How about something more positive than the “things that are a bit shit” thread? What have you bought, bike or otherwise, no matter how mundane, that has been better than you expected? Or has simply been amazing?

I’ll start with Rema puncture repair kits. Still running the same two inner tubes after six years and many patched punctures. I didn’t have much confidence in them and figured they were just enough to get me out of a tricky spot, but there we go.

😆 @ binners!

Waterproof shorts. God send. Thank **** I took them to the Alps this year!

aldi merino riding jersey/jumper absolutely superb

I have just received an On One ultralight cnc stem and i must say its well made and light and very cheap.

From the For Sale Forum I’ve got a full suss Marin frame for £25 and an iPod touch for the same amount.
Extremely pleased with both.

Cheap (like, really cheap) Geax tyres from On One have surprised me in a few ways – they hold air, grip well, last OK, and most significantly they really were in stock and did actually get delivered

Decathlon/Quechua sportwool base layers.

cheap as chips and as good as icebreaker.

Narrow wide chainring, 9 speed so no clutch mech. Wasn’t expecting it to work really. It works really rather well!

Conti Baron: a lot of superlative user-reviews, but very little else made me suspicious. They really are magic on wet roots and rocks though.
Dropper posts, generally.
Mid-table, modern, RS forks: light, work well and last forever.

My Commencal AM2 29er. I know I was recently close to selling it. But it’s just absolutely outstanding ! I’ve ridden over/down/through stuff I never thought possible before.

A Decathlon bike stand. Expected it to be useful, didn’t expect it to be quite as much of a game changer as it was.

Kona MinUte cargo bike. Bought on a whim from a PSA here. It now does more journey’s than any other bike in my garage. Shopping trips, pub trips, gentle ride into town, take the Mrs to the gym, all have been done by this mighty machine.

Shimano 520 pedals. They’re £20 so they’re going to be a bit crap aren’t they. No, they last forever and are as good as stuff costing 4 times as much.

A road bike. Bought on Cycle2work in a vague hope of getting me fit. I now have more road bikes than MTB’s and it has reignited by love for all things 2 wheeled. And yes, it does still get used to commute on.

Saracen Kili flyer 12x frame. Built up really easily and rides superb. Not sure what I was expecting but it’s way better than that.

Specialized Purgatory tyres (Brilliant in the Peak District)

Endura Dexter gloves (Everyone tells you Endura stuff drops to bits).

800mm bars (Planned to cut em down but love them now).

N/W set up with 42t at the back.

On-one chunky monkey front tyre, took a punt on one at £17.50 and it has been a permanent feature on the front of my 6″ bike ever since. Also very impressed with the £2.99 socks from aldi and the lidl bike stand.

2008 Giant Trance, a 100mm travel one and the 2011 Revelation 140mm Revelation fork it now has .
Of the original entry level trance 3 bike , only the frame , rear shock and crank arms are in use now, but six years on and anything from 25 to 100 off road miles a week since new, it’s truly been fantastic , particularly when financial constraints have been at an epically high level for almost 5 years now and I’ve been unable to travel to surf, so mtb has become my default sport, it will remain so when things gat back to normal, next year too. I’ll probably still ride the Trance too,even if I will be able to update it.
Spin off benefit has been that I have learned to fix things myself; change bearings , service fork etc and can even notice when things aren’t quite right !

arrow wide chainring, 9 speed so no clutch mech. Wasn’t expecting it to work really. It works really rather well!

+1
Was expecting lots of issues using worn chain & old 9sp rear mech, I keep trying to ride down stuff to fetch it off but in 12 months it never has. Got 10sp stuff to replace it too but 9sp refuses to die

Inbred frames. 26er and 29er. Just properly good for so little money.
Shimano square taper bb’s. They work, last for years and cost peanuts.

Another for narrow wide chainrings. Possibly the simplest and most effective cycling innovation in recent times.

Ss lights.

Army camo Gortex waterproof over trousers. Bought in 2007 after a wet week in Morzine and still going strong.

Specialized Command post, just does what its supposed to. We now have them on all the bikes.

Charge spoon, <£18 Comfiest saddle I’ve ever used, seems to last for ever even the white version

Love this thread! Was really impressed with the Park Tools plastic multitools, they all use them at my lbs, my heavy, heavy duty crank bros one was wearing out so finally bit the bullet, added on to my order for a fiver on bike-discount, weighs a third of my crank bros and feels so much better to use!! Love it 🙂

SSC HT2 BB – I bought it because it was cheap and purple. I expected the bearings to last a couple of rides before a thermonuclear detonation requiring a rock to repair after which I’d put some decent bearings in.

I’ve been sorely disappointed and it’s still going strong 4+ years later.

And not even a whiff of octopus.

Deda white(!) carbon effect bar tape. It’s white, it’s fairly cheap (£6) and it does what bar tape does. That it’s white (have I mentioned that) and can get filthy on my cx bike but with a quick wash can look near enough new is just silly. And it lasts ages unlike most cork type tapes.

