[Closed] Hands up who’s spent a small fortune on a frame/ bike and hated it

*reports stealth ad*

What?

Can’t say I have done that no. My big bike I’ve always slightly struggled with losing the front wheel - I think I should have gone for the size smaller in hindsight.

However, with some coaching / shorter stem / suspension adjustments / bigger drop dropper I’ve now got really comfortable with it and I’ve never been faster downhill.

Try making some tweaks and persevere with it and you might surprise yourself.

What bike is it and what don’t you like about it?

Yep. A Santa Cruz. Totally underwhelmed after wanting one for years. Thankfully the shop swapped it for an Orange and been happy ever since.

If Ton had octopus genes, it'd still be an unfair poll.

Pace RC305 - think it was about £550 for the frame - which was pretty spendy for an alloy hardtail back in 2006.

Never really liked it, i just felt a bit "dead". Could also never get the rear brake set up without it rubbing. Turns out the rear disk mounts were about 5mm from square! Got Pace to fix it under warranty but then sold it as I was fed up with it.

No from me, I normally buy something in a colour I like. As long as it's fit for purpose I'll get used to it.

Got Pace to fix it under warranty

Wait, what!? Shurly shum mishtake?

Yup, first gen Capra. But had already budgeted into the equation for selling the frame and putting all the bits onto something I knew I loved, as the whole build was such a bargain.

Yeah done a stem change and adjusted saddle (same saddles on all bikes) just doesn’t suit me lol.
regards stealth add people who have known me on here over the years would know I’d just sell it! Not stealth add it ffs! That’s just more a passing comment!
its a GG pedalhead hardtail.

im finding it hard to pop off and over things generally and ridged the most stiff steel frame I’ve ridden and I’ve done a over the years lol

Ooh. That was on my shortlist earlier this year, but I opted for a Pole Taival instead, which, I'm sorry to say I'm pretty pleased with.

I was thinking that those square section stays would be pretty merciless.

That’s interesting on the pop comment. I wasn’t familiar with this make but it looks like it has a reasonably long reach but very short chainstays. Shorter despite it being a 29er / 650+ than my hardtail that I already thought had short chainstays. And that pops manuals etc easier than any other bike I’ve ever had.

It does look like the GG is quite long wheelbase though - so it must have a long front end so maybe that’s the issue. Edit - it may also have a very low BB)?

You might find you just need to ride it more and you’ll get into it. My full suss is 481mm reach and has chainstays 435mm long - so it’s longer reach / chainstays than the GG in the size 3 frame which is suggests if you’re over 6 tall (I’m on an ML size bike at 5’9). I appreciate it is slightly different ht vs fs as I think the reach increase in a ht when the fork sags.

What’s your other bike and what’s your riding style? I find you need to ride much more aggressively on a LLS to get the most out of it. I can chuck mine through the most ridiculous stuff and it almost always carries me through giggling with what I’ve got away with.

2018 Enduro 29er, Ohlins RXF36 forks, STX shock, carbon wheels.

Struggled to get it setup and handling right. 18 months later and its pretty sorted.
-RXF36 air forks replaced with RXF36 coils, then Lyriks
-STX air shock replaced with a coil
-Carbon wheels ditched in favor of a set of cheap arch S1, then a set of DT Swiss XM481's.

2019 had a the frame replaced due to a manufacturing issue.

All I have left of the original bike is the seat collar...

Yup. Done that. Bought a bike years ago I couldn't test ride before based on received opinion and having wanted one for a decade based on reviews etc.  Knew it was wrong from the outset, even splurged on carbon wheels to try and inject some life into it...now just have an overpriced sluggish slow energy sapping numb feeling bike that is 1% better than it was before. Lessons Learnt. Stupid thing is I can't be RSed to sell it as will lose so much money as now old model...got used 4 times this year. One day will give it away to some lucky punter for a pittance just to be rid...Best to get rid of straight away if you feel it's wrong.

Wait, what!? Shurly shum mishtake?

They couldn't really say no after I sent them a picture with a disk facing tool showing how far out the mounts were.

