[Closed] Things that people say are great, but actually aren't.........

You do get to tell everyone you ride a fixie though. To some people, that’s priceless.

Fixed is fine for track ...

and that's it. You should try a "gentleman's adjustment" at speed on a fixie! Actually don't, it's unlikely to end well.

For me, and I realise this is going to wind some folk up, it's trail centres. I. Just. Don't. Like. Them.

I want to try a fixie now so to see if I can fart whilst riding it. I reckon I could.

I converted an old MTB to fixed gear for a while. Tried it off road, no way; it was actually quite a hoot as a training road bike with slicks. It was bloody hard work; single speed was easy in comparison. Agreed with a lot of what you've said though. Do *kind of* miss it.

Not a fan of trail centres either whitestone but then fortunate to be able to pick singletrack outdoors riding from the door. Others of my peers seem to never actually do any just riding a bike outside stuff..

Things that some people say are great, but actually aren’t great for everyone*

Gosh, where to start.
How about single chainrings.

*People are just weird, apart from you and I .
We are perfect.

For me, and I realise this is going to wind some folk up, it’s trail centres. I. Just. Don’t. Like. Them.

Amen brother. They're just sort of soulless.

I realise this is going to wind some folk up, it’s trail centres.

Nah, everyone says TCs are shit and they prefer the steep off-piste nowadays.

I secretly love a good TC now and then. But not a boring one.

As I've been beaten to single chainrings (except on a fixed wheel bike which are ace) I'll nominate...

Dropper posts

(expensive, heavy, ugly, unreliable)

Interesting - one of my mates won't shut up about dropper posts! - goes on and on about them, best thing since sliced bread etc.. mind you he says that about a lot of stuff that comes out - single speed, hard tail, full suspension, wider bars, bigger wheels -- that and "if I had to keep one bike, it'd be this one.." 🙂

Drop bars
Bikepacking

Dropper posts

I'd give up my front and rear suspension and my disc brakes before I'd forego my dropper. 😊

The graph!!!

I really enjoy my fixie. Been riding it for nigh on 15 years now I think, so its pretty instinctive. Does take some learning, and it is possible to fart and pedal, you just need to focus... Off road forget it - singlespeed is shite enough. Climbing is fine (within the limit of the gear), but I agree big descents are hard work. As a commuting tool though - ace.

Trail centres I agree with. I have Lady Cannings just up the hill from me - Blue Steel is just a nice trail, fair enough but I really dislike Cooking On Gas. Hated Leeds Urban Bike park, the one time I went there. Playpen riding of the worst kind. I can't believe the number of people who will drive (quite some distance) to Cannings and spend a morning lapping the place, when there's SOOOO much good natural riding around it.

Droppers posts you'll take from me over my dead body, and I think single ring is a massive improvement (outside of a pure tarmac context.

My nomination - drop bar gravel bikes. Flat bars at least mean you can make an attempt to ride off road properly, and IME there's very little in it on road.

He beat you to it there Colin 😊

He beat you to it there Colin

Yeah. My job here is done.

Bikepacking

It might be awesome but I have no interest whatsoever in finding out.

Maybe in another 10 years.

Dropper posts

(expensive, heavy, ugly, unreliable)

Do you ride any technical MTB? Have you owned any recent droppers that weren't Reverbs?

Trail centres - I lost interest when I tried one in Wales and saw all the PET drink bottles that mountain bikers had scattered beside the trail for the first mile out of the centre. Less than a mile later I got bored and headed off into the hills. Never been on a man-made trail since.

Trail centres – I lost interest when I tried one in Wales and saw all the PET drink bottles that mountain bikers had scattered beside the trail for the first mile out of the centre. Less than a mile later I got bored and headed off into the hills. Never been on a man-made trail since.

Could replace tc with local roads. Litter at side of roads, dull as ****.... 😂

Love a wee day at a tc, just canny be arsed wi the drive these days..

Sliced bread

You should try a “gentleman’s adjustment” at speed on a fixie! Actually don’t, it’s unlikely to end well.

Yarp. Did that twice on my track day at Lee Valley - still not sure how I didn't kill myself. Also the hilarity of 'stopping' after my first ever practice lap, and the instructor saying "its OK, you can try harder the next time round." it is a weird feeling!

I want to try a fixie now so to see if I can fart whilst riding it. I reckon I could.

