“professional cyclists”, at MBUK, LOL 😆

There’s so much cobblers talked about ‘compliance’ and ‘softness’. The clue is in the name – hardtail.

@GlitterGary, MBUK not liking the looks of the bike never entered the review. Have you read it? If you want to buy a bike solely on what “da bomb diggy” thinks is “rad” good for you but just remember what’s “rad” now will most probebly be sad in the next review ( depending of course on advertising loyalties).

Saddsak

Well said. Also, I would recommend trying a bike yourself first rather than just taking the word of ‘da bomb diggy’ whom you don’t know and have never met. If you read in a bike mag it is good to jump off a bridge would you? Ride the bike and make up your own mind. I did…I love it!

After a few months of dithering, I’m going to buy one of the £299 ones coming next week. Unless anyone wants some kind of p/x on my Cove Hummer 18in frame?

just remember what’s “rad” now will most probebly be sad in the next review

I think that’s the point that he was satirically making..

What were the other bikes in the review, out of interest?

I stopped reading MBUK at about 13, even I found it childish and misinformed then :/

Kinesis maxlight xcone30 x5, Orange Crush, Ragley blue pig, Whyte 905 and Saracen zen x.

Hard and unforgiving at the front, squishy at the back was how I read it. It’s perfectly possible for that to be the case but as many others have pointed out it could be down to a lot of other components or set up problems than just the frame.

Why not ride one and make your own mind up?

I like my 456c, iv not seen the review that every body is on about and not arsed what they said about the bike I like mine so that’s the end of it for me. As for people saying is ugly, yep you not wrong. people might think your bikes are ugly or shit bikes but if you like them then thats all that matters.
If every body liked or buys the same shit the world would be a crap place.

I thought the 456c was featured in the ‘First Ride’ section of MBUK perhaps 12 months ago, and they’d raved about it then.

My partner works in marketing and it has only increased my cynicism…;-)

Stiffness = precision or stiffness = harsh depending how they’re feeling I think.

Fanbois to the forum please

Haterz to the forum please

Impartial magazine editorial types to the forum please

Time to rock out with your cock out

should of put a specailized sticker on it, then would of won trial bike of the year .

ride to court on a trial bike?, 456 sounds ideal

If every body liked or buys the same shit the world would be a crap place.

Can I be the first to point out that everybody pretty much does like and buy the same shit, but actually the crapness or otherwise of the world has little to do with what consumer goods people choose to spend money on unless you think people and the world are defined by what you buy.

So does anybody (who has actually ridden one) share these negative observations? This is not JUST sour grapes, I am also baffled by the inconsistencey and my cynical mind wonders, what has changed?

See my comment about seatposts above sadsak.

But really, try not to get too het up about a magazine disapproving of your chosen bike.

I reckon it might even be a good thing, they were starting to get very popular.

😉

I had the steel 456 and swapped to the carbon. It’s certainly livelier than the steel which it put down to weight, but for my money (all £299 of it) it’s also a little less punishing on the cobbled trails of Dalby (if you ride there you’ll know what I mean). On the tiny drops and jumps I do (I’m a 40 year old management type) I can’t tell the difference. And you aren’t going to confuse it with the Five I used to have or my current 160 in terms of impersonating an armchair in the rough stuff.

Decent, tough-ish, carbon hardtail at a very reasonable price.

Works for me.

PS I’m running a Thomson seatpost so it’s not just down to that ChapaK. Of course being 16st always helps components feel more compliant.

should of put a specailized sticker on it, then would of won trial bike of the year .

Specialized dont make a carbon trail hardtail….in fact i cant think of anybody else that does…..might be a reason behind that?

Specialized dont make a carbon trail hardtail….in fact i cant think of anybody else that does…..might be a reason behind that?

I think you missed that comment altogether…. He was referring to the fact that Specialized always do inexplicably well in Future Publishing magazine grouptests….

Not sure I get the flexy up thing at all. I’ve spent a lot of time pedalling uphill recently, and it feels pretty stiff.
On the downhills – seems to be hard on the body I’d agree with to a point. I went for a long ride in January and still have numb fingertips. Which actually makes me think it’s hard on the body up and down.
Still riding it though and will be for years … just running lower tyre pressures and suspension unlocked always now to save some chatter.

I think you missed that comment altogether…. He was referring to the fact that Specialized always do inexplicably well in Future Publishing magazine grouptests….

Dont agree, if you do the research you will find some damming reviews for Specialized bikes too, esp the road lines.

Apart from that ive had loads of Spec bikes and ive loved every one of them, they arent that bad!!! Its a bit sad that some feel the bikes get good reviews because of some conspiracy theory, 90% of the range are class leading

Check out the archive on bikeradar, its not as clearcut as you think.

Specialized dont make a carbon trail hardtail….in fact i cant think of anybody else that does…..might be a reason behind that?

Probably because other manufacturers would whack a £800-£1200 price tag on it, at which point most people would opt for a full suss instead or just save the extra money/ spend it on lighter/better components on a alloy or steel frame.

One one already had a tried and tested budget frame and by ‘evolving’ that to a carbon guise they built upon their budget line with a more ‘premium’ product, attracting people that would normally go for souls/ sovereigns/aplines or even Ti frames.

Thing is, modern mountain bikes are like modern cars, there really aren’t any truely sh*t ones anymore!

Pretty much any of the mainstream bikes will have similar component, similar geo, similar costs, so it becomes “shades of grey” in reviews. One mans “zingy” is another mans “harsh”.