If its any consolation they dented the top tube before they sent it back and blamed it on the courier

Will answer this properly next week once the Hello Dave I have on order arrives. I've gone for XL and I strongly suspect it's either going to be amazing or a total dog.

Hay joe. Yeah I’m 6.4 and went for the no3 top of the height range, so it was a more playfull it’s long but I’ve had/& got longer bikes which are all ok. Transition smuggler and a transition carbon vanquish! Both way longer on the reach numbers. Riding wise I’m just an old single track kinda guy, minimal jumping really other than log jumps etc but do like to use the trail to pop off stuff when it’s there to be done! Bb is average by today’s standards.
regards those square rear triangle yep stiff as lol. Very much like the mk1 chameleon which would near on cripple your ankles back in the day 😂😂😂

😂😂good luck in that case.

Nope .. but spent £250 on a frame and been really unimpressed after a couple of rides.
Given it wasn't a huge push to sell though I kept it and a year later I love it!

OK, to be fair it's a bit more involved but I was just mis-using the bike.
The bike was over-biked for what I was riding especially at my skill level and just felt like it sucked out the fun. It was probably faster than the bike it replaced but less fun.
Then took it to Dyfi and Revs at half term and had to follow the nipper and I really appreciated the bike when it was being used for something that brings it to life/stops me dying following the nipper.

Dunno if any of that might apply to you... but although there are few bad bikes now there are bad bikes for what and how they get used?

Rigid stays don’t sound great - sounds like it’s a play bike without the playfulness! I’d have thought you’d be better off with something more conventionally sized / shaped for the type of riding you list that will actively encourage you pop off stuff.

My Vitus Sentier is like this, and my mates Kona Process 134 also actively encourage it. My Bird less so.

You might just need to get the bars higher.

I've found it to be the case with longer front centre bikes, certainly for my preferences.

Well being the impatient twerp that I am I didn’t want to wait till early next year for an orange crush 29er that I originally wanted lol. I’m sure I will probably get it sorted if not then hay ho lesson learned

Got 25mm riser bars and plenty of spacers under them. Plus the head stock is fairly high so it should dame wellcome up easy enough lol.
only other frame I’ve had this issue with was so long so low & so pink was the Pipedream moxie! Still say one of the best looking bikes I’ve had though hell of a machine though if you could get the best out of it! Which I couldn’t 😂

yes. a few times.
main two were a Jones plus, and a Nicolai.

Yep, my old Foxy Carbon. Had one on demo for a month and liked it so I bought one a few months later. I upgraded a lot on it, and it wasn’t cheap to start with either! What the demo bike hadn’t taught me was how shoddily they were put together. The thing literally shook itself apart almost every ride, the BB creaked like hell and and it just felt and sounded like a bag of nails. It didn’t even get ridden that often, so it wasn’t like it was knackered because it was out 3/4 times a week. Reckon I had 20/30 rides on it max. When it was working, it was without doubt one of the fastest bikes I’ve ever ridden, by a good distance too, and it looked amazing, but the reliability of the thing was abysmal. I sold it after 18 months (and due to the low mileage, cosmetically it was mint) and lost the best part of £2k on it, and I bought it at better than regular trade price... yep, that hurt, a lot!

marin mount vision pro back in 1997, rode it for 55miles - hated it, then sold to a mate and continued to ride my 1994 indian fire trail till 2004 and bought a customs steel single speed hardtail that was my best ever bike (soulcraft)

2019 Whyte 901, bought new.

Reliable'ish (stupid back brake and the BB has just gone), fits fine, is fast downhill..... just does not do it for me and I'm bored of it. How can a bike be boring??

And I too built up a bike from a 2006 RC305 frame.... which I still use. Perhaps just buying a bike off the shelf is no fun?

For me it was a Cove Hummer, could find a demo but reviews were great. I found to too short in the TT and as harsh as hell at the back.

Genesis Vagabong.

Love the type of riding it's aimed at, love my cross bike, love my SSCX, love my similarly setup rigid 29er.

Just didn't like it. A few short local loops and one big 60mile sportive and I just couldn't love it. Felt like trying to ride your big brothers bike with the bars too high and weighing a ton. Then if things got rowdy the weight made it less chuckable than the CX bike which you can just hop out of the way of stuff.