Nope, I reckon the higher cadence (meaning the opportunity to relax at your preferred point in the pedal stroke is shorter), combined with the fact you have to at least soft pedal meaning you can't relax anyway means the only option is discomfort for an hour followed by an almighty release.

Group road rides, and road events.

The differences between any ride I've done in a group of people, and those I've done either alone or with up to three other fairly close acquaintances, are astonishing. Pretty much every group ride has featured at least someone in the pack getting into a shouting match with a driver, or in many cases worse. I've often stared open-mouthed in utter embarrassment at other riders trying to get themselves into some sort of fight, yet I've never had any of that in many years of riding solo or with one or two others.

I don't do it any more. I went through the phase of only doing them if good friends had organised them, to always hanging 100 yards off the back so I wasn't being passed by drivers who'd already been infuriated by the others, to just giving up on them altogether. There are so many ways in which a group—even a disciplined one—inherently can't avoid triggering idiot drivers and it's just not worth it.

TCs are great for a lower effort, relatively weather proof ride. If I rode my local OP trails now they'd be getting a trashing and / or I'd be getting killed to pieces by leaf covered death roots.

I'm going to nominate strapping stuff to your frame like tools and tubes and generally things that are better kept in a bag. It looks rubbish and you're probably going be carrying all the unstrappable things in a bag anyway, or not carrying what you need because freedom, minimalism and fashion.

bikes Made In Yorkshire.

Bez +1

Amature group road rides I much dislike. All that shouting 'clear' etc, the lead guy getting grumpy with 'lesser' riders, drivers have a greater dislike for you than riding solo. all that FTP talk, the lead guy's ego.
Many tell me it's great, but it's actually not.

SKY TV. It's expensive and mostly rubbish.

Graphs to illustrate a point nobody cares about.

Amature group road rides

They are clearly wound up.

VW's

Synthetic down jackets.

The Revenant.

Chaingangs?

I get bunch slipstreaming makes you quicker but put your safety in someone elses hands? Nope nope and thrice nope. I want a decent gap between me and any other vehicle

Non cycling

Friends / big bang theory or any other similar american programme - just awful

Jeans

They are either too hot or too cold, don't ever dry, have rubbish pockets, make you look fat unless you are a 17yr old, wear through quicker than anything despite having a 'workwear' history, fade, heavy, and usually scruffy. Why they became so popular I will never understand.

Alcohol.

Gravel bikes . They fill a niche that was already filled .

If I'm allowed 2 then Carbon bikes with holes in the frame to put your tools in .

You do get to tell everyone you ride a fixie though. To some people, that’s priceless.

This whole thread is, IMHO, a roundabout way of doing exactly that.

I found the problem with SS/fixie was that I broke so much stuff it never saved me money, and the breakages were more dangerous than stuff wearing out. Only threw me off into a hedge once, but could have been far worse if it had been at speed in traffic. You do get used to slowing on the gear and stuff though, and you will save pad wear (only need to brake when you're feeling lazy or it's quite urgent). You'll possibly master farting too, although you sort of have to let it out bit by bit in time with pedaling like when running. Adjusting gentleman's assets has to be done whilst stationary though.

I'm not sure I've ever tried something and found it utterly pointless though, not bike related anyway. Gogglebox is probably about as close as I get. It's kind of watchable, but I like to heckle my own telly, thanks.

Oh actually, "enduro"/DH tops with no pockets (except, I guess, for DH racing). I wish I'd learned to use pockets more when I was younger, it's surprising what will fit and stay in them, ancient roadies are onto a good thing and I could've used a backpack a lot less. The number of products which are basically back pockets (undrshorts and enduro bum bags, I'm looking at you) that aren't part of your top illustrates how crap the tops are (although I still wear one sometimes cos I take the back pack or just because loose stuff does kind of give a sense of a younger, simpler time wit more freedom).

Bikepacking... I quite like watching some of the films, but I've really no interest in strapping expensive bags to my frame and pretending to have fun after a day in that saddle trying to sleep on a slowly deflating air mat, freezing my nuts off after an undercooked boil-in-the-bag meal and crappy spirits drunk from a hip flask. There is more than a whiff of the hipster about it.

Short chainstays.

Bikepacking… I quite like watching some of the films, but I’ve really no interest in strapping expensive bags to my frame and pretending to have fun after a day in that saddle trying to sleep on a slowly deflating air mat, freezing my nuts off after an undercooked boil-in-the-bag meal and crappy spirits drunk from a hip flask. There is more than a whiff of the hipster about it.

