Does anyone make bad bikes anymore?

Smokin Joe
Smokin Joe Posts: 2,706
edited December 2007 in Workshop
A fairly regular topic on this forum is "I am thinking of this bike, any opinions"? The feed back from owners of whatever bike it is always report back with favourable and enthusiastic comments, the only negative ones come from those who have never ridden one and don't like Trek or Ribble or whoever because they are mass market.

With modern engineering standards, does anyone these days make a bike to steer clear of because of poor manufacture (quality I mean, not customer service or poor delivery), or is it all just down to whether you like the spec or the colour. Serious bikes only now, no £99 clunkers.

Comments

  • John C.
    John C. Posts: 2,113
    I do when I get thigs wrong :lol:
    http://www.ripon-loiterers.org.uk/

    Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
    Hills are just a matter of pace
  • duckiciao
    duckiciao Posts: 96
    Obviously a £40 bike from tescos is not going to last as long or be of as high quality as a £3000 bike from Specialized.
  • Mettan
    Mettan Posts: 2,103
    Smokin Joe wrote:
    With modern engineering standards, does anyone these days make a bike to steer clear of because of poor manufacture (quality I mean, not customer service or poor delivery)

    For the big, well known manufacturers, I'd imagine, No - as an example, all the road-bike makers on Evans make reliable, well-built, solid bikes (even at the budget end)

    http://www.evanscycles.com/dept.jsp?dept_id=1033

    As a contrast, you do see some "strange" brand-new steel road bikes on Ebay whose manufacturers (according to Google) virtually "don't exist"............ inspires confidence :D:D
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Some of the worst built bikes I've seen came by way of WI, USA - greaseless headsets, corrosion under the paint, slack-spoked wheels etc etc - don't assume a 'brand' implies quality. Often its the concern of the LBS to ensure that what arrives from the factory can be put right before it reaches the user - that's why if you can't do it yourself you need to know that the person who assembled it wasn't some 'minimum-wage Saturday-slacker'.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • chrisw12
    chrisw12 Posts: 1,246
    Joe, that is a good question. I rode a scott cr1 exclusively for about a year and did all my ridding on it. Commuting, training, time trialing (long and short distance) and even attempted an end to end on it. Last year and particularly into this year I've branched out into many bikes and none of them are bad at what they do, so I agree with you, it's difficult to get a bad bike. Then again all the bikes I now have a specialists, they're excellent at what the're designed for but nothing else.

    What I'm trying to say is, yes when you buy a bike which fits the purpose then these days it'll be fine, try something different on it and...

    I'm just stating the obvious aint I :oops:

Categories