Chumba HX1. Didn't even ride it. Broke my arm shortly after it arrived and just ended up with a massive case of the CBA's.

Specialized Pitch - an absolute dream going downhill, absolutely brilliant, like a 32lb DH bike. Just 5 years ahead of it's time as it needed 25mm longer reach and a 75deg seat angle to get it back up those hills.

few times. never demo'd a bike in my life. bought a jeffsy on the back of all the stellar reviews and hype - LIES.

Custom built Ti Blacksheep frame.
Cost a small fortune.
First on turned up and it wouldn't even fit a 2.25 rear tyre in there.
Second one turned up and cracked pretty quickly.
Third one turned up and was the worst riding bike i've ever had the misfortune to throw a leg over.
All 3 frames were supposed to have the same geo.
All 3 were different.
Sold the 3rd on pretty quickly as I'd just had enough by then.
It's probably still doing the rounds in the niche tat singlespeed world...
I know one person that bought it emailed me some pictures to show me how he'd polished it to within an inch of it's life, then sold it. 😂

I dont read magazines, I have no brand loyalty, I take no notice of geometry and I've never demo'd a bike.

If I like the way it looks and the price is right I go for it. I can usually tell straight away if I like it or not and I'll quickly sell it on.

The only bike I didn't get on with was a gt sanction. It was the best looking bike (at the time) picked up a bargain on ebay. For my local stuff it was terrible, too heavy, too slow, too bouncy.

I hauled it up snowdon and it came into its own. I loved it going downhill. When I got home I stripped it and sold the frame and forks to a friend who used it for a while before admitting defeat and he sold it to his friend. Its still going.

I remember that blacksheep. It was a very cool looking bike. His stuff now looks amazing as well but ths numbers just seem all wrong to me.

Bought an On One Fatty (one with Bluto forks) for £1000 thought it would be the ideal winter bike, go anywhere, lots of mud clearance, good grip etc... and save my Transition Patrol for summer/good weather use

After 3 rides i realised i hated how slow and boring the fatty was to ride, sold it on and lost a couple of hundred quid

Replaced it with an e-mtb for £4500 after demo'ing one, 2 rides after i bought the e-mtb i never rode the Transition again and it was sold and the money put into my bike fund pot

Not ridden a normal mtb since and its been 3 years now

For me it was my last bike, a canyon strive cf9. Didn't really pay much for it brand new as I had an insurance payout on a written off stumpy which I loved, but fancied something really bling.
Reviews were good and the spec was amazing but I just couldn't get it setup well enough to feel confident on it. Felt terrible in berms and couldn't get the fork working properly, had so many warranty issues on it.
Sold it to my mate a few months ago and he loves it, has it looking mint and is faster than he's ever been.

Transition Smuggler. Not bad, just didn’t do anything for me. Some people love them though, so I sold it to one of them 😀

The only really expensive bike I've had was a £4k-ish Trek Fuel EX in about 2012-2013 - paid for by an insurance settlement when my bikes were all nicked.

It rode great and was very fast, but then wheelsizes started to change and I began to learn that longer bikes could be better at the same time.

Never hated it but it just became redundant very quickly - and I've been firmly back on the budget bike wagon since.

A Chas Roberts custom job. Not the Dogs Bollocks, the one below but I blew my entire Alliance & Leicester windfall on in 1997 as a student. It was just shite, the whole experience from dealing with CR, riding it and to watching it warp like butter any time a tool went near it.

Full marks for completely failing to meet expectations.

£2500 odd on a SC Blur LTc frame in June 2012, was gone with a grand loss by October 2012, i reckon i did less than 200 miles on it before shopping it in for a Tallboy,

Trek Fuel Ex - Second hand, but still a lot of money to me. Felt like riding a corpse made out of brick. Just dead and really made the trails not come alive. It was my first foray in to full sus after always riding HT. Sold it and got another HT

Cotic Roadrat - Could never put my finger on it. It was just not for me.

