Brands of bike - why do you pick them, or not?

poppit

I wonder if this explains why I've never seen a Boardman out on the trails despite all the good mag reviews.

thel33ter

poppit wrote:

I wonder if this explains why I've never seen a Boardman out on the trails despite all the good mag reviews.

I had a go on one today... it tried to kill me

and: Scott Owner - Meh.

ddraver

Scott Owner - either too much money or roadie on an MTB...?

Edit - I need a new Keyboard - seriously!

Anonymous

ddraver wrote:

Scott Owber - either too much money or roadie on an MTB...?

I thought Scott made MTBs before they made road bikes?

Dick Scruttock

Bought Santa Cruz frames as they are something a little different and you dont see many people on them where i ride.

I also bought a Felt road bike again as you dont see loads of people on them and most of the people in my club are on planet x bikes so its a little different.

Dick Scruttock

ichabod crane wrote:

weescott wrote:

Ammended Supersonics list for my own use:

Santacruz - "Know they are better than everyone else"

Corrected it for you. As I have never read an MBUK

Corrected

ExTrEmE BiKeR

I like to stick with brands that I have had good experiences with. If I really like a certain bike, I feel some sort of loyalty to that manufacturer. They made a good bike that I really enjoy, and in doing so, have earned my trust and respect in their name. Another brand i feel has got the marketing thing down pat it troy lee. I originally bought these shorts in white because i found them on ebay cheap:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=43409

then, when looking for a helmet, noticed this matched my shorts really nicely

http://www.ukbikestore.co.uk/product/20 ... -2009.html

then when it came time to find a new jersey, this seemed to tie it all together

http://catalog.troyleedesigns.com/catal ... ey_blk.jpg

Troy lee stuff is like an addiction. once you buy one thing, you cant stop buying more

Northwind

I don't really pay much attention to brands, which might seem a bit odd since I've got 2 bikes from the same manufacturer... But it's just coincidence, honest! But you do get a feel for brands that understand what works, frinstance 661 and POC are pretty consistently excellent at body armour, Shimano are the obvious contenders for cranks... And so on. But buying just because of a name, or not buying, is a mug's game IMO.

Anonymous

i buy whatever i think is the best version of the type of bike i want to buy. this means i have no particular affection for any bike brand and ill buy anything provided i deem it good in the following respects:

-price: more important than anything else, it is for everyone surely.
-performance: i tend to like horst link bikes,
-spec: i like a bike to be well specced, who doesnt
-looks: i definately like the things i buy to be good looking, i have bought bikes i believed to be ugly before and would again but if all else was equal, i would go with the best looking.

all of my bikes conform to the above rules except the gt which is cheap, rides like any other ht bike is a slapped together spec and is so ugly it could trick or treat down the phone. but i like it at the moment.

Ransaka

sheepsteeth wrote:

except the gt which ... is so ugly it could trick or treat down the phone.

Going to remember that one for something.

BenS999

Orange riders - Read MBR too much

Boardman - Secretly ashamed to buy a posh Apollo

Pretty much spot one!
I recently had a mini mid life crisis and couldn't afford afford a Porsche so went with an Orange 5 (not cheap but considerably cheaper than the first choice), waiting for the big one at 40 where I think a sports car will only satisfy...

As for branding, I'm an absolute brand whore. You wouldn't think it being a former Boardman owner but its true. I try to seek out less known brands for products but often can't help myself and end up with something more mainstream. I also feel that researching a product and testing out various ones is half the fun of making your purchase, so that nothing is left to chance or a surpirse and you avoid as much dissapointment as possible.

I'm never going to ride the Orange to its full capacity, dont get me wrong, I will give it a good old tonk and ride as hard I can, but not as hard as it can be ridden. Orange bikes are certainly not the prettiest out there, or lightest in their catagory, but sheer fun and excitement is why it was the one I chose. I demo'd a Santa Cruz Heckler and Blur LT, Turner Five Spot and a Sunn something or other, and the Orange came up tops. Whether that was in my head and i had already sub conciously made my decision before testing i dont know. Probably. :oops:


Bottom note: If you like it buy it. Regardless of what others are riding/ driving / blah blah blah

miss notax

BenS999 wrote:

Orange riders - Read MBR too much

Boardman - Secretly ashamed to buy a posh Apollo

Pretty much spot one!
I recently had a mini mid life crisis and couldn't afford afford a Porsche so went with an Orange 5 (not cheap but considerably cheaper than the first choice), waiting for the big one at 40 where I think a sports car will only satisfy...

