channel 5 mountain bike test

dan shard

shx8000 wrote:

Good point Dan, and I did just that 2 weeks back. Ended up way off the trail, just glad the ground was soft

been there done that (At much easier places too)

P-Jay

Was a bit rubbish. Had some serious bikes there which got no more than a quick pan over before Guy and his mate picked the two they liked.

Still I’m not too bothered, the Gadget Show has reviewed and shown more Mountain Bikes on TV and any mainstream show I can think of.

Why did the 5 win? Well it's a good bike if not to my taste, but might have a lot to do with the fact Guy Martin rides Orange Bikes himself so he's going to feel right at home on it, plus he has a inbuilt dislike of multi pivot bikes - from memory his view is "all these pivots are bobbings, if they worked they would put them on motorbikes, simple".

GHill

I dislike the gadget show for trying to make their reviews seem scientific when there are obvious flaws in their methods. Some MTB magazines (I'm thinking specifically of a non Future Publishing one) fall into a similar trap.

lostboysaint

P-Jay wrote:

"all these pivots are bobbings, if they worked they would put them on motorbikes, simple".

He's not the engineering genius he thinks he is then. MTBs often have multiple pivots because of the difficulty of putting a single pivot close to it's optimum point and also because of the forces acting on the suspension because of pedalling. If he thinks that motorbikes are simpler then he's wrong, they have an optimum single pivot placement but then rely on linkages on the rear shock to get a decent suspension performance, there are very few "direct" mount shocks.

supafly1982

all "prime time tv" is just mind numbing brain fodder, what do you expect? its the programe they are trying to sell not the product, entertainment not intellegence

chrisga

I think Guy probably knows a thing or two about suspension, the way it works and setting it up...
His day job is truck mechanic but at weekends enjoys doing this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oncN5vR1y3A

If his suspension wasnt fully sorted he'd be off in a ball of flames, oh...

Oops (Guy and his fireblade at TT 2010)...



As someone else said I think he rides an orange. Wasn't there an article in MBUK with him and a pro MTBer so he's probably pretty handy on an MTB.

The test wasnt great but it was good to see some decent bikes featuring on prime time TV. Test was typical gadget show, the "best" doesnt necessarily win, but at least they actually made the effort to ride them offroad!

BlueAdvocate

P-Jay wrote:

Why did the 5 win? Well it's a good bike if not to my taste, but might have a lot to do with the fact Guy Martin rides Orange Bikes himself so he's going to feel right at home on it, plus he has a inbuilt dislike of multi pivot bikes - from memory his view is "all these pivots are bobbings, if they worked they would put them on motorbikes, simple".

Didn't watch it but that makes sense why Orange tweeted (via Singletrack) to watch the programme......

Anonymous

chrisga wrote:

I think Guy probably knows a thing or two about suspension, the way it works and setting it up...
His day job is truck mechanic but at weekends enjoys doing this:

That means nothing in the context of mountain bike suspension dynamics. Motorcycles and MTBs are two very different creatures indeed.

P-Jay

lostboysaint wrote:

P-Jay wrote:

"all these pivots are bobbings, if they worked they would put them on motorbikes, simple".

He's not the engineering genius he thinks he is then. MTBs often have multiple pivots because of the difficulty of putting a single pivot close to it's optimum point and also because of the forces acting on the suspension because of pedalling. If he thinks that motorbikes are simpler then he's wrong, they have an optimum single pivot placement but then rely on linkages on the rear shock to get a decent suspension performance, there are very few "direct" mount shocks.

I don't think he claims to be a genius, for example on this "The Boat that Guy built" show last night he was totally shocked to discover that cotton claim from a plant and not the back of a sheep.

He also arrvied at one place, two's up with Mave on the back of what looked like an Orange Alpine 160.


I can't help but like the guy, his enthiasum is brilliant.

P-Jay

P.S. If I was looking for a new sportsbike I'd be happy to listen to every word he had on the subject, but if I was looking for a new mountain bike I'd looking to MBUK and suggesions on here.

chrisga

yeehaamcgee wrote:

chrisga wrote:

I think Guy probably knows a thing or two about suspension, the way it works and setting it up...
His day job is truck mechanic but at weekends enjoys doing this:

Motorcycles and MTBs are two very different creatures indeed.

No sh1t....

I'm sure the concepts of rebound and compression damping are probably pretty similar, even though the applications may vary slightly. It might mean though that he knows what the pretty coloured levers do on the top/bottom of forks/shocks.

I think Guy would be a really good guy to go for a drink with (tea obviously, boss!)

Thewaylander

I gotta watch this, I mean i thought there tests were crap for ages.

Looking forward to be able to diss these guys completly