoying. And getting worse.

Chainguide pricing. Pricing of US stuff over here. People who get bent out of shape about other people’s preferences.

Getting suspension oil on my trousers and not being able to wash it out. (solutions welcomed)

“The constant telling us we need things”

+1

Supply creating it’s own demand.

You dont have to buy it people, step away.

overpriced stuff, a lot of which is under-engineered or just stuck in the past.

Don’t shimano realise that if they stopped messing around with all the different group sets and just made XTR and Saint at the Deore pricepoint they would sell loads more? 😉

Getting suspension oil on my trousers and not being able to wash it out. (solutions welcomed)

Teflon action slacks? 😯

or send them to us 😉

Price fixing

The price of chainrings .

Oh,ok ,I’ll just buy a new chainset 🙄

Marketing, mags and reviews.

There is no ideal product, just the best balance of compromises for a particular application of what technology is available.

There is no perfect “do it all bike”, since requirements, personal taste and acceptable compromises vary greatly from person to person.

Bike and setup is over analysed to within an inch of its life, but technique and mindset, of which actually make a difference is ignored.

Lack of suspension/bike setup support in your average bike shop.

LoCo – Member

Teflon action slacks?

or send them to us

Damange is done. I’m sat in the office, with three big greasy spots on the left leg.

Standards that don’t work.

I couldn’t give a monkeys if the headset on my new bike is 1.2746394″ and only once company makes it (as long as it’s good) or that a new frame is 28.2″ wheels. As long as it works I don’t mind.

A bit like writing off a car then complaining the engine still had miles left in it and moaning to the Skoda dealer that they won’t knock money off the price and fit you’r old Ford engine for free and knock some money off, after all youre buying the rest of the car from them!

Stuff like BB30 though put’s me off new bikes though due to stories of it creakeing and needing re-assembling every 150miles or so to keep it quiet. What was so wrong with threaded cups? Would it have made much difference to make BB30 internal bearings in threaded cups?

Magazines;
1) Product reviews, the ‘first look’ stuff has some relavence, otherwise that’s what the internet is for.
2) Press junkets – I don’t give a flying f*** how good truvativ’s sushi was or that Shimano flew you to outer mongolia to launch their new range of downhill-gnarr core-lite brakes. Unless the aformetioned freebies are incuded with the product I don’t care.
3) ‘Travel’ articles where the writer clearly just got a free holliday off a guiding company. That’s not being a traveler and having an adventure on a bike, that’s being a tourist.

Santa Cruz/Jungle UK price gouging
The lack of an affordable stainless steel/Ti SqT BB axle & Cups that take replaceable sealed bearings
Tyre prices and brake pad prices when compared to motor parts.
Interference fitted upper stanchions and steerer tubes – come on! modular upper assemblies!!!
Front disk brake mounts on the rear of the fork leg not the front
EBB diameter BB shells as standard, allowing oversized non-EBB BBs for those that want larger BBs as well as standard EBBs for those that want those
and Forum Mods, natch.

It has to be the fact the more popular it becomes the more they hike up the prices and to be honest a lot of the products are not up to their intended purpose I bought a 2010 spesh enduro cost 2 grand and after ten months the frame had play in it, wheels needed rebuilding, all gearing and bottom bracket needed replacing, all frame bearings need replacing, headset shafted yeah I know these are replaceable items but come on that’s just poor! Also 120 quid for a chain guide is a joke! How come things like tyres cost the same as their motocross equivalent? Piss’ me right of but I love riding so what can you do?

This is really really annoying. And getting worse.

142mm hubs anyone? yeah non standard standards are a PITA

Also if it would be nice if the people who come up with phrases like “handles square edge hits with aplomb” could quietly eviscerate themselves (Bikeradar I’m looking at you)

Getting suspension oil on my trousers and not being able to wash it out(solutions welcomed)

Do you mean solvents rather than solutions? 😉

Hounarablegeorge

Getting suspension oil on my trousers and not being able to wash it out. (solutions welcomed)
Solution = take them to your mums she’ll know what to do,
I get some detergant dilute with a litlebit of water and rub in leave for a wile and then wash.

or LoCo is offering as below.

LoCo
Teflon action slacks?

or send them to us.

So he’s willing to do your washing to.

Providing solutions to problems that don’t exist at the behest of the marketing department. Everything seems to be getting meatier, chunkier and more heavy duty, just more GGGNAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

Is the average rider getting more GGGNAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! at the same rate? What do you think?

looking at the majority of mountain bikes in the shops now, you’d automatically assume they were catering exclusively to a level of rider around Steve Peat’s ability. Fine if this was being driven by demands from riders. But its not. You know full well its coming from the marketing department, trying to engineer a built-in-obsolescence similar to consumer electronics

It has to be the fact the more popular it becomes the more they hike up the prices and to be honest a lot of the products are not up to their intended purpose I bought a 2010 spesh enduro cost 2 grand and after ten months the frame had play in it, wheels needed rebuilding, all gearing and bottom bracket needed replacing, all frame bearings need replacing, headset shafted yeah I know these are replaceable items but come on that’s just poor!

