Component reviews in magazines

MilitantGraham

Reading component reviews in magazines, everything is good, with some parts even more good than others, but there is never any attempt at a proper scientific comparison.

My handlebars flex when I'm out of the saddle pedalling hard. I would like some stiffer handlebars. There are handlebars which weigh more or are made of different materials, but how do I know if they are any better.
How about one of the magazines makes a handlebar testing rig?
Clamp the bars to a solid frame in the centre, apply a 50kg load to the end and measure the deflection.

I wore out my pedal bearings. How do I know if my new ones will last any longer ?
How about a pedal testing rig?
Spin a batch of pedals with a 100kg load on them. See which ones last longest.

My chain seems to stretch a lot.
Rig up two sprockets in a mud bath with an electric motor and a load and try a batch of chains to see which one stretches least.

Back in the '70s a friend of mine worked for Rover and designed a machine to quickly empty and fill a dummy fuel tank over and over again to test the long term reliability of fuel guage sender units.
It shouldn't be too hard to devise a test rig for most bicycle components with simulated loads to test for everything from wheel bearing durability to frame flex.
Why does nobody do it ?

dhxcme

Cos the bike companies do that. You need to go and look on the website for detailed specs the mags just do ride reviews. The mags don't really have the time to do sure detailed r&d. They just say what they think not what may be scientifically true.

MilitantGraham

Have you got any links for that ?
All I can find is the usual vague "We have been making components for 20 years", "We use the latest technology", "We are constantly researching the latest materials" stuff.
What I want is something a bit more specific like "We applied a vertical 100kg load to one of our crank arms mounted horizontally and it flexed 0.5 degrees and twisted 1.5 degrees"

dhxcme

try the raceface website

dennisn

Bike mag reviews of frames, wheels, and components are almost always positive in nature because they generally only review the middle to upper eschilon of these products.
All of these parts, from Sora and Veloce to Dura Ace and Record are decent products. They have to be from a manufacturers point of view or they won't sell.
Bike mags will promote all of these items to the best of their ability because they get paid to do just that. That's why everything is "great", "smooth", "effortless", "smooth as silk",
"the best yet", and the list goes on and on. In the end though, none of it will help you
if the engine hasn't got the horsepower.

Dennis Noward

ride_whenever

If i remember rightly when the mags tested the disc brakes they did dyno them, and in a stem/bar test they did measure stiffness and did the same for forks. It was scientific however they didn't bore us with thte results because in their opinions how the kit rides is more important.

However I do agree, when they do this stuff would it kill them to stick it on the website.

MilitantGraham

I'm on dial up at the moment, I'll have a proper look at that RaceFace site when I get home on broadband.

...none of it will help you if the engine hasn't got the horsepower

Isn't that the whole purpose of any bicycle component, to make the optimum use of the available horsepower ?

omegas

All the manufactures do performance testing on there products and have test rigs set up trying to simulate all conditions, if there is a problem with a product they want to be the first to know. Even down to the packaging, manufactures test to see what it looks like after a time at in a damp warehouse.

As for testing in a magazine would it be of any value to the consumer?

If you put 10 pedals all of the same manufacture and model on a test rig would they all fail on the same day at the same hour, or the same for a chain or any other component.

We all ride in different conditions with different techniques, some clean and regular maintenance some do none and then wonder why there product falls apart. It would be impossible for any magazine to simulate all these conditions so for me what I read in a magazine by a tester has little value.

I do take note of people’s comments and findings from forums and even the reviews in CRC as the consumer has the last say and if there is a problem with a product they are the ones to tell you.

Vegeeta

Sapim seem to have done some testing, and if they are to be believed nobody should ever buy any spokes except CX Rays!

MilitantGraham

Taking handlebars as an example and quoting from the six MTB bars reviewed onthis page;

incredibly strong full-width downhill bar

amazingly light for something that is so robust

without warping too much when you push on it

the security of guaranteed hardriding durability

Possibly the best tough-but-light trail bar on the market

Super light and strong downhill handlebar

So which one of those flexes least under load then ?
They might as well replace all those quotes with one catch all "The manufacturers keep supplying us with free stuff and paying for advertising space in our magazine so we don't want to upset them."

dirtbiker100

I'd have thought there'd be so much to test, they wouldn't bother.

prophet_1000

Lets be honest is a magazine really going to waste its time and money carrying out tests on rigs that they will have to pay to have engineered and built (by who, the editor, the photographer, the bike tester?)

As mentioned above its the Manufacturers who do the testing in the first place, perhaps it would be of help to us if they published their results on their websites, and there again who is to say that they would be honest? how many times do the Manufacturers state that there frame is this weight or that geometry only for the magazines to come along and measure and weigh the bikes and get different results.

Its a sketchy subject and one with no clear answer, in some cases such as pedals you could say that more expensive units with sealed brgs MAY last longer than servicable units with poor seals and cup raced brgs as water is less likely to get in there in the first place, equally sealed brgs which have been pressure washed may get water in and no means of getting back out or be servicable parts to strip and regrease.

The best thing is to try and get a ride on a mates bike or demo bike with the kit on your looking to buy.

Chaka Ping

I suspect bike journos are poorly-paid and overworked - and that they don't have the time or the kind of scientific/engineering background that would make such testing meaningful.

However, I do remember reading a waterproof jackets test in Trail magazine a couple of years ago where they used industrial testing processes to demonstrate the relative merits of the coats they were reviewing.

dennisn

MilitantGraham wrote:

I'm on dial up at the moment, I'll have a proper look at that RaceFace site when I get home on broadband.

...none of it will help you if the engine hasn't got the horsepower

Isn't that the whole purpose of any bicycle component, to make the optimum use of the available horsepower ?

No. The whole purpose of any bicycle component is to get you to pay
for it. Component makers are in the biz to make money selling you parts,
bits, and pieces. While they may claim to have "a love of cycling" or work
"toward cyclings best interests" they really, in the end, want your money.

Dennis Noward