Yep, SantaCruz Hightower.  Wife signed off me building what I believed would be my dream bike.  I absolutely hated it chased my tail changing bits to try and make it ‘better’ including shock upgrades, different wheel sizes etc.  Lost thousands when I sold it.

Cotic Roadrat was the one for me, just awful. Terribly jarring forks, horrific laterally frame flex, vertically stiff, horrible to ride. With weight on the rack it felt like the rear was going to overtake the front on every corner.

Looks awesome though! Stripped back to bare essentials, its a bloody great looking bike. Now used by my Son as his go to school bike, he loves it.

I don't think I've really regretted any bike right from the start. The worst bike I've had (even then it was always more capable than me at the time) was a MK1.5 Aeris.

Felt sluggish to pedal, but was decent downhill. Ate main pivot bearings within 6 months, but they were replaced under warranty without me asking. Ate shock bushes in about 3 months (told to suck it up.. consumables innit).

Then finally, the shock decided to collapse just around the 12 months mark, while riding home from work on tarmac. No warranty on that due the guesstimated service schedule being about 2 weeks off!

I've been tempted by modern Bird frames, but I felt like the shock issue was a bit of a cop out (wasn't too arsed about the bushes as the TF Tuned replacements were cheap enough).

I bought a Marin Attack Trail many years ago, absolutely hated it. Sold it on eBay in the end.

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/8/10418626_704861629f_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/8/10418626_704861629f_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/Vp6u ]Dirty bike[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr

Burls ti Road frame. Late, poor welds, not enough material on the derailleur hanger. No real comeback from the builder/commissioner. Noodly and just not nicely finished.
In comparison the Rourke 953 frame is superb and the customer service has been great.

Specialized SX trail.

Pitched as a DH bike you could pedal all day, felt like an XC bike with the weight of a DH bike.

Early orange patriot. Felt all wrong horrible pedal feedback, way too heavy, way too high bb. not even any good DH. Bought second hand so didn't lose much.

So in answer to your question, no 😀

Yep, orange stage 5

should have been amazing, instead it just wasn’t ‘right’. Good bike but just wasn’t for me, lost 50% in 6 months and 200 ish meh miles.

bought a bird am9 and everything is right again.

Ellsworth ID was one i never got on with, looked great but was pretty much a dog in most ways, just lived with it being an inefficient trail bike.

Not a small fortune, but (just to really upset some folks) a Longshot Cotic Solaris Max frame, built up with existing bits - use it plenty, just still feels like a bit of a barge and always slightly disappointing - too tight to get rid of it though, so will just persevere!

Not a small fortune, but (just to really upset some folks) a Longshot Cotic Solaris Max frame, built up with existing bits – use it plenty, just still feels like a bit of a barge and always slightly disappointing – too tight to get rid of it though, so will just persevere!

You could port most of the bits onto a Soul. I demo'd both and much preferred the Soul, much more maneuverable and lively allowing you to pick your line rather than 'smash over everything'

I have a spreadsheet of all the bikes I've owned in 20 years. It's a fairly sobering document 😉

Stand out didn't like would include
- Voodoo Wazoo Singlespeed. Rode it once. ONCE. Had all sorts of issues with rear wheel alignment. Sold it for peanuts
- Pace 405. I even demo'd that but never really got on with it. Looking back it was a short bike

I've had a few bikes I've really liked including my Solaris Max. Most of the other ones have been somewhere in the middle.

Pipedream Sirius with Rohloff hub, XTR everything else, and shiny kashima fox fork.

Turns out I hate hardtails and hate a Rohloff hub.

Sold it after a few weeks and very few miles for less than I'd paid for the Rohloff.

Still hurts.

My mate has a Nicolai with a Rohloff. He was really looking forward to that bike. He absolutely hated it. Became known as the elephant due to weight and fleetness of foot.

Oh I'd like to add Bird Aeris 120LT. I liked my original MK1 145 although I was never really good enough to get the best out of it, but the shorter travel one just felt heavy and dead. Even with some carbon wheels.

