What Equipment Not to Buy

[Zakalwe]

I bought a bearing puller, it was only 40 quid I think. Only used it once to test it, put the same bearings back on the spindle because they were fine, and they’ve been fine since I installed the cranks in 2011

[LeDuke]

Enduro XD-15 bearings. Service is terrible and they left me hanging for months after promising to send me a wavy washer for Sram GXP cranks. The actual bearings couldn't last a year of light mileage and dry road usage, making it the most useless thing I've ever bought.

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Weird. Mine have have three plus years of MTB use. To include countless stream crossings. Heavy use, including a fair amount of “pro” XC racing.


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[Calnago]

Which BB is this particular proprietary tool for then? Clue; it’s not a campagnolo product

I know! I know! I use that tool for mashing potatoes. My kitchen and garage often cross paths. I have ground the edges of fine butter knives for scraping glue off tubulars. But the potato masher from the garage made up for it.

And I have the lost overtorque tool being discussed. But who cares, since they don’t make overtorque anymore anyway.

But yeah... nest level stuff going on here.

[none]

I've put about 6k miles on a pair of Novatec hubs, Chinese carbon wheelset, 4 sets of tires, still true & round every time I replace the tires, zero problems..

[tommasini]

Dura Ace 9000 and 9100 11 speed cassettes

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=118879&hilit=broken ... e&start=15

I second that (what not to buy) - plus those brittle dura ace crank arms...both of which could land you in the emergency room.

And how about Zipp rear hub bearings and their added lack of sufficient wheel stiffness, poor bracing angle on Enve built wheels, Mavic wheels (freehub bushings and poor build quality) electronic derailleur commands that fight us to no end, 1st generation sram red flexy front and wear-out-in-no-time rear derailleurs, plus sram etap due to their battery tabs, disk brakes that rub and rub and don’t offer any benefits to the majority of road cyclists, plus tires that blow off the rim, pedals that squeek till the cows come home, pedals that wear quickly leading to much rocking, pedals with crap bearings, ISP seat tubes (glad thats dead), don't buy bikes/parts that come with aero claims that don't seem to match up to real world outcomes....and don't buy anything again that isn't exactly the specified weight.........

[ParisCarbon]

In 30 years of racing Ive had 2 pieces of equipment cause nightmares
1) Mavic freehub bodies.. the teflon washer/seal in the back always seems to wear out and I get play
2) Cannondale BB30 system.. eventually had to go with a BBinfinite to shut it up

And the biggest problem I had with a groupset.. 9070 Di2 on my Tarmac..now replaced with Super Record EPS...
Still running the Di2 on my Shiv TT bike, that setup has been flawless.. there was just something up with the tarmac groupset ..
Always been a Campy guy personally, tried the Di2 because of wanting electronic and reading how great Di2 was... both my new SL6 and Venge are impatiently awaiting EPS 12..

[robertbb]

So you're saying Di2 not as great as you thought?

Anyway, my 2c for equipment not to buy: any wheel with fat aluminium spokes, including Shamals. Just say no.

[3Pio]

So you're saying Di2 not as great as you thought?

Anyway, my 2c for equipment not to buy: any wheel with fat aluminium spokes, including Shamals. Just say no.

I have Shamal wheelset (C15), and in LBS often i comment that Zonda's are better wheelset... My arguments are less crosswind problems, probably more comfort ride, and easier to service... But the weight difference between them is around 50-100 gm which is detectable on the wheelset depend where is the weight.. In Case of Zonda vs Shamal, if this is weight difference is in hubs, probably wont be detected in the ride.. But if this weight is on rims (which is not here, since i guess are almost same), or on spokes, maybe it can be detecetable on climbs...

Interested to see ur opinion about this

[TonyM]

For me in the last 30 years....
- Lenticular wheel: only a few use because of too often crosswinds
- Spinergy wheels: too heavy
- Leightweight wheels: too sensible and aero as a brick

[kgt]

? Is this the most irrelevant thread ever ?
At least rename it to "What Equipment you did not like"

[robertbb]

So you're saying Di2 not as great as you thought?

Anyway, my 2c for equipment not to buy: any wheel with fat aluminium spokes, including Shamals. Just say no.

I have Shamal wheelset (C15), and in LBS often i comment that Zonda's are better wheelset... My arguments are less crosswind problems, probably more comfort ride, and easier to service... But the weight difference between them is around 50-100 gm which is detectable on the wheelset depend where is the weight.. In Case of Zonda vs Shamal, if this is weight difference is in hubs, probably wont be detected in the ride.. But if this weight is on rims (which is not here, since i guess are almost same), or on spokes, maybe it can be detecetable on climbs...

Interested to see ur opinion about this

I just sold my Shamal C17's - got a good price, so very happy.
I agree with you - they handle poorly in crosswinds. And I find that with the fat spokes and massive nipples they also seemed to "top out" with speed. Zonda's may be slightly less stiff laterally, but they make up for it in handling and in ability to hold speed when going fast. Weight wise, between the two pairs I had:

Zonda C17 = 1535g (rear: 857g, front: 678g)
Shamal C17 = 1466g (rear: 828g, front: 638g)

69 grams difference. I'd suggest a lot of that is in the hub which is solid alloy on the Zonda and carbon (only the hub body) on the Shamal (flanges are alloy).

On sum of all parts, Zonda's win hands down - far cheaper too. Bearings are excellent.

[Kayrehn]

? Is this the most irrelevant thread ever ?
At least rename it to "What Equipment you did not like"

Perhaps "What equipment failed for me", but this thread need not be irrelevant. Might not be universally true for all users of the equipments mentioned here, but I still find it interesting to read about experiences.

Have to agree the initial Campy hate isn't very relevant though, and regarding the lenticular disc wheels, perhaps someone living in a less windy place will find it manageable to use?

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[L3X]

From a more general point of view, in my opinion:
1. Don't buy anything that you can't service by yourself / need crazy expensive tools for (excluding shocks and other obvious things)
2. Don't buy anything that has a reasonable body of poor reviews
3. Don't buy anything that's just a straight up scam (just search this forum on certain brands...)
4. Don't buy anything that you don't like visually
5. Don't buy anything that you really can't replace when you crash it
6. Buy equipment from companies you have good experiences with and therefore trust when you need it most (i.e. my experience with BBB has been terrible, so thats never on my list again)

That's usually my list of things I keep in mind before picking new parts.

[rajMAN]

Been riding 29 years - would only buy Campagnolo. (and only ever will)

Anything else?

[RTW]

From a more general point of view, in my opinion:
1. Don't buy anything that you can't service by yourself / need crazy expensive tools for (excluding shocks and other obvious things)

I own a car. I own a stove. I own a boiler. I own a television. Etc Etc. I don't agree with this. Even on a bike. There is nothing wrong with not having the mechanical skills.

2. Don't buy anything that has a reasonable body of poor reviews
3. Don't buy anything that's just a straight up scam (just search this forum on certain brands...)
4. Don't buy anything that you don't like visually

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say challenge yourself a bit more. There are some great products out there which may be challenging aethetically, but are actually superb and you will grow to love.

5. Don't buy anything that you really can't replace when you crash it

Go on.... live a little. It is fun. Buy something expensive. If you crash it, enjoy having owned it. You don't have to be able to replace it straight away / at all, but you will have had the original enjoyment that you will otherwise miss out.

6. Buy equipment from companies you have good experiences with and therefore trust when you need it most (i.e. my experience with BBB has been terrible, so thats never on my list again)

That's usually my list of things I keep in mind before picking new parts.

I'm not having a go at you. I just used to be very similar, but then opened up a bit and enjoyed things a bit more.