Oh no, i've got a Porsche and an Orange 5.... Not sure what that says about me

(although I am approaching 40 so maybe that's my excuse )!

BenS999

BenS999 wrote:
Quote:
Orange riders - Read MBR too much


Quote:
Boardman - Secretly ashamed to buy a posh Apollo


Pretty much spot one!
I recently had a mini mid life crisis and couldn't afford afford a Porsche so went with an Orange 5 (not cheap but considerably cheaper than the first choice), waiting for the big one at 40 where I think a sports car will only satisfy...



Oh no, i've got a Porsche and an Orange 5.... Not sure what that says about me

(although I am approaching 40 so maybe that's my excuse )!

Haha brilliant! Give me 10 yrs and when I hit 40 I will catchup with you! 8)
Actually - maybe I will buy your car!

bails87

I bought my Boardman Pro because it was £750 and was far and away the best specced bike for that price. I'm not ashamed of it either. I reckon other people are ashamed of the fact that the marketing people have 'got to them' and made them spend double what I did on basically the same thing

I've just bought a new road bike on cyclescheme with the same principles: I had my budget and bought the best I could within that price.

That's not to say that I'm not planning a Yeti/Ibis/Santa Cruz though

Mrs Toast

I'll buy whatever brand has a decent spec and price, and SODDING FITS. Which takes a lot of brands out of the running...

Bar Shaker

We are a 3 Boardman (Apollo) household, bought because they were the highest spec for our budgets, no other reason. That said, I like the brand and I like CB's involvement in Team GB cycling.

Its previously been GT iDrives (loved them), a Mongoose (now that was a bike to hate) and an early Lester Tushingham Orange that got nicked (over rated and over priced - glad it was insured).

Being 47, I have sold the Carrera 4 and bought a A6 Quattro... for carrying the bikes around

BenS999

I have sold the Carrera 4 and bought a A6 Quattro... for carrying the bikes around

Im going green with envy!

Shotsaway

Branding is an interesting subject and an emotive subject for many buyers/riders.

In my late 20's (1998) I decided to get fit (I had given up BMXing 10 years before and hadn't ridden since). I didn't want to spend a fortune on a MTB, as I didn't know if it was something that I would do on a regular basis.

Anyway as is probably the 1st port of call for most new/wanna be/inexperienced riders, I went to Halfords and I ended up parting with a couple of hundred pounds buying a fully rigid Carrera Vulvan. The Carrera was truely an awful bike, but it did re-light my love of riding.

One year later I went to my LBS and I ended up with an Orange Evo2 in lime green. Why? Well I had spent the last year reading the magazines and Orange seemed like a great brand. The bike was fantastic to ride. The only fault was the Manitou Magnum forks! When I bought my next bike I sold the Evo2 on ebay - I wish I had kept it!

By 2005 I wanted disc brakes but I would have had to replace the forks, wheels and buy rotors/calipers etc and it seemed the better option would be to buy a new bike. I went to another LBS (The one that had sold me the Orange had long since closed) and on impulse I ended up buying a 2004 Specialized Rockhopper Comp from stock, as it was discounted by £200.

I'm now in the market for my first full susser and naturally I have gravitated to the brands I have owned. First port of call was to try a Stumpjumper. The truth is though, I have just gone off Specialized and they now seem to be a mass volume brand. I also wonder whether their OEM "Custom" parts are of as good quality as the normal OEM parts? I then tried an Orange 5 but I can't get my head around the look of the bike! After reading lots of reviews I tried the Trek EX8. In my opinion the EX is the best bike for me and I will shortly be buying a EX8 or EX9. It's funny how opinions change. If you had asked me 2 years ago, if I would ever ride a Trek my answer would have been NO! And now I'm about to buy one! So from one volume brand to another! Although over time some of the Bontrager parts may be changed.

