Poorly rated parts that actually work really well

Raymondavalon

Ah, something that always gets a raw deal and works like a charm:

Crank Bros.Joplin (R) Seatpost

Seen so many people slate this product but those of us who have them fitted cannot fault the product.
With common sense maintenance (clean after every ride) and annual basic servicing (undertaken by yourself or the LBS) these seatposts are fantastic and work flawlessly

Anonymous

Raymondavalon wrote:

Ah, something that always gets a raw deal and works like a charm:

Crank Bros.Joplin (R) Seatpost

Seen so many people slate this product but those of us who have them fitted cannot fault the product.
With common sense maintenance (clean after every ride) and annual basic servicing (undertaken by yourself or the LBS) these seatposts are fantastic and work flawlessly

agreed, i love mine and the difference it makes to a ride.

thought of another one: specialized suspension............. oh no, sorry im wrong about that.

Northwind

Tektro Auriga Pro brakes- they're seen as the entry level, budget brakes you stick on just to tick off the specsheet- "Hydro brakes, tick" but they're actually very good. Not quite as good as XT but not far off at all, just harder to bleed and find parts for.

asdfhjkl

Andy wrote:

stubs wrote:

Anything by Superstar

Who rates them poorly?

That's what I'm thinking too :P

I really like Superstar, although my opinion may be biased because those lovely people included Haribo with my lock-on grips

BlackSpur

Northwind wrote:

Tektro Auriga Pro brakes- they're seen as the entry level, budget brakes you stick on just to tick off the specsheet- "Hydro brakes, tick" but they're actually very good. Not quite as good as XT but not far off at all, just harder to bleed and find parts for.

Top shout!

stubs

Andy wrote:

stubs wrote:

Anything by Superstar

Who rates them poorly?

For my sins I used to mooch around the singletrackworld site occasionally. Any mention of superstar on that site and all the weirdos start foaming at the mouth.

Northwind

STW has some history with Superstar, partly because of some parts failures but mainly because the owner created an account there and spammed it up with "I love Superstar they're great" threads

uk_mr_brownstone

Bars under 700mm.

KT1973

Avid BB7 brakes

johnman

im gonna say my sr suntour x100's that came with my avalanche. i have given them crap for about a year and a half now and i think theyre fine. granted their stiction is pretty poor compared with a pair of foxes and i will be changing them out for some recons when i have the money, but they have lasted fine. living in swansea at the mo and the riding round here is pretty harsh (kilvey anyone?) but the forks keep me upright enough

Th3 Firestarter

08 marzocchi 66's.
Everbody slated these, yet the pair I had on my gambler were fine and never caused me any trouble.

Northwind

uk_mr_brownstone wrote:

Bars under 700mm.

Ohhhhh, good shout. I saw MBUK casually mentioned that 680mm was "too narrow" a while back, obviously 710mm is the new 680mm. Barflation strikes!

supersonic

I hate wide bars lol.

M6TTF

640mm bars for me - any wider is just a pain in the ass for narrow gaps

gaz047

+1 for dual control levers - got them on my hardtail, think they work really well
+1 for avid juicy (7s) - have needed the occasional bleed but when done right have found them excellent (last bleed was april)
+1 for cheap gear cables - you can save a lot of money here

and finally continental speedkings seem to get mixed reviews, but i really rate them. quick, light, pretty cheap and surprisingly good in the mud.

joshtp

johnman wrote:

im gonna say my sr suntour x100's that came with my avalanche. i have given them crap for about a year and a half now and i think theyre fine. granted their stiction is pretty poor compared with a pair of foxes and i will be changing them out for some recons when i have the money, but they have lasted fine. living in swansea at the mo and the riding round here is pretty harsh (kilvey anyone?) but the forks keep me upright enough

dart1's got me down Kilvey on a weekly basis for a year... no probs!
for me its all about my old wellgo dx spd copy's
i love them!
ooh, and ignitors, they are great in all but nothing.
and also tektro auriga brakes (pro, and comp) very,very good.
finaly any race face post, i have the evolve xc one, the angle adjustment, infact the whole head, makes adjusting your saddle a pure pleasure....
truly fantastic!

antfly

stubs wrote:

Andy wrote:

stubs wrote:

Anything by Superstar

Who rates them poorly?