Bought a 2009 GT Avalanche from Pauls as a cheap hack hardtail back in 2012. Didn't cost a fortune compared to others on here but it was all the spare cash I had at the time so to me it was so I'm letting it count. Felt great when it arrived and I'd rode it round the local streets, even felt great round the local park. Took it out round the local trails and it was horrible as soon as the terrain got rough or even slightly steep, never known a bike be so twitchy and unstable! Even tried using it as a commuter but for some reason it just felt like pedalling a lump of lead despite it being lighter than my then commuter bike and having the same tyres.

Sold it after using it for 47 miles. Then realised that I could have swapped all the bits over to an old FS frame I had back at my parent's house. Total muppet.

2011 turner 5 spot. Bought to replace a brilliant 2004 HL 5 spot. Hated it.

Bronson V2. Was a crash replacement frame for my Bronson V1 which was one of the best bikes I've ever owned. The V2 just didnt fit me. Changed all manner of things on it, stem, bars etc. Pedalled like it was in treacle and gave me back ache.

Transition Patrol Carbon. Went from a succession of Reigns to try something different from the shop I race for & hated it. No idea why, as on paper they were very similar. Just crashed a lot & my results went backwards 10/15% for that 6 months. Sold it & went faster again.

Bought an '08 Marin Rock Springs. I was advised to go for a medium by the dealer, it turned out to be too small for me, I kept hitting my knees on the bars, so I gave it to MrsPJM1974 and bought myself an '09 Wolf Ridge in a large.

I ended up with an absolute pig - the head angle was noticeably steeper than the medium Rock Springs (the frames were the same model aside from sizing), there was a fair amount of flex around the back end and I spent a fortune trying to get it to ride right and was only partially successful at addressing he numb steering and unpredictable handling. Such a shame, the same bike in a medium was excellent - indeed we still own it - but the large was an absolute monster that put me in A&E more than once.

Mk1 Cotic Rocket 275. It was just too big and baggy so I stripped it and built my (long since nicked 😥 ) mk1 BFe 275 back up. Fortunately I bought the Rocket second hand so I didn't actually lose money on it when I punted it on.

Another vote for the santa Cruz blur ltc. Still cannot understand the positive reviews, it seemed so flawed.
I bought half price in a sale though and those positive reviews helped move it on.

Cotic Soul. I had an on-one inbred at the time, Cy posted a wanted ad looking for a laptop and I had one I wasn't using so we agreed to a swap. Knew very quickly it wasn't the bike for me. the Cotic is made for people who ride bikes, attacking the trail, riding the fork through the corners and so on. The inbred much more suited my style of pointing the bike down the trail, hanging on for grim death amd hoping to god you were still on at the bottom. I persevered for a few months but eventually swapped it for an 853 inbred. That bike was superb

Not a fortune but my Bird Zero mk1. Good bike to be fair just felt tiny under me (medium frame felt more like as small!) rode it for about 6 months before stripping it to build another hardtail. Still got the frame/forks sat in the garage actually need to pull my finger out and get it sold.

Wouldn't say I absolutely hated it but the Mondraker Dune I bought (thankfully in end of season sale but still cost enough) just didn't work for me.

The suspension was brilliant but too much for the riding I do, and although in theory the reach was spot on for me it just felt too cramped. I put a longer stem on it and that just screwed up the balance & handling. Tried all sorts to fix it but just couldn't get it right for me.

My current GT on the other hand fits like a glove 🙂 🙂

Can totally empathise with the 'over-biked' feeling. Had a Mondraker Foxy XR and it was complete overkill for my local trails, but took it to Coed-y-Brenin and fell it love with it and thought it was the best thing ever.

Had it for two years and only really properly enjoyed being on it that one time. Sold it and went back to a steel hardtail and have been much happier on the day to day.

Jimmy, a fellow Chas Disappointee....
I bought a Chas Roberts Genesis - the one below the DB. Was meant to be 20 inch ... but was like a gate, road bike geometry, and paint that chipped when you looked at it.
I spent so much on it, 550 gbp in around 1992, I had to stick with it.
And you had to put the BB is the wrong way round so the cranks cleared the chain stays.
The straight bontrager forks were the highlight

Genesis Day One with Alfine hub. Biggest pile of sh1te I've ever ridden.