Conti Tubes (bog standard ones)

6000km, 2 punctures, for an expenditure little more than a tenner

OneUp Rad cage. Really does make everything shift perfectly. I didn’t diosconnect the cable when I removed it, so just popped it on, bolted the mech back up, and put the B-tension back to normal, and everything worked just perfectly.

My Banshee Rune – for a silly, 160mm trave bike it climbs really well. In fact, this aspect has impressed me more than anything else because I was expecting it to be a pig.

My Zee rear mechs – cheap at £40 and work much better than the Sram Type 2 jobbies (and that’s coming from a Sram fan boy).

Another vote for the narrow wide rings – brilliant. No more noisey chain dervices here.

My Easton Havoc wheels – mine have been tough, reliable, easy to sort bearings our, easy to run tubless despite a big flat spot and various dings. Nothing like the interest made them out to be.

ODI Rogue grips – just so comfortable and grippy
Rubber Queen Black Chili tyres – wear excellently and so grippy
Fizik Gobi saddles – just suit my behind
Joplin and Lev dropper posts – unobtrusive and just great as I never used to lower my saddle at all and this makes riding a lot more comfortable
Formula The One brakes – unbelievable modulation and power that make later, better braking possible and really help when on the super-steep tricky stuff!
Waterproof shorts – no more soggy bottoms and less misery!
Wind proof gilets – right clothing for so much of the year!

My Genesis Io singlespeed.
I bought it as a reasonably cheap gap-fill to do both commuting duties (I’d had to retire my knackered commuting bike) and off-road (my Cove Stiffee needed new forks and a load of other bits) for a time.

Turns out I liked riding it so much, I sold my Cove when it was fixed and haven’t ridden a geared or suspended bike since.
I bought another Genesis – a Fortitude SS for offroading and still use the Io for commuting and the odd road ride.

Oakley M frames – I bought in 1995/6 – cost a lot at the time but multiply by number of years I’ve used them, bargain and still the best you can have to protect your eyes from rain/mud/grime.

@mindmap

Apologies for the thread-hijack, but I’m really keen to hear more about the Rune – am currently looking at one.

What size, wheel setup etc?

As you all were…

It’s always the little things…after years of running SRAM gears I’ve jumped ship to XT and am massively impressed. They just work and the ergonomics are spot on.

60mm uno stem for £12 off eBay.89 grams and stiff.
Bloody bargain.
Onone thicky socks
Montane minimus – just an awesome waterproof jacket that packs to nothing.

Aldi winter gloves
Aldi s/s jerseys
Planet x socks (thin & thick)

On-One lock on grips, less than a fiver!…limited colours but just go for black anyway, lasted over a year so far.

Wellgo V8 copies, an eBay buy, cheap as you like but still on the bike 12 months later with no noise, play etc

Deore brakes, cheap and excellent, the latest M615s on my bike even have a nice progressive build up to their maximum power, no grabbiness.

Anything bars, seatpost related by FUNN, usually cheap from CRC and excellently made, strong, look good (just about every colour you can think of).

2014 Revelations, pumped them up to the pressure recommended on the fork leg….came over all sceptical as i’m a bit of a luddite preferring a coil spring set-up….went for a ride, superb small bump compliance ramping up nicely for the bigger stuff and using all but the last 5-10mm of travel without bottoming out….changed my perception of air forks after some Fox items left me a bit disillusioned by the concept.

Maxxis tyres, lovely soft grippy compounds in just about every tread configuration you could want/need…usually cheap too.

Hawes & Curtis shirts.

Incredible quality for the money, as long as you’re happy to buy 4/5 at a time, depending on the current offer (usually about £100).

I’ve probably had about 30 odd over the last 5 years and only one has ever shown any signs of wear.

@mindmap

Apologies for the thread-hijack, but I’m really keen to hear more about the Rune – am currently looking at one.

What size, wheel setup etc?

Mine is a size large and feels spot on (I’m a shade under 6 foot) and weighs in at just over 32lbs (Devilles, Reverb, Havoc wheels, 1×10 etc) but rides like a much lighter bike. I’m running it on 26 inch wheels at the me. It is currently for sale due to the impending arrival of mini me which will curtail my riding for a bit so I’m thinking of going back to a hardtail for shorter rides.

To save takkin over this thread, feel free to drop me an email – sam_t_courtAThotmailDOTcom with any questions.

Fake Troy Lee shorts.

Been awesome for 28 quid.

Singular Swift. It’s simply brilliant.

XT Brakes too (for above), run hopes on my other ride, but these are great too & saved me a few quid.

My Kinesis Sync frame. Not cheap, and I expected it to be good. It’s way better than that!

F-Fusion suspension forks. A good bit cheaper than most of the alternatives and only basic external adjustments on all but the high end stuff, but they just work so damned well!

Geax tyres, specifically the Goma and the Saguaro. The Goma looks like it should be ok as a front tyre, if not the grippiest. It grips like a Minion, but it’s really fast too, and seems to last an age despite the sticky compound. The Saguaro looks like it will be fast, but doesn’t look like it will grip all that much. It grips way better than you would expect, so far I’ve found only deep mud really phases it, and that it’s excellent as a rear tyre.