6 pages! Do I get to claim this thread as my own as it's the longest thread I've ever instigated, even if I didn't initiate it!
As far as keeping quiet when a bike is posted that I don't like, I don't think I have ever posted a derogatory remark about someones bike on a thread that they have started (well, possibly with the exception of LGFs 'yellow peril', but that was horrible). I saved it all up for a funny thread in the back end of this site and expressed my views only when asked and only after others had plied me with virtual alcohol. I have no shame about what i said, I stand by every word. It is my view, not that of the site, not one that I will expect others to change to in the same way that others won't change me to theirs
Lets not muddy the water by getting into a 'bike snob' argument though, this is a 'shite bike' thread! There are so many great cheap bikes out there, as I said earlier in this thread - why buy a BSO when you can buy a Stumpjumper or Clockwork for the same cash. If a bike was considered shite 20 years ago then 20 years of sitting in a garage will not have changed it. If a bike was great 20 years ago then it will be iconic today. That is what I thought this site was about, a celebration of what was great in MTBs not a smoke-blow about anything old.
It's not snobby, elitist or arrogant to say that a gaspipe bike with Chi-lee brakes and sub tourney parts is shite. Sure to someone with no interest in the sport or with no care for quality, design and manufacture then it is a great little BSO, an object to get from a to b. To anyone with an interest in the sport, who rides or who stares then it is just a shite BSO. Even the poorest retro biker should not aspire to one of these. People may want one for sentimental reasons but that does not detract from the fact that it is not rare, not historic and is nothing more than white dog shite.
My point is if you have the knowledge then you are able to buy all manner of great things at low prices ,if you had the chance to buy a ferrari at focus prices you wouldn't say no for fear of being called elitist, would you? Look at my bikes, many cost very little: the fat ti that was a swap for an old San Andreas, the Bradbury Manitou that was a bargain on ebay. All about being in the right place at the right time and knowing your onions? My worry is that if no one is ever critical and knowledge is never shared then how are new members every going to know the great stuff that's is out there from the BSOs that appear on eBay?