Worst MTB you've owned.
- MingtheMerciless
- Posts: 3554
- Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2020 7:42 am
- Location: Scarfolk on Sea
- Has thanked: 2942 times
- Been thanked: 1883 times
Worst MTB you've owned.
Following on from the worst motorbike you've owned thread, how about a worst MTB thread?
To start, my Rocky Mountain Element, in the last years of 26inch wheeled bikes I bought an Element frame, 120mm of full suss carbon goodness. I'd test ridden one and thought it was amazing. So I built the bike up as a custom build, it was everything you could want; fast, light and fun to ride.......until you got up to warp 9 and pedalling at ten tenths, then its evil side would show. It had "fashionably" low BB and it'd blow though its travel on a bump and if pedalling would strike and invite you to leave quite forcibly via the skylight. I had some huge off's before I worked out what was going on. I tried shorter crank arms to no avail so in the end it got pensioned off to the shed when I discovered 29ers.
I've had heavy MTB's (Marin Quake), twitchy MTB's (Trek 8500) but nothing beat the Element for its ability to throw me into the floor without warning.
To start, my Rocky Mountain Element, in the last years of 26inch wheeled bikes I bought an Element frame, 120mm of full suss carbon goodness. I'd test ridden one and thought it was amazing. So I built the bike up as a custom build, it was everything you could want; fast, light and fun to ride.......until you got up to warp 9 and pedalling at ten tenths, then its evil side would show. It had "fashionably" low BB and it'd blow though its travel on a bump and if pedalling would strike and invite you to leave quite forcibly via the skylight. I had some huge off's before I worked out what was going on. I tried shorter crank arms to no avail so in the end it got pensioned off to the shed when I discovered 29ers.
I've had heavy MTB's (Marin Quake), twitchy MTB's (Trek 8500) but nothing beat the Element for its ability to throw me into the floor without warning.
"Of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't?"
"My dear Doctor, they're all true."
"Even the lies?"
"Especially the lies."
"My dear Doctor, they're all true."
"Even the lies?"
"Especially the lies."
-
- Posts: 11234
- Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2020 6:40 pm
- Location: The road of many manky motorcycles
- Has thanked: 607 times
- Been thanked: 4124 times
Re: Worst MTB you've owned.
I've only owned two, a 2nd hand Carrera Vengeance that cost £70 and a brand new Haibike Hardnine 8.0, that cost £2.5K, the Carrera isn't as good as the Haibike
Honda Owner
- Ditchfinder
- Posts: 1124
- Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2020 8:55 am
- Has thanked: 621 times
- Been thanked: 692 times
Re: Worst MTB you've owned.
On One Inbred - one of the later versions. Don't know how they got the thing to weigh so much. Felt dead too - not a springy steel feeling in sight. Would barrel over rough stuff in a straight line but turning circle of tanker.
Also Trek VRX - the suspension on that thing - every pedal stroke seemed to extract maximum travel from the shock regardless of how much preload you wound on. Was also tall and short with a steep head angle so kept trying to kill you by tucking the front. I think I rode it three times before flogging it.
Also Trek VRX - the suspension on that thing - every pedal stroke seemed to extract maximum travel from the shock regardless of how much preload you wound on. Was also tall and short with a steep head angle so kept trying to kill you by tucking the front. I think I rode it three times before flogging it.
'07 Griso 1100 (for sale), '94 Sprint 900, the scabbiest Himalayan in the country
- weeksy
- Site Admin
- Posts: 23422
- Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2020 12:08 pm
- Has thanked: 5451 times
- Been thanked: 13087 times
Re: Worst MTB you've owned.
Commencal Super4. Snapped twice in 4 months.
Replaced by Evans with a Meta55 frame
Replaced by Evans with a Meta55 frame
- Mr Moofo
- Posts: 4620
- Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2020 1:41 pm
- Location: Brightonish
- Has thanked: 1829 times
- Been thanked: 1469 times
Re: Worst MTB you've owned.
Orange Patriot 66. Loved it at the time because I knew no better.
Frame so flexi it changed gear on its own ( I didn’t realise and changed the cranks, derailleur , rear hanger etc).
For a L frame incredibly short.
And very, very noisy - internal routing of cables in a Halifax filing cabinet was not the best choice.
And stick-on decals that scratched off in seconds - on a 2.5 k bike (in 2005)
Pedal induced bobbing was huge - it weighed a tonne, and I stopped riding it when I got a On-One 456 ...
Frame so flexi it changed gear on its own ( I didn’t realise and changed the cranks, derailleur , rear hanger etc).
For a L frame incredibly short.
And very, very noisy - internal routing of cables in a Halifax filing cabinet was not the best choice.
And stick-on decals that scratched off in seconds - on a 2.5 k bike (in 2005)
Pedal induced bobbing was huge - it weighed a tonne, and I stopped riding it when I got a On-One 456 ...
-
- Posts: 840
- Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2020 3:03 pm
- Has thanked: 2156 times
- Been thanked: 426 times
Re: Worst MTB you've owned.
That. I had a 26 version which built up really well and was a cracking bike. So I bought the 29 frame for my first venture into wagon wheeling - what a bag of shit. As you rightly say, ridiculously heavy and with none of that steel subtlety. It met it's maker in the most bizarre of circumstances as well - out on a ride and just got a branch flicked up between crank and frame, not something that should trouble any frame but oh no, completely bent out of alignment, to the point that I couldn't even singlespeed it up for the rest of the ride as the chain was always trying to ride up the cassette.Ditchfinder wrote: ↑Tue May 11, 2021 11:48 am On One Inbred - one of the later versions. Don't know how they got the thing to weigh so much. Felt dead too - not a springy steel feeling in sight. Would barrel over rough stuff in a straight line but turning circle of tanker.
Fortunately @Mr Moofo Moofo had the Cotic Solaris frame available that he felt was a little big for him (I'm slightly taller) and that built into a fantastic steely hardtail with all the plus points of that frame material and it's still going strong today.
-
- Posts: 2527
- Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2020 7:37 pm
- Location: Layer-de-la-Haye
- Has thanked: 2248 times
- Been thanked: 1242 times