New bike regrets

Rocky Mountain ETSX-50

Yes, I did, review here – ‘Tim from Edinburgh’, three or so down

bad review

I haven’t. Mr Toast, on the other hand….

Interesting that there have been a couple of Mojo regrets, as that was one of Mr Toast’s unsuitable bikes. Lovely thing, just far too short for him, even in extra large. A real shame, I loved having that bike in the house. It was pretty. 🙁

I bought in to the “Titanium magic carpet ride” hype and bought a Merlin XLM. Coming from a full suspension SC SL I probably couldn’t fully appreciate the trail dampening qualities, maybe if I’d have come from another HT I would’ve – who knows.

I stuck with it for two years then moved it on. I bought an Ibis Tranny and have never regretted getting rid of the Merlin, yes it was pretty and well made but it was a real wheels on the ground bike (boring imo)

Endorfin VP-4R SL – seemed like a full-suspension frame and a Rohloff hub would be a great combination. And it is. But after spending £3k on the bike I pretty much stopped riding full-suspension bikes in the UK, and have pretty much exclusively ridden a £200 singlespeed On-One, just because I like it.

So the Endorfin sits in the garage, unloved. A genuinely great bike, I just don’t need it. And it’s bright yellow. I keep meaning to break it and sell it, but to do so would mean admitting I got it wrong in buying it in the first place.

Had a 2001 S-Works FSR that I just didn’t get on with, nothing wrong with it, just didn’t suit me. Wasn’t too enamoured with the S-Works Carbon ht I had in 2006 either, just preferred riding my Racer-X that I’d had previously.

The last bike that I had I now regret. It was a Gary Fisher Cake 2 DLX. I don’t think there was anything wrong with it in general ie it got great reviews, but I never really liked it from the first day I rode it.

The bike was one of a number of factors that kind of put me off riding bikes for about 4 years.

Last summer I bought a new bike, which feels completely alive in comparison and makes me want to get out riding 🙂

Another indifferent Nomad owner here, felt like a hovercraft, (not in a good way), I swapped it for an old shape Yeti 575with the knuckle and sold it and used the money to buy the newer shaped 575 which I still have, so no regrets overall but the disappointment with the Nomad was palpable… I love my 575 though, saying that I spend almost all my riding time on an Orange P7 single speed made out of donor parts, this is probably the bike purchase I regret the least… the whole think only cost about $600 NZD…

I loved the 456. Rode the Ti456 and thought ‘eh’? Bikeradar mags bummed it to the max.

456 Summer Season, wooden and rode like it was drunk even with 100s on it. Not a fan of slack, long travel hardtails but thought I’d get one anyway. Still own it mind, keep thinking about replacing with a regular 456

GaryLake – i think it may be time ‘the family’ headed down your way, and i can save pennies for a couple of months to make space in your garage! 😉
ps are you coming to the wedding…lots of riding up there!

Wasn’t the Summerseason straight guage single-butted i.e. different to the 456? Summit like that.

Bought an Orange 5 without a test ride.
Used it for a year trying to get to like it because i must be wrong,its a fantastic bike.
A waste of a year when i could have been enjoying myself on something nice to ride.

I rode the Five- really didn’t like it. I had a brief spin on a 5- liked it.

Ellsworth Moment has been my worst experience, the guy even let me demo it for a week, but I was star struck at that time. It didn’t take long after to realise the BB was way too high for me and the shock didn’t help. Also as above, the Summer Season I found to be a bit of a dead weight, so harder work the terrain, strength sapping and just uncomfortable. I suspect mine just weighed too much.

Oh gawd. Ellsworth’s. Yes my I.D felt like it was on stilts. Stupidly I’d gotten rid of the ace Rocky Mountain Vertex/Psylo’s for the ID thinking ‘lets get core’ 🙄

Erm

Turner 5-spot – the HL one. Not sure if it was the Romic, what I was riding it on or just the frame design in general but never really got on with it. Sold to a bloke on here who painted it green and still has it as far as I’m aware

Got rid of my On-one gimp trials bike for a proper competition trials bike. Hated it, the one bike I will ALWAYS regret selling is that on-one…

Olympia Speedy – see my other recent post. Bloody uncomfortable…just generally not nice.

Interesting, lot of Mk1 Nomad owners not liking the bikes. It was fairly common knowledge they were a bit of a dog to pedal, did people not research then first?

I got a lot of guilt when I bought my first bike to replace the rubbish one I had during Uni. I was pretty brassic at the time, so spending just over 200 quid on a Claud Butler brought on a lot of negative feelings. It was a great bike though and I was gutted when it was stolen.

For some reason felt a lot less guilty buying its replacement, a Merlin Malt 2, than I did with the previous one. Maybe it was because I needed a bike, or I was still feeling really angry about the last one being stolen.

Spent a while on a friend’s Pace 405 and it genuinely the worst bike I’ve ever ridden, and I’m including my old Raleigh Tomahawk in that…

I think 405s really suit some people’s riding style and not others. If you expect a floaty, magic carpet, sofa ride, you’re in for a shock. You need to treat it like a long-travel hardtail and stuff it into things. It won’t just float serenely along while you sit there enjoying the view…

…unlike a Reign – borrowed one of those for six weeks or so and hated it, not so much for its lack of capability, but it’s utter bland neutrality. I was quite glad to see the back of it.

The Raleigh Tomahawk on the other hand? Pure, unadulterated magic.

I’ve either been quite lucky or else I’m too much of a numpty to notice the difference. The most controversial bikes I bought were a couple of Marin 140 frames – the first in a medium was a snug fit and too short in the top tube for me, but was an absolute demon on the descents. It fits the missus nicely though, so rather than sell it I gave it to her and bought a large Wolf Ridge.

