There’s a distinct trend on this forum of unerring hatred of certain brands and gushing worship of others (possibly, but not necessarily based on past experiences/reality) Let’s compile a list. I’ll start

Stw loves:
Cotic
Hope

Stw hates:
Avid brakes
Schwalbe tyres

I’m out: Got some Schwalbe tyres!

Avid brakes

I think that’s based mostly on bitter experience not snobbery and only applies to hydraulic disks.

Everyone loves their mechanical disks, v brakes and canti’s.

My experience with Schwalbe tyres was they got slashed to pieces by flints in a way no other brand ever has.

I have Schwalbes on one of my bikes and they’re great!

This isn’t going according to plan, is it?

Avid brakes are largely rubbish which is why and I have schwalbe tyres and have seen several STW people with them

Avid Juicys are hateful things, not used any of their other models! I do quite like Schwalbe tyres though.

No issues with any of those, however I wouldn’t buy avid brakes apart from bb7 discs for a cross bike and then only if I couldn’t justify Hope ones 😉

I love schwalbe Racing ralphs and rocket rons
I also love my Avid BB7s.

Crank Brothers are, on the other hand, a crap brand and I dislike Hope 🙂

I thought most people loved Schwalbes?

I do hate Avid brakes though (2 pairs that I can’t even sell in cleen consience). But similarly Shimano brakes are deservedly liked.

LoCo stop posting on STW and answer the phone 😀

Not sure its snobbery as such, but there does seem to be an ‘STW approved’ set of manufacturers and components

Anything mass produced in a factory = rubbish
Anything made by a strange beardy bloke in a shed = brilliant!

Anything mass produced in a factory = rubbish
Anything made by a strange beardy bloke in a shed = brilliant!

hence the near universal acclaim for Shimano disk brakes and Rockshox Pikes.

😉

I do have 2 cotics… but they are both shod in schwalbe.

Shwalbe are ok, I’ve got some, Avid brakes are shit, I’ve had some.. My Hope minis have been faultless for five years..
No snobbery involved, just experience..
And I sold my Cotic for a Trek with no regrets..

CaptainFlashheart – Member

I have Schwalbes on one of my bikes and they’re great!

This isn’t going according to plan, is it?

subliminal STW advertising

I am certainly prejudiced against Avid brakes after using Juicys and a sub-par pair of Elixirs. I’ve not tried the most recent models.

😐 Looks nervously at both bikes while thinking which to take riding as they both have Avid brakes! 😕

Everything made in a Chinese factory is idolised

Hmmmm. My experience of Avid hydraulic discs is poor – regular rebleeds to keep working properly and too many lever to bar oh sh*t moments when one or both brakes fail out on a ride. However, I really like my mechanical discs. I guess my objection is not that Avid brakes fail but that they do so with such alarming regularity. Smacking into the ground and getting a dead leg for my troubles when my Avid Elixir 5 failed for the umpteenth time was the last straw for me. A brake that doesn’t stop you is about as useful as boobs on a fish! 😐

I really like the Avid Elixer 1s that came on my new bike.

Never had a fault from new on a bike from a major manufacturer.

Every single bike/frame from the land of niche have been royally screwed from new with major manufacturing defects.

No problems with Schwalbe tyres – the cheap Nics from Germany, in the supposedly suicidal Performace compound have been ace.

I have a new pair of Avid Codes and they have been faultless and for feel and outright power probably the best brakes I’ve ever had .

I have Elixir 5SLs on my Pitch and they’ve been great. I’d change them but a)I have no reason to, and b)I’ve heard Shimano/Hope/Formula are all quite wooden-feeling compared to Avids.

No experience on Schwalbe tyres though…

Everything made in a Chinese factory is idolised if the right person promotes it on this forum

FTFY. 😈

A SC Bronson is the only bike to own according to many posters who may never have ridden one.

Schwalbe on my bike right now, and contrary to popular belief, no they didn’t shred when a pebble came near them. Might go back to Maxxis, but flints went straight thru a nobble the last time, and burst it.

Was just thinking about swapping to Avid Trail brakes. When will Shimano get round to making swappable L/R levers like all other brands?

I ignore user reviews and MBR reviews (they already write off a bike and instantly dock points out of 10 if they have Avid/Schwalbe).

All the above to go on a Cotic 🙂

Just waiting for the right spec new Cotic to become available, for a 2nd bike.

is this the forum or the STW HQ / editorial you’re inferring?

Never had a Cotic
Plenty Hope stuff
Avid BB7s – faffy to set up but work fine for me
plenty Schwalbe tyres – happy with them..

Schwalbe most of the time on the race bike, and love Avid brakes too. Never got on with the lever feel of Hope brakes.

I do however have a Cotic (roadrat).

I would add…

Stw loves:
On-One

Stw hates:
On-One

@sanny my Shimano brakes went TU on Friday, its possibly a bit of contamination of the pads, so not exactly the brakes fault. Got some cracking strava times, but I did nearly die.

I went from BB7s to Juicy 7s to Elixir 9s. They’ve all been faultless.

It’s taken you two years to work out that STW thrives upon niche, clique and snobbery?

You want to stay in more and spend time on here, rather than out and about on your bike. Tsk 😉

andytherocketeer – Member
Was just thinking about swapping to Avid Trail brakes. When will Shimano get round to making swappable L/R levers like all other brands?

But when do you ever need to swap them? Surely it just means that they only have to make one lever/master cylinder assy rather than L&R versions so less tooling and cheaper production.

mrblobby – Member

I would add…

Stw loves:
On-One

Stw hates:
On-One

Stw loves:
On-One
Superstar Nano’s

Stw hates:
On-One
Superstar everything else

The problem with symetrical levers is bleeding, with avids there’s always a bit of the cylinder above the height of the the syringe. Whereas any air in shimano brakes rises up and out of the funnel. And double sided designs are just pointless, adds parts which cost money to manufacture and assemble, and will never actualy be used.

Swappable levers are silly when you need to shorten the hoses on new brakes anyway..

I rather like my Juicy7s. Once I learned how to bleed them (very easy with eBay kit and YouTube video) they’ve never given a moment’s bother. Bled three times in five years.

STW seems to have a lot of love for Schwalbe, more than you’ll find most places tbh.

STW loves: Specialized Butchers

Stw loves
Renthal fatbars
Hope hoops
1×10/11
Stw hates
PayPal gift (you’ll be robbed, every time)
Shimano hubs (have to service them daily)
3×9/10 (so 2009)

Can’t vouch for Schwalbe tyres as I’ve only ever run Specialized / Panaracer but Avid hydraulic brakes are bloody awful! A pain to bleed, align, and they make the most horrible turkey warbling noise almost constantly.

Is this post not poorly timed as only yesterday Singletrack posted a glowing review of Avid brakes?