I am fairly loyal when it comes to kit. I have many Endura items of clothing as they make great kit at reasonable prices (I find their gloves awful though). One company that makes clothes that I say away from is Fox as I have 2 awful experiences with their jerseys. I also use Giro helmets and I have done for about 10 years. I currently have an E2 helmet, which needs to be replaced and I will probably buy the new Giro Xar when it is released next year.

So with bikes I am not loyal but with kit I am!

Anonymous

I can completely and utterly understand people sticking to a cretain brand of helmet, since quite often one manifacturer's head shape will fit perfectly, and tohers, not so.

SIRPSYCHOSEXY

Does rivalry with mates help you decide what you will buy? My mate rides a Specialized Stumpjumper, his sister has a GT and i have a Giant Trance. Now this is sad i know, but i will never buy either a GT or a Specialized bike, because i have spent so much time slagging them off to. They do the same to anything which is made by Giant. If they bought say a Trek or Marin, then those bikes would be off limits to me, as i would slag them off as well. This also goes for clothing or other bike related parts made by those manufacturers. It's all in good humour, this piss take of each others bikes.

Thewaylander

SIRPSYCHOSEXY wrote:

Does rivalry with mates help you decide what you will buy? My mate rides a Specialized Stumpjumper, his sister has a GT and i have a Giant Trance. Now this is sad i know, but i will never buy either a GT or a Specialized bike, because i have spent so much time slagging them off to. They do the same to anything which is made by Giant. If they bought say a Trek or Marin, then those bikes would be off limits to me, as i would slag them off as well. This also goes for clothing or other bike related parts made by those manufacturers. It's all in good humour, this wee-wee take of each others bikes.

To a point, i will take the wee wee out my mate's bikes.

but simply if i ride a bike when buying and i feel its the best bike at the price from me i have that, not even looknig at the make. Which is why i've never owned an orange ;p

Lapierre t 400

personnaly I would never buy orange,lapierre,specialized,scott because I don't like them I always think they are over priced and there are quite a few about
Manufacturers like Intense,cove,turner,foes,cube,canyon have I always think a certain "boutique" look and feel to them and I suppose you don't see shed loads of them about on the trails;

Northwind

Lapierre t 400 wrote:

personnaly I would never buy orange,lapierre,specialized,scott because I don't like them I always think they are over priced

You think SPECIALIZED are overpriced? Compared to what? Sure, some of the lines work out less good value than others but a lot of the models are ridiculous value.

weeksy59

I would never again buy a Commencal. Quite simply they are utter tosh. The ammount i've read about cracking on the CoC is beyond hysterical.

Anonymous

Northwind wrote:

Lapierre t 400 wrote:

personnaly I would never buy orange,lapierre,specialized,scott because I don't like them I always think they are over priced

You think SPECIALIZED are overpriced? Compared to what? Sure, some of the lines work out less good value than others but a lot of the models are ridiculous value.

I'm with Northwind on this one.

Northwind

yeehaamcgee wrote:

I'm with Northwind on this one.

In that case I completely disagree

bails87

Northwind wrote:

yeehaamcgee wrote:

I'm with Northwind on this one.

In that case I completely disagree

I agree with both of you

Comparing Rockhoppers to Boardmans and the like, yeah, they're not such good value, but the kit on the Stumpy FSRs, for example, is pretty good for the money.

Anonymous

i do think spesh tend to be good value for money, it is very much part of why i tend to buy them. it helps that i think they look good and for the way i do it, they ride really nice.

paul.skibum

I bought my Cove on the strength of a review but liked the a) Canadian nature and b) the cache of having a rare bike (this was in 2003). I would buy another without question and probably any of their other bikes. I have a Santa Cruz simply because it was for sale on ebay and appealed to me for its nature.

I definitely like smaller brands and have an aversion to big brands - particularly Scott and Giant for some reason. I actually quite like Spesh oddly despite my tendancy to go for the niche brands.

I am not so brand oriented with skis (still hate Scott though) and not in anything much else. I do like some more niche oriented clothes and so on - Peak Performance/686/Session (all for ski wear) - raceface for biking.

kg211

Where do Ghost fit into all of this, or have they not been in the UK long enough to have a stereotype made of them?


I ride a GT as the insurance company dealt with Halfords when my Marin was nicked.