Ibis mojo carbon. Just couldn’t ever get on with it, everyone who rode it loved it but it just felt too small.

Dave Yates Diabolo. It had 753 tubing and to describe it as whippy would be an understatement. That, and the head tube was way too short for me. Looked great, though.

Roberts something or other. It was the worst handling bike Ive ever had but it was very comfortable for long rides and looked great.

I had a pace as well that I didn’t like.

I have struggled rather with my Cotic FlareMAX.

Yep another snag Cruz, first gen Branson. No matter what I did back felt choppy and out of control on any rough ground. Put expensive shocks on to control with little success. Got a ally transition scout and loved it. Test rode a 5050 and hated that as well. I guess I don’t get on with Santa cruz

@stuF

Considered a Soul as I have a Rocket 275 which I love, but let the decision be driven by the fact I had 29" forks and wheels to transfer from a 29er full suss... should have bought the Soul really!

Last 26" bike was definitely this. Demo'd a Remedy 8, think it was 18.5" virtual size. It was amazing, did the enduro trails at Inners faster than on the bike I knew inside out. Back in the shop I bought the 19.5" Remedy 9 ex-display bike, we had them standing against each other and couldn't see a difference size wise.

Rode it around reds and loved it until I went down a steep enduro trail where it just didn't feel right. Although it was great round most of what I rode it actually set me back a considerable amount on riding steep stuff. Guess there was nothing wrong with the bike/frame just the size didn't suit me.

I had a Pro-flex as an insurance replacement back in the late 90s. The Girvin linkage fork never moved unless launched off a cliff. The rear suspension refused to work if it was cold. The Magura rim brakes were mushy and weak. After I fitted a coil rear spring, Bombers and a front disc brake it was tolerable but I’d got fed up with it by then and flogged it on Ebay.

I've had a couple of bikes i didn't get on with but neither cost a fortune.

A second hand Giant Reign (a 2010 i think), i really didn't get on with the linkage, the rear wheel felt like it hungup on ledges/roots/stones/the whiff of uneven ground. I didn't get around to selling it as i crashed it into a tree and folded the frame in two places first!

The other was a second hand Ragly Blue Pig, just found the steel frame too flexy for my taste, especially when cornering. Sold it on for about the same as i brought it for.

Not a small fortune because it was a bike to work bike, but a 2013 Zaskar 29er. Had had GTs forever at this point, and was still loving my 2003 self built Zaskar. And had loved every Zaskar I had ridden, tbh. And then, this, this city bike, that was just cumbersome. Wasn't heavy, just dead.
I'm still not loving my warranty replacement Foxy 650b yet, either. Nowhere near as lively as the old 26" wheeled one was. If I could find an uncracked frame I would have another in an instant.

My first 'dream bike build' was a Charge Duster with mostly Deore parts (it was a dream build on a budget...) but nice XC717 wheels with Hope XC hubs and Mono Mini brakes.

At first I hated the frame, I had hoped for the magic steel ride but it just felt overbuilt, stiff and heavy at almost 5lb frame weight. Also didn't get on with the Hope brakes, can't remember why, think they just faded badly on descents and made a racket in the wet (a common complaint of mine!).

However I adapted to the bike as I couldn't afford to sell it. Eventually it became my all time favourite and co-incided with when I felt I was at my best as a rider, it just required a very aggressive riding style to get the best out of it, that and a ti post, some XT brakes and fatter tyres run soft!

Loved the frame but it eventually got moved on to a mate who was an even more aggressive rider than me and still couldn't break it.

A Cinelli "The Machine" back in the day, just the deadest collection of steel tubes.
A Commencal meta 5.5 vip frame that was just the deadest collection of aluminium tubes.
Thankfully I love my Pivot and am skint these days so 'new bike disappointment' is a thing of the past!

Yup - Hummer, Soda, Ti456,

Actually I take it all back, just been on a nostalgia trip through my old photos, any time I spent hating that bike was eclipsed by my love affair with it by the end.

Funny side note, I can't even run the bars on my road bike that low any more...