For my sins I used to mooch around the singletrackworld site occasionally. Any mention of superstar on that site and all the weirdos start foaming at the mouth.

A lot of peops have had their pads fall apart, that`s one reason.

stubs

antfly wrote:

stubs wrote:

Andy wrote:

stubs wrote:

Anything by Superstar

Who rates them poorly?

For my sins I used to mooch around the singletrackworld site occasionally. Any mention of superstar on that site and all the weirdos start foaming at the mouth.

A lot of peops have had their pads fall apart, that`s one reason.

Well me and my mates have been using them for quite a while now (about 2 years) and none of us has had any problems. I have only ever had two problems with a set of pads.

One was some original Hayes pads where the backing plates rusted and the pad material came off on one side.

The other was some EBC resin pads that dissolved on an 18 mile gritty wet Lakes ride.

Superstar kit is made in the same factories (usually Taiwanese) that make kit for all the bike companies

bails87

The pad issue was acknowledged and sorted by Superstar a long time ago. They've got a guarantee on the brake pads too, if you're not completely happy you can get your money back.

.blitz

My Rize is kitted out with unremarkable but functional components that need hardly any attention and just keep on working. When they're all covered in mud it makes no difference whether they are grubby black or shiny gold

pastey_boy

my xo gripshifts have to be one of the most under rated and under used components out there. nothing shifts quicker ,feels as accurate and is as light .lots of people pull their face when they see im running gripshifts but havent actually tried them, also very easy to use when tired. i run them on my ragley with lyriks on the front so im no some weight conscious xc racer

Kiblams

Where to start...

Avid BB5s - Unless I start riding drastically more agressive terrain that trail centres I can't see me ever needing more than the 160mm rotors I run.

Resin flat pedals - Almost everyone I know has had to service their metal pedals, mine and the missus' have never needed any work at all, and mine hav survived 14 months of weekly riding so far.

Quando hubs - they just work! even since I started using a pressure washerafter every ride.

It seems sometimes that the cheapest things I buy for the bikes are the things that never break... :shock:

stubs

Kiblams wrote:

It seems sometimes that the cheapest things I buy for the bikes are the things that never break... :shock:

You said it. Some of the toughest gear on my bikes is the cheapest. A lot of expensive gear just doesnt last I would rather drag around a couple of extra pounds of weight.

CFS

The shimano cable disk brakes on my Trek hardtail, they stop the bike really well.

I'm not sure why people say cable disks are high maintenance.. All you need to do is twiidle the adjuster at the lever and click the fixed pad adjuster round a notch or two with an allen key every now and again...not difficult or time consuming.

Try setting up a set of old cantilever brakes (pre V brake) or bleeding Tektro Aurigas.

Tektro Aurigas are very good when bled btw.

ride_whenever

crank bros pedals, they are reliable if you're not over any weight restrictions and buy the quality ones. The cheap ones will fail, that's why they're cheap.

Gypsum_Fantastic

Novatec hubs (remember them?) I've been running one of those since 2001 and it's still going smooth as ever with zero maintenance

bannedbiker

My strange old unbranded alu frame. My first decent bike was a fs cube copy that some dude built out of easton tubing and stuck on ebay. I abused that thing for a good 12 months and it never faultered once. (The guy i sold it to killed it, but thats not the point!)

mkf

my pace rc41fighter forks been bounceing on them for 10 years or more sttill smooth yearly serviced. Just ordered new rockshox cause not cost effective to service the pace and fancy a change.
But the slateing pace got SHOCKING