Whilst a £300 bike is probably twice as good as a £150 one, a £1200 quid one isn’t twice as good again. It’s the law of diminishing returns. (or perhaps it’s the layer cake, depending on your point of view 😉

A decent carbon hardtail frame for sub £500 seems pretty decent starting point to me……..

MBUK gave the Hardrock a kicking the other month.

Are you getting Future and MBR mixed up though duffer?

I like it I rideit , glad I don’t care what anyone thinks 🙂

Honestly the comment doesn’t make any sense to me, I’ve gone through hardtail after hardtail recently and the only frames I’ve ridden that are less harsh on descents are my Soul, and some ti frames. It’s a more compliant frame than, frinstance, the steel 456 or my old BFe. And it’s a magic carpet compared to the Mmmbop!

I don’t feel it power sapping at all, but then I’m not a massively powerful rider.

I don’t think the C456 is a perfect frame, it’s just a great value one that works very well.

SCott scale carbn anyone?

I think you missed that comment altogether…. He was referring to the fact that Specialized always do inexplicably well in Future Publishing magazine grouptests….

Inexplicable? Once again my irony meter has kersploded. You have a thread where people are bitching and moaning about an unfavourable review of one bike and concluding it’s the brand and in the same breadth dismissing a brands positive reviews because of the brand. because it’s a big company.

This kind of inverse brand snobbery is quite an english thing i think…”that must be crap because it’s made by a big company and is common and reasonably expensive, but not niche enough”

“but that must be really good because it’s cheap, it’s made by a small company with horrible quality control and woeful marketing and it’s niche”

Specialized make fantastic bikes. In my opinion the best. People don’t like them because they are common, or because the bike doesn’t bob around under them like a wild pig and they feel like they aren’t working. Which is really down to lack of riding experience.

On-one in my experience thus far (not including the 456 carbon) have been horrible, badly built, agricultural, pointless….but hey they are cheap. And niche. And they’ve got the right on inverse snobbery thing. Yeah mate, great.

Dont agree, if you do the research you will find some damming reviews for Specialized bikes too, esp the road lines.

Apart from that ive had loads of Spec bikes and ive loved every one of them, they arent that bad!!! Its a bit sad that some feel the bikes get good reviews because of some conspiracy theory, 90% of the range are class leading

Check out the archive on bikeradar, its not as clearcut as you think.

Are you getting Future and MBR mixed up though duffer?

Perhaps i’m mistaken…. Don’t get me wrong, i’m not knocking Spesh – I’ve had many a happy ride on mine, and i happen to know their after sales support is second to none.

Unfortunately, i have no evidence to support my claims, as i stopped buying the magazines years ago…

Thanks chakaping, I run a carbon bar(monkeylite dh) with a thomson stem but an alloy use sumo. I still love my bike and their review will certainly not keep me awake at night. I would like to have a go on a blue pig though.

Was a bit of a strange review for me to read, as was delighted to see some of my previous handiwork being rated so highly. I know we have very many very happy 456c owners and I still consider it a ground breaking and peerless frame.

What I took great delight in was the fact the new 456 Evo X5 Sektor we have near completion has a value packed spec, new geometry and will give the winner of that test a run for its money even though it will cost £300 less.

Never bothered with MBUK as i’ve always thought it to be a rubbish kids mag. But i couldn’t give a toss if they don’t like the C456 to be honest……..i do which is why i have one, and i think it rides nice, but then i’ve only ridden bikes from the age of about 3 so what do i know at the age of 42?

Anybody who thinks a C456 is hard or unforgiving at the FRONT needs to get some better forks or learn how to set up the ones they already have, because there ain’t a bike in the world that should feel like that with 5-6 in travel between your hands and the bars!

FWIW I reckon my C456 is the most forgiving hardtail I’ve ever ridden, almost to the point of feeling dull or dead if you like

My 2p;

Magazines have to find differences between products in a group test. They then magnify those differences. Something that may be subtle in reality becomes a ‘minus’ or ‘plus’ in the summary and because the summary is a few words it sounds like a damning indictment.

They can’t have an article saying;

“Look they’re all pretty competent and there’s not much to choose between them – just pick the one that’s in a colour you like”

Having said that Future have always written nice things about the c456 so I can’t understand the change of heart.

And it’s a magic carpet compared to the Mmmbop!

this, seems bikeradar don’t have a review for the mmbop, would like to see what they think of the precision/harshness. Swapped from a steel inbred to a c456 and seems just as comfy, I do use a carbon post with the c456 but it’s stood up on the downhills that I notice the the battering the mmmbop dishes out to my calves whereas the c456 is a lot more comfy. I run my c456 SS and haven’t noticed any undue flex but hey I’m not professional.

<edit>of course it’s difficult to be impartial when you’ve shelled out hard earned for a product. I do have some minor issues with the c456 (and the mmmbop) but the “harsh but flexy rear” isn’t amongst them.

on-one need to spend a bit more on advertising to get their reviews up next time!

on-one need to spend a bit more on advertising to get their reviews up next time!

I don’t buy that, the fickleness of hot/not this month sounds much more likely theory along with wwaswas’s (and others) over exaggeration of minor issues

on-one need to spend a bit more on advertising to get their reviews up next time!

yeah, cause, well, they’ve never advertised with future, but the only bike to ever get a perfect score was an on-one (the Ti456)

And a first ride review gives one mark, whereas the full review (more times lived with, ridden by more people who give their input, reflected upon, compared with others etc.)

Which sort of nukes the conspiracy theory really…

I agree Wwaswas, magazines like WMB and MBUK couldn’t just give all the bikes 9/10 due to the format of their bike tests, i.e. they have to have a best and worst. If you read between the lines though, this might mean the lowest scoring bike is still a very good one.