Things which were made of cheese. The nightmare recalled.

[2manyoranges]

Goodness….we pushed things back then…and there were so many boutique companies and majors doing stuff without good R&D.

I remember things I coveted, then ordered and paid for….and which fell apart, or broke, or were just well below the level of promise….

Two stick in the mind…

Mavic Dakar cranks. Made of a soft alloy which meant they came loose every ride. Repeatedly. And if you tightened them they climbed up the tapers each time. I got used to carrying a large socket and allen key to tighten them. Then I got used to staring at them in the workshop after I gave up on them. Expensive mistake.

OnZa Mongo 1 headset. Ordered three. Absolutely useless. The steerer rocked whatever you did to it.
In the bin. Embarrassed that I had recommended it to a friend because the design looked right. It wasn’t. It was wrong. VeRy wrOng. (See what I did there).

 

[KermitGKona88]

Mk 1 X-lite bar ends, hardened steel bolt in a very soft alloy thread, tightened the first one up fine, the second one was still moving on the bar so just a little more... ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH...

Stronglight 2x9 ISIS chainset can't remember its name, and a Stronglight Twister Ti BB, it came with it's own self extracting bolts, first time I came to remove it the self etracting bolt rounded on the drive side then the retaining ring crumpled as I was trying to undo it, had to hack the whole lot apart to remove it from the frame...

 

[Roasted]

When I was building my first jump bike, the go to literature for all things MTB was MBUK. So I decided to use parts that MBUK rated 5 cogs, if it was good enough for them it was good enough for me.

The first was a RaceFace stem, can't remember the exact model name though. This was an innovative 3 piece design that looked sleek when compared to all the CNC stems of the time. The problem was it would creak like mad, and nothing would stop it. In the end I swapped it out for an Azonic World Force and gave the RaceFace to a mate, he also had the same problem with it as me. K9

The next was the DMR Jump Seat saddle. This saddle gradually folded itself in half, and I wasn't doing heavy landings. It only lasted a few months and by this time the saddle was so bent it was difficult to get it off the seatpost. Can't remember what I changed it for but I had no issues with it.

The last was the Mr Dirt Gizmo chain device. This was really useless at keeping the chain on. No matter what I did the chain still managed to jump off. Changed it for an MRP with no further issues.

This was a lesson to take magazine reviews with a pinch of salt, I believe they're often paid to give positive reviews.

 

[hamster]

Almost anything made by Nukeproof.
Shimano chainrings post 1993, made worse by going to smaller ring sizes which increased wear rates.
Avid V-brakes losing the little return spring lug.
USE Alien seatpost - once you tighten it to stop the saddle moving, it's about 0.0000001Nm more before the allen bolt rounds or strips.
Several ultra-light seatclamps (can't remember who now) bolts snapped.
Token bottom bracket: splines very shallow, and cups trapped water inside the bearings.

 

[greencat]

Sakae SR pedals. Lasted just 8 weeks. Eventually moved up to XT pedals - and after 5 years of hard riding they were retired due to cage damage. Now sit in my tool box - bearings still smooth.
200GS chain & cogs. Just six weeks before needing a replacement.
Numerous bottom brackets lasting less than 3 months. Again XT/cartridge bottom brackets was the way out of that nightmare.
Suntour SE brakes. Great brakes, soft aluminium arms with bolt for the cable that would all too easily thread.

 

[Thias]

- Ringle hubs
- The first series of Shimano 7speed shifters that came out after the thumbies.
- Basically all frames made from Easton lite aluminium tubes, like the Manitou FS...
- Hagan Titanal.
- The GT lts Thermoplast frames. So nice looking. But so fragile.

 

[ishaw]

Anything ringle was bad, kooka cranks as well, I'm sure other cranks were similar, Grafton spring to mind based in threads I've seen.

 

[Gtpulse]

ControlTech stem. Well this one anyway. Shouldn’t really complain it gave up a few years ago after 20 years of use. Tried to put longer bolts in to pick up the very end of the thread, got carried away and threaded bits that shouldn’t be.

 

[tintin40]

Any part with a low torque tightening setting for me. I just can't get it right. Otherwise I've been really lucky and had nothing that was really bad. Oh just remembered Mark 1 Rockox utter crap. Put me off suspension for life. So a good thing as riding rigid so satisfying off road.

 

[zetecmk2]

my mates raleigh activator was bad! and x-lite chicken stix, overpriced tektro but 5 grammes lighter!
and yes....my nukeproof front hub just split in half!