Getting a few things off my mountain biking chest.
Sometimes it’s good to moan. It can help get rid of frustrations. A problem shared is a problem halved and all that. Clear the air and move on.
With that in mind, these are the 10 main things that have been bugging me with bikes for the past few years.
Semi-lightheartedly, here goes nothing…
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Carbon (apart from rims)
Let’s kick things off with a biggie. Aside from the ecological argument (that I don’t want to get sidetracked by), I just don’t think carbon is worth the money. The amount of extra £-pounds you have to spend to save one or two lb-pounds is faintly outrageous. Arguably most of that weight saving is due to the bike industry seemingly having given up on even trying to make metal bikes light(er), especially North American brands. And a lot of the time I think it’s a worse performing material than metal. The one exception is wheel rims. Carbon rims can be the best rims available. Still loads of money, mind.
High-set helmet peaks
I’m going to pin this one on Specialized. Although other brands are hopping on board this aesthetic, I think Spesh was the first to bring out helmets with peaks set bizarrely far-too-high. High to the point of actually being pointless. Even if you don’t live anywhere that sunny, these high peaks now make dusk rides an exercise in squinting and, quite frankly, dangerous.
Thru-headset anything
Yep, the classic. People may be bored of moaning about thru-headset cable routing but we need to keep up the pressure. Not only does it add complexity and cost to routing service jobs, it doesn’t even look better than regular routing. It’s a disease that’s drifted over from dropbar bikes and it can drift off back there thanks.
Torx bolts
Is it just me, or are torx bolts more prone to rounding out than Allen key bolts? Especially on items that aren’t disc rotor bolts. Any test bike from torx-tastic Scott, for example, usually ends up heading back post-test period with all of the torx bolts looking scratty and mashed. Hex FTW.
Disc mounts on chainstays
Am not exactly sure if brands are putting calipers on the chain stay for suspension-v-braking reasons but I am sure that such a location makes it much more difficult to get at the caliper mount bolts, especially with a multi-tool. And as for the introduction of the patently awful flat-mount standard coming in from roadie world… No. Just no. Can’t we just bring back I.S.? That was clearly superior.
Tokenistic adjustments
One reason why I don’t pick on brands that don’t offer proportional chainstays or flipchips, is because the brands that do offer these things very rarely do it to a sufficient degree. 11mm difference in chain stay length between Small and XX-Large? 0.5° change in geometry via a flipchip? Hardly worth it. If you’re going to market sizing/adjustments, at least make it justifiable.
Curvy rates
Whether this is suspension frame leverage or air springs, I rarely get along with curves that aren’t consistent. I can get them to function okay but in a world where most riders (understandably) don’t want to spend hours and hours setting up a pushbike, these curves are often a recipe for extremely poor bike setup and thus handling. The marketing idea of ‘supple at sag, rampy at the end’ is not what a lot of riders end up sat on.
Silicone grippers
Helmets. Knee pads. Liner shorts. Any of these that have silicone grippers frequently get on my wick. Sometime literally. Essentially using hot glue to keep cycling apparel in place. Ugh.
Car industry aping
All these ‘Works’ bikes. Or eebs with stronger motors in the top tier models. Feels very Beemer M Series. Naff.
And finally…
The tenth slot is open to you. Add your suggestions below!
Gone through my bikes and changed every possible bolt to 5mm hex. Too many weird and wonderful fasteners. Yes, it’s a compromise as not every bolt is as light as it can be, but it helps.Â
Speaking of Park tools and Torx 🙄
It was just a chainring bolt as well, my Aldi centre aisle special ratchet set finished the job…
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one thats slipped through in the original article
“Although other brands are hopping on board this aesthetic, I think Spesh was the first to bring out helmets with peaks set bizarrely far-too-high. High to the point of actually being pointless. Even if you don’t live anywhere that sunny, these high peaks now make dusk rides an exercise in squinting and, quite frankly, dangerous."
Totally agree with this.Â
Apparently the “cool kids" in BC, if they have an adjustable peak, ride with it in the up position. If true, then I’m happy to be labeled old and uncool for having a usable peak.
I remembered narrow wide jockey wheels this morning. All they do is cause noise and grumbling when the chain skips off them in bumpy terrain and is on the wrong teeth.
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As for e-MTBs – they’re such a waste of a crucial resource we need for the green transition and have so much higher emissions associated with their production compared to normal MTBs (which have fairly low impact and aren’t robbing key minerals from more important uses) that they should stop existing. E-bikes for transport, fine – they’re a key part of the green transition, E-mtbs are a total waste. The benefits they bring a minutely small number of people with health issues does not outweigh the environmental damage to the wider population.
Has anyone mentioned flat mount disc brakes? Just change for change’s sake in my view and a more faffy than post mount.
And while I’m at it, cables & hoses down the underside of the downtube in the way of everything that comes off the front tyre & stopping you heli-taping. If they must come down the downtube, why note the topside of the tube? They’d happily run either side of the bottle cage bosses so shouldn’t cause a problem.
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More lift for the big sends
This yes yes yes, and its not the most obvious thing to stop and look for
Up until now I was unaware of the existence of narrow wide jockey wheels and I have to say my life was better for it.
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Mmmm SRAM GX 7Â does it a lot
I bought Hope jockeys instead but the lack of float made them a lot harder to get the gears perfectÂ
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Yeah the whole point of Torx is that they less prone to camming (aka rounding).Â
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I don’t, eMTBs are just better IMO. Not better in every way, but over-all better. I’m 50 now, but I’m fit and well, I don’t need one, but I love them.Â
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This. Whoever signed this design off deserves to be made to set up every mech with them on forever. A truly stupid piece of design engineeringÂ
Probably goes without saying that I don’t do big sends… but do have my peak in the high position if using goggles. Adjustable peaks, so you can pop you googles up there, or drop the peak down for low sun, have their uses. It’s the “always high as to not stop sun or rain" peaks that Benji was complaining about, I think. Adjustable is good.
goggles and half shell helmets is something I thought (and was happy) went away. not sure we can blame “the industry" for that, more likely it was minor gravity pros and influencers with goggle sponsors who didn’t want to wear a full face helmet on easier terrain.
Yes, it was mentioned earlier, as was the lack of access to post mount bolts when mounted on chainstays. Now as I see it, because flat mount bolts from the bottom upwards, it solves that issue.Â
Of course what it doesn’t solve is having mismatched calipers on the front and back of your MTB.Â
Those Specialized helmets (and similar brands) look terrible and the visors are just a waste of time like that. I’d rather have a smaller, lower peak that works better both aesthetically and practically.Â
Stop making pedals that can only be removed or installed with an Allen key, my knuckles prefer it when I can use a nice big pedal spanner!
I think it went away once the ews mandated full face helmets.Â
Another one. The way the axle on fox 36s narrows so it’s harder to line up and then needs a pinch bolt tightening up as well. Why? Has anyone ever managed to drop a front wheel out of a fork that doesn’t have a pinch bolt. Just more unnecessary complicationsÂ
It’s not to keep your axle in, it’s because it’s a floating axle: to accommodate the (small) variations in hub widths, the axle floats in the right fork leg, until you do up that pinch bolt.
If it bothers you, you could switch to the QR axle, that uses a sleeve you fix with the pinch bolt, and ever after all you do is unscrew the through axle.