Could be worse, I had a Pitch Pro, it needed everything (and I mean everything) replacing. Although so far the frame’s been fine.

Also 120 quid for a chain guide is a joke! How come things like tyres cost the same as their motocross equivalent? Piss’ me right of but I love riding so what can you do?

Small production run parts cost more.

And is there actualy any difference between a MX and a MTB tyre other than the volume of materials? The cost of rubber isn’t very high so I’m guessing that has negligable impact on the overall cost.

looking at the majority of mountain bikes in the shops now, you’d automatically assume they were catering exclusively to a level of rider around Steve Peat’s ability. Fine if this was being driven by demands from riders. But its not. You know full well its coming from the marketing department, trying to engineer a built-in-obsolescence

Yes, but Mr Peat could probably out-ride most mortals on an XC bike. Most mortals need a 6″ bike to get round a (deacent) black run. Should mortals be banned from riding stuff at all untill they can do it on a fully rigid singlespeed before being allowed to progress to more gnarr bikes?

The obsession with wish-fulfillment road bikes:
Put rack and guard mounts on everything, please.
Just because I’d like to ride in the rain and carry a few things doesn’t mean I always want a tourer.
Ignore the Sunday Sportive fantasists, they’ll get used to it.

Matt black:
Yes, it’s cheaper than chrome or polishing.
But it looks cheap & bloody awful.

Posh rear mechs coupled with crap headsets and bottom brackets.
You’re fooling no-one, sunshine.
It’s cheap and a bit sad.

Three frame sizes – so they almost fit everyone.
Make all bikes in one inch increments so we can buy one that fits.

How about a decent free lock with every new bike?
Just to show you’re not a bunch of cynical, money grabbing shysters.

Release things globally:
Trek 520 – nice, cheap, steel, basic bicycle.
Takes a rack & guards. Big tyres. Can I buy one here? No I effing can’t. Thanks.

Brown:
Look, it’s the colour of most people’s excrement.
Don’t use it as bike colour.

3 wheel sizes. I’ve moaned about it enough on here

richmtb – Member
This is really really annoying. And getting worse.
142mm hubs anyone? yeah non standard standards are a PITA

In some case, yeah.

I quite like 142 rear – get rid of QR, have a bolt through, but still slots into the frame and locates – it does make sense. And most hubs will accomodate it.

Tapered headtubes – being able to use an internal or external headset, and change bar height accordingly – makes sense. Bit of a pain that 1 1/8 forks are getting hard to come by though.

15mm axles annoyed me – there was a perfectly good standard there already. And we’re told bigger,thinner wall tubes are lighter and stiffer for everything else – why not for axles?

If a chain guide was not made for mtb purposes it would cost buttons it’s a a plate with a roller on and a plastic disc

We need another axle standard, tapered, thicker side on the caliper side 😉

#off to patent that now# 😐

well suppose seeing through it all helps

all these industry videos piss me right off. 🙂

1)Non damped forks on entry level and kids bikes. Just stick rigids on them.

2) The obsession with speccing fancy rear mechs then downgrading, the brakes or cranks.

3) Fit the full groupset, Deore will do.

4)Standardise on number of speeds,headsets,stems,bars and bottom brackets so that uograding is easier.

5) Lose the lairy graphics and be more imaginitive with colour schemes.

6) Charge reasonable prices for consumables so that it isnt cheaper to buy chainrings rather than a chainset and things like pad shouldnt really cost more than a tenner.

Santa Cruz/Jungle UK price gouging

Don’t get me started on the US/UK pricing 👿 jungle are the worst for this IMO. I wish SC would go to silverfish.

Not actually having a standard standard so everything swaps between bikes

Damn straight.
Pricing of brake fluid etc. same stuff as halfords but a fraction of the quantity.

Orange bikes parts upgrades. The biggest rip off going. Charge you full RRP for the upgraded part and pocket the standard item! The full builds aren’t much better value!

)Standardise on …..stems,bars …. so that uograding is easier.

WTF?

Bike and setup is over analysed to within an inch of its life, but technique and mindset, of which actually make a difference is ignored.

+1
It’s obviously more profitable for the industry to make you think that if you don’t manage to go through a technical climb, to corner efficiently or to take a jump properly, it’s due to your (already) outdated bike parts.

Most mortals need a 6″ bike to get round a (deacent) black run.

😯

Market misconception that more gnar bikes are actually helping you out.

Perfect example would be bunny hops.

Bike and setup is over analysed to within an inch of its life, but technique and mindset, of which actually make a difference is ignored.

Carbon.