Can totally understand why you wouldn't want to do it, but I love it - pub grub and chippies are available, I can't be bothered taking a stove much of the time, or will do a cheeky ride after work/dinner. When it goes right, it goes super right. It's not gone wrong for me yet... And I've spent minimal amounts on bags as I can't fit much in the frame or onto the dropper post :D.

I quite like trail centers, but it's a bit like comparing motorway driving and go-karting or track days. There's probably more corners in the first 200m of Swinley than in a 40 mile day out in the Lakes, OTOH I agree they lack any feeling of going anywhere.

I get bunch slipstreaming makes you quicker but put your safety in someone elses hands? Nope nope and thrice nope.

Says TANDEM Jeremy

Bikepacking

I think you have to find a point to do it, in it to see the point. Just going out from your door for the night is fun, doing a 200 mile loop (5 miles Friday night, 100 miles Saturday, early start and back for brunch on Sunday) feels like an adventure and you get to ride places much further from home.

Also like most things, good kit helps. My kit weighs a ton. I've only got one heavy sleeping bag, a mid weight bivi, quite a heavy mat, etc. It all works, but it's kinda slow uphill and very limited off road. A quilt, downmat, cuben tarp, lighter bivi, would halve the volume and weight and result in a ~30lb bike + gear.

 There is more than a whiff of the hipster abo

Whoopeee! Someone thinks I'm hipster and not just a tramp.

bikes Made In Yorkshire.

All of them or just Orange ones??

😂😂😂 at tinas

Carvery’s.....never enough meat, veg is always overdone....just not as good as a home made roast....

Scotroutes - you need to do something better with that beard to be a hipster.

Tinas - I am in charge of the tandem. SWMBO can only punch me in the kidneys not crash the bike

My daughter bought me a Beard Care Kit for my birthday

Curved TVs and / or 3D TVs

Both utter crap.

I am in charge of the tandem. SWMBO can only punch me in the kidneys not crash the bike

I was thinking more from her POV!

I quite enjoy it, makes a long 5+ hour ride fly by as you can alternate between socializing alongside the main 'line', take a turn at the front if you fancy a bit of a stretch, hide in the middle if you want a break, and all of a sudden you're reached a cafe 40 miles away without much perceived effort. And you don't get bad days, just sit at the back and get towed along. Riding in a less disciplined group you're all stuck riding at the pace of the slowest at different perceived efforts so the fit guy is bored and the slowest guy is busting a gut.

I have to say I've generally enjoyed owning and riding my fixed gear bike both with Drops and now with some risers, they're not universally capable and yes steep and/or long descents are their biggest challenge. But then it's not like you'd have one as your only bike is it?...

If you want "over-hyped", surely it's got to be Fat bikes?
They were The greatest bicycling invention ever for six months, all but vanished from most companies product line now...
You still occasionally see one trundling at half speed round some blue TC lines with superfluous dry bags strapped to the bars/forks.

I see the appeal Tinas - but what horrifys me is riding that close to other cyclists. I have on occasion let someone I trust sliptream me / us ( on the tandem you make a big hole in the air) but I will never slipstream someone else. to me its just not safe to follow somone that close.

It’s mostly all relative and personal

Gosh, where to start.
How about single chainrings.

I love both MTB and walking, for instance. Some hate walking.

single-speed for me = riding + walking. Depending on who I’m reading - some love it and many don’t love it. Some love it sometimes. But how about single chainrings? Without a single chainring I wouldn’t be able to single-speed. So they can’t be overrated IMO.

"Natural trails"

Rooty, badly built jumps, no flow, too steep/dangerous for mortals/people with jobs.

Films

My problem with walking is that it’s frowned upon to bring a bike for the fun bits.

Guy Martin.

You can not fart!

You bloody can.

I like it.

Britain

STRAVA

Cycling for fitness I don't get it, worse still is the hamster wheel in the garage linked up to loads more online for 'racing'. I prefer mtb to be all about the Adrenalin and getting outdoors, a by product is fitness but it's never the reason I ride....hence I now use an ebike 99.9% of the time 🙂

I can’t believe the number of people who will drive (quite some distance) to Cannings and spend a morning lapping the place, when there’s SOOOO much good natural riding around it.