The large bike is usefully longer in the top tube but it feels a lot taller and has lost some of the slow slung feel that made me love the medium bike on the descents. With a 160mm fork it’s even taller. That said, the BB is quite low by AM bike standards, my old Enduro which I absolutely love has a very low BB but I’ve gorwn used to the way it handles.

Oh and I’ve just bought a Pure 7 frame and absolutely love it.

Only frame i ever regret selling was a Cove Stiffee, loved it to ride but all the paint dropped off in chunks, replaced it with a £150 new from CRC mmmmmmBop, which i could just not get on with at all, brutally stiff and unforgiving on a ride over 1 hour. Wish i had kept the Cove and just had it powdercoated.

Dialled PA. Hated the thing. It’s put me off HTs a bit which is a shame.

I know this is prolly considered heresy but I never really got on with my Cotic Soul. I didn’t have immediate buyers remorse as it was my first bike I bought following me getting back into mtbing. However I never felt that comfortable on it and felt that it didn’t fit me that well (despite fiddling with all contact points, longer stem, shorter stem, wider bars, narrower bars, layback post, straight post). Most perplexing.

Became 29er curious and bought a Scandal s/h, found that I felt much more comfortable on the Scandal and sold the Soul.

many moons ago i bought a Marin Attack Trail, which just about fell to bits in a month. Grant at ATB Sales told me that I should not use even a low pressure hose but instead wipe it with a cloth after a winter ride in the peaks. He also said, and I quote, “some poeople only ride their bikes once a month”.

Briilaint advice on improving reliability – just use it less!

Oh there’s another – always wanted a Spesh Epic
the ‘older’ version with the shock mounted within the seat stay – not the newer design
Tracked one down my size a year last October – restored it over winter
Rode it for all of 30 miles – didn’t like it one bit
straight onto ebay with it 🙂

GaryLake – i think it may be time ‘the family’ headed down your way, and i can save pennies for a couple of months to make space in your garage!
ps are you coming to the wedding…lots of riding up there!

Hello Mark! Yes we are coming to the wedding, sounds like the best wedding ever actually! (I was officially joking to Sarah, but seriously, do I need to bring a bike now?! 8))

I think the Summer Season might be a bit small for you, 16″, unless you want something a bit ‘braap’ and jumpy I guess 🙂

Wasn’t the Summerseason straight guage single-butted i.e. different to the 456?

Possibly, still means I bought the wrong one, but given the pocket money pricing, I was swayed by colour, not ‘need’ 😳

Specialized Enduro, so so dull and boring to ride

GaryLake

tried emailing and got a bounce back – mail me on bigvern52 at hotmail dot com

‘maybe’ having a ride day on the sunday…quite a few bikers coming 😀

oh and back on topic it had ‘APOLLO’ wrote on it

Sounds good, and if you guys are down in the mean time, bring the bike and we’ll hit Bristol trails.

I got rid of mk1 PA and traded up to a Commencal Super 4.

While the bike itself was perfectly fine, I just missed the HT.

Since then got a Swift and haven’t looked back (although I am now slightly hankering after another FS FFS)

I think with bikes I’m probably never going to be happy

Well documented on here, in Sept 2010 I built up and Intense Tracer VP to replace my 5.5.

Despite much fettling I never got on with it and eventually with regret sold it a year later. I so wanted that bike to be great.

I lusted after the Specialized FSR SWorks Palmer replica DH bike in the 90’s and got one a season or two after it was launched, wasn’t in his troy lee colours though. Never really got on with it, the wheelbase was absolutely massive and the front end too low. Loved it to look at but we just didn’t get on.

Spesh SWORKS FSR 120, about 2005 model. Just didn’t get on with it, too isolated and magic carpetty I thnk. I came off that bike more than any other I have owned, it just didn’t seem to have anything in between “fine” and upside down in a hedge.

Have never bought a complete bike and regretted it but I have extensively upgraded a couple of POS that remained POS.

Expensive POS but still POS.

Specialized Enduro ’11 with lyrics. Such a dull bike! Like ridding a sofa. Was okay on DH runs but everything else was just so boring.

Giant Reign ’10 was a horrible ride. Really dont like the suspension platform. Could *maybe* see why people like it but not for me.

On-one SS 456 – Just handled like a pig on anything other than DH.

Had a Trek Fuel EX when everyone was raving about them… Nice bike, but it just didn’t click with me… bit dead to ride and no real feedback… Shame really.
It also had the thinnest paint of any bike I have ever owned!

Garry, have you tried the carbon version? Need to try and make a cheesy ride sometime (or at least take my bike back to Bristol for a ride) if you want a try – it’s a 16″. But no big jumps as it’s only got XC717 rims on at the moment!

Hob nob, not sure the pedal issues were that well known until well after the fact on the Nomad. Every mag or owner review i read made it out to be 5 stars niche defining bar setter. I’ve seen more negative comments about them in this thread than in the last 2 years on STW combined…

@takisawa2

Bit of dillema recently…Swift / Pace RC129 or a Niner SIR9…
The Niner won, & its lovely. Big outlay for me & (daft as it seems) a few restless moments weighing them all up. Still wonder if I did the right thing, but the Niner is really ticking every box I set out.

I ended up with the Swift and the Sir9. I like the Sir9 but find the Swift is so much more ‘alive’ that it is my automatic ‘go to’ bike.

Mistake purchases…. Voodoo Wanga and Cotic Soul, never got on with either. I think it is a wheel size thing, I was going off mountain bikes altogether, slowly but surely until I discovered wagon wheels and have been sold on them ever since.

Orange P7 rode like a bag of shite, sold it within 2 months.