Your riding kit design flaws/gripes?

What kit do you consistently use that has a design flaw that winds you up?

Recently purchased a new road helmet (Spec S3 – My first helmet that I use just for the road). The blooming chin strap reverberates really really loudly above 30mph. Have to hold my mouth open to get it to stop. Drives me crazy. And my glasses don’t stay in the vents when I take them off mid-ride, grrrrr. First world problems.

Shorts with articulated knees where the articulated bit sits 3″ above my knee

I want individual remote lockouts for front and rear shock, along with front and rear shifters but I don’t like cluttered looking bars.

Shorts without zipped pockets, frames without bottle cage provision, stupid brand unique standards (Giant Overdrive, Specialized Campy headsets etc).

With Hob Nob, anything proprietary for no reason other than to lock in/out.
Tops that are too long
gloves that crease in the palm

Winter gloves that turn inside out!!1!oNR
When waterproof means showerproof

Gripe is dishonest tyre width, it’s pretty absurd and makes it really hard to make informed decisions. Will this fit in my frame? Is this “lightweight 2.4” actually a pretty heavy 2.1?

LOL Northwind, forgot about my winter gloves. That does really wind me up. Seem to forget every time until you carelessly withdraw (phnar!) your hand and then its no no no no……bum!

Northwind +1, any gloves with linings that aren’t firmly fixed to the finger ends.

All tops, nothing ever has long enough arms!

Baggies, they never stay up around the waist. Constantly pulling ’em up!

My Endura shorts. practically perfect in every way, good material, length, right number of pockets, waist loops for a webbing belt…..

The only issue is there’s a quite proud seam on the inside leg that snags on the nose of my saddle when pedalling, and the more it snags, the prouder it gets until it becomes a real pain. When i get home I can trim any loose bits back off, but I’m not taking a sewing kit and scissors out on a long ride.

Badly located jersey pockets – so stuff doesn’t sit right/falls out. Overly baggy legs on tights, so they ride up. Spesh I’m looking at you on both counts.

Baggies that won’t button up at the front because your beer belly has grown too big over winter. Perhaps manufacturers could invent some kind of dual position spring / autumn button arrangement to save users the embarrassment of having to by “XL” shorts

Gripe is dishonest tyre width, it’s pretty absurd and makes it really hard to make informed decisions. Will this fit in my frame? Is this “lightweight 2.4” actually a pretty heavy 2.1?

This drives me nuts!

Ze Germans have provided a partial solution:

http://www.reifenbreiten-datenbank.de

Baggies, they never stay up around the waist. Constantly pulling ’em up!

^This^

Why can’t baggies be designed with proper belt loops?

Specialized helmets with that silly horizontal opening at the front and pads that seem to be specially designed to dribble sweat between your eyes and down your nose

my bike has no ISCG mounts, and ive no spacers on the BB – ive got the clutch mech and the narrow/wide but still drop my chain.

cranks are too long.

The campag bearings for Spesh bike are available bearing only else where other than Spesh

But back on topic , 3/4 shorts that are just normal length

Proper winter boots/shoes for flat pedals. All the shoes I’ve tried (shim am, five 10’s and tevas) just have to look at water and they’re sodden. Neoprene sock, thermal properties, made out out of goretex with a five ten type sticky sole please.

While I’m at it, “winter” gloves that are just about warm enough for autumn. I think it was MBR last year, did a “winter gloves” test that thought 5 degrees was a good test and marked some down for being “too warm”

bjj.andy.w – Member

All the shoes I’ve tried (shim am, five 10’s and tevas) just have to look at water and they’re sodden

The best I’ve used were the Sombrio x-shazams. But discontinued now, I’d buy 5 pairs if I could.

Long sleeve jerseys that only go halfway down your forearm 😡

dont spesh have proprietary shock mounts too?

Ive got some great oakley shorts that fit well, good length, excelent balance of breathable and warm, good adjustable ratchet at waist,
but no zip pocket and seams that fall apart just looking at them

any cycling shoe thats no good for walking in the mud

my main gripe- cycling shorts/ inners that have really tight elastic/rubber round the thighs, I dont think ive got hulk thighs- surely lots of cyclists have a similar physique, but its always the same!

Just noticed my gloves are wearing just on the thumb knuckle where it it rests/hooks round on the bottom of the hoods, exactly the same spot where my last ones wore through. Aldi so at that price forgiveable.

