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How to be confident in reviews

notabigfishnotabigfish Posts: 4
edited June 2012 in Discuss the website with the team
I'm looking for new bike for wife and have read few reviews on the site. Here are few quotations about bikes we are considering.

GT Avalanche - "The GT Avalanche is one of the best all-round trail bikes we’ve tested for under £500.", " the plush 100mm-travel (3.9in) SR Suntour XCM fork is pretty good at taking the knocks".

Giant Revel - " Let down by the fork", " a fork like SR Suntour’s XCM is simply irritating", " full potential of the bike is wasted when it has such a poor fork fitted"

Both bikes have the same fork, more or less the same price and absolutely different feedback. Beside the fork is not really great how I can be confident in such reviews :?:

Posts

  • nicklousenicklouse Posts: 50,675 Lives Here
    links to each one?
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • notabigfishnotabigfish Posts: 4
    Links to reviews:
    http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... o-10-36097
    http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... 0-11-42756
  • TwellyTwelly Posts: 1,437
    Lol

    Are these both from Bike Radar reviews?

    General opinion on Suntour forks is don't bother unless its XCR, Epicon, Raidon
    Epic Threads
  • notabigfishnotabigfish Posts: 4
    Agree with opinion on forks, just funny to read such reviews one by one.. :)
  • supersonicsupersonic Posts: 82,708 Lives Here
    There are a few versions of the XCM - some are damped, others are not, and even the same fork can vary.

    Further down the GT review:

    "Hopefully, clunky rebounds will soon be a thing of the past, but it did rear its ugly head on the XCM when the going got rough on fast descents. Try before you buy – there seem to be inconsistencies in feel between same name forks.

    "
    GT ZASKAR CARBON TEAM

    VOODOO CANZO

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  • TwellyTwelly Posts: 1,437
    From the GT Avalanche review:
    Bike Radar wrote:
    The SR Suntour fork is a rival to RockShox’s cheapest Dart models, with a useful lockout that didn’t suffer from the usual trail chatter affliction. Hopefully, clunky rebounds will soon be a thing of the past, but it did rear its ugly head on the XCM when the going got rough on fast descents. Try before you buy – there seem to be inconsistencies in feel between same name forks.

    Maybe the fork on their test bike had been set up in a particular way or was from a different batch with a different damping circuit? I'm just guessing here by the way...
    Epic Threads
  • nicklousenicklouse Posts: 50,675 Lives Here
    also note the dates.

    one is a year 10 bike the other is a year 11.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
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