Just because they are doing it that day doesn't mean they always do it. Cwmcarn is surrounded by great trails, but it is also great trails itself that are a bit different. TCs make sense if you smash it all the way round. If you bimble round say Swinley then yes it's dull. At warm speed it's exhilarating in a way that no natural trail is. And you can't ride natural trails the way you do TCs because there might be people, dogs etc.

Running

An absolutely abysmal way to spend your spare time

Primeval forest drums.

Drum n' Bassalt?

I can't understand fixie singlespeeds either, not for town at least. How in the hell do you set up a bunnyhop onto or off kerbs?? How is rear wheel braking safer in the wet compared to normal brakes?

Also, the lack of farting thing would be a breaker.

And you can’t ride natural trails the way you do TCs because there might be people, dogs etc.

To be fair at Swinley you still get all that crap, and people having picnics on the trail.

“Natural trails”

Rooty, badly built jumps, no flow, too steep/dangerous for mortals/people with jobs.

Not sure I agree, by the same token a trail center is just a load of jumps and smooth trails that encourage high speeds through smoother surfaces and lower risks but with higher consequences. Take the Army ranges and Gorrick courses around Swinley. Similar topography, but rootier and generally steeper as you say. But despite crashing a lot more I don't think I've ever come away with worse than cuts and bruises.

I can’t understand fixie singlespeeds either, not for town at least. How in the hell do you set up a bunnyhop onto or off kerbs??

That bit's easy, you just wheelie off.

Getting up kerbs is a bit harder, it's a bit like riding a step in a climb. Lift the front wheel over it then a little flick with the ankles to lift the back without stopping pedaling. I'm sure bunnyhopping is possible, it's just timing.

I learnt to ride a two wheeler when a sprog on an eccentric relative’s drop bar fixie. It was also far too big. It is a wonder I ever got on a bike again. It has left me with a fixie aversion but I am indifferent to TCs despite ( or because of )living on the next hill but one to Lady Cannings.

Heart rate monitors
I mean what is the point - If its working then great..if it isn't what are you going to do about it?

Heart rate monitors
I mean what is the point – If its working then great..if it isn’t what are you going to do about it?

A friend had one with two alarms, one was a warning to take it easy, the other paged the Dr! (he had a pacemaker).

SPDs on a mountain bike.

They just encourage poor technique and I'm not convinced they are actually more efficient

I like SPDs on my bike. Makes me feel more connected to it. Makes the trails come alive

Says TANDEM Jeremy

You're thinking of someone else, that argumentative tosspot was banned years ago 😉

I’m not convinced they are actually more efficient

Just being clipped to the bike, no, but having your foot in the optimum position every time, and generally having stiffer soled shoes (than flats) definitely help efficiency.

🙂

but having your foot in the optimum position every time

But is the optimum position the same position all of the time?

But is the optimum position the same position all of the time?

Probably (bearing in mind ~80% or more of any ride is probably spent going uphill where the optimum for anything is efficiency and power rather than any other consideration) but the quoted figure is a 15% loss in power through a squidgy rubber sole compared to a solid SPD shoe/cleat. When people talk about having to adjust their foot position it generally refers to flat pedals and the difficult in adjusting it when you get it wrong, spd's on the other hand give you almost zero friction float.

I know some people have played around with mid position cleats, but even with flat pedals I only move slightly back. Standing further forward just feels unstable because you ankles higher relative to the pedal (and effectively reducing the frames reach as well I suppose).

Oooh, where to start:
1x anything.
"Gravel" groupsets
1x gravel groupsets - in what world is this actually a useful combination of gears?
29" wheels
27.5" wheels
tapered headsets

And fwiw fixed gear isn't all that bad for bimbling around town. It's definitely an adjustment, but it's a fun way to ride, once you adjust your head in terms of how fast you'll go, your cadence etc

but it’s a fun way to ride, once you adjust your head in terms of how fast you’ll go, your cadence etc

So, the same as 1x then really?. The extra gears that 2x or 3x give is about as relevant to your average biker as the supposed 15% efficiency reduction the flat pedals suffer.

Coffee.

I went cold turkey nearly 3 years ago, having realised that I was basing a fair part of my day around its availability. I still drink the occasional cup, but being a non-addict gives you a surprising insight into the habit. 😉

Can’t believe that period are still moaning about dropper posts and 1x drive trains! Two of the best things ever as far as I’m concerned.

Turbo trainers are utter bobbins thought. Nothing worse than sitting and spinning and sweating your balls off and going nowhere.

At this moment I would say tubeless but maybe now was not a good time to ask 😉