Endura Zyme shorts as stated above the seam seems to catch, the stealth waterproofness longevity is pretty bloody poor too.

shimano downsizing of shoe sizes in the last couple of years

any cycling shoe thats no good for walking in the mud

Really?

😉

Which leads me on to…..

Stupid fastenings on shoes. Laces are ace, you can get them ‘just so’ and they never come undone. Cover them in a velcro flap to keep the crud off and it’s hard to think of anything better! (Answer Accelerators used to be perfect in that respect!) Also, if you’re away on a riding trip and a lace breaks, it’s easy to replace. Try finding a new Boa/strap/whatever in deepest darkest…..

Cover them in a velcro flap to keep the crud off and it’s hard to think of anything better! (Answer Accelerators used to be perfect in that respect!)

Nike superpoobahs were similar, brilliant and due to a an extra strap you could run them laces undone for short rides if you CBA tying your laces, unfortunately tread was rubbish and the soles ended up looking like those Sidis after not very long at all.

any gloves with linings that aren’t firmly fixed to the finger ends.

I hate this. I have some expensive gloves that I just don’t wear because as soon as my hands get a little bit sweaty, they become impossible to remove without them disemboweling themselves.

I’ve got some Altura baggies, that have velcro adjsuters on the waist, but the velcro bits snag on the inside of my riding top as I have to ‘take them in’ so much

Laces are ace, you can get them ‘just so’ and they never come undone. Cover them in a velcro flap to keep the crud off and it’s hard to think of anything better!

completely disagree.
laces offer no on-the-fly adjustment – your feet shrink as you lose water-weight during a ride so you need to tighten them (unless you have the Boa closure system). they also create pinch points over time and will distort and stretch your shoes a lot quicker.
2 x velcro + 1 x ratchet is far better, quicker, more robust and a lot more comfortable.

Meh, I like Boa closures on shoes. Broke one on my road shoes, and it was a trip to the LBS to replace it (I realise not every LBS will carry the spares), but it’s not a hugely regular occurence. In fact that’s the only one I’ve broken and I’ve had shoes with Boa laces for about 8 years.

Laces… definitely not, the winter boots have laces and they’re shit.

Proper winter boots/shoes for flat pedals. All the shoes I’ve tried (shim am, five 10’s and tevas) just have to look at water and they’re sodden. Neoprene sock, thermal properties, made out out of goretex with a five ten type sticky sole please.

Yes!

Laces are rubbish as above.

Either two lower velcro straps and a ratchet one at the top or per my one ride old (so I can’t really comment on longevity 🙂 ), the boa version which seems nice so far. I’ve already ordered a spare just in case 🙂

Don’t mind laces, they just work.

My current shoes have velcro/ratchet combination which I prefer but, find the ratchet jams with mud and can be a real pain to get off.

laces offer no on-the-fly adjustment – your feet shrink as you lose water-weight during a ride so you need to tighten them

show of hands who does this?
Even with the 1 boa system I have I normally set it within the first mile then leave them for the rest of the ride.

I do prefer velcro to laces TBH coz I’m a lazy bugger, boa seems ok so far but don’t like the idea of having to fix them. Previous system used to get jammed on with mud ingress, not great for mtbing.

Boingy laces and a QR clasp FTW!

Endura shorts poppers, which pop when you lean forward 🙂

I’ve a Gore wind stopper with zip on of sleeves, all well and good except when I’ve got the sleeves off and get chilly it is as close to impossible to reattach the things without taking off the body as I can imagine, leaving me colder than before I put the things on.

I though it was just me that had the baggies issues. The large backside needed to power the bike and the thin waist as a result of riding so much seems too much for the manufacturers to overcome.

The velcro on the backs of gloves which grabs onto other, usually expensive tech clothing in the wash.

surroundedbyhills, lost a left glove for about 6 months that way. Stuck to some shorts I rarely wear after a wash and found it stuck on the inside leg when I do finally don them.

show of hands who does this?

me, obv.
maybe I have more technical feet than others.

The large backside needed to power the bike and the thin waist as a result of riding so much seems too much for the manufacturers to overcome.

thought it was just me

maybe I have more technical feet than others.

🙂

Just to counteract the shorts moans for a sec – Troy Lee Moto’s have a nice adjustable ratchet closure that would be ideal for you fatties.

They are also the only shorts I’ve found that don’t wear through/rip on the arse seams. They have hip protection pads and no liner (I don’t use padded liners). Win!

Fail – all other flimsy shorts I’ve tried, that snag/rip/wear through