Overall: Over the years I've been cycling, I keep on going back to MET helmets.
I've walked away from 3 decent crashes with wrecked helmets, but no serious head injury. The last of these was november 2004, and I am convinced that the 2001 Met parabelleum that I was wearing really saved me from serious harm.
The helmet itself after this crash looks fines, despite my balck eye & bruises to my forehead showing that the impact was significant. Obviously it has been replaced, and the newest equivalent for a road/MTB crossover rider like myself is the 5th Element. Same good fit, if the shape suits you, better vents.
Any helmet if vfm if it does the job, so describing this as pricey isn't really fair, its an investment.
Strengths: Its steel (did I mention that already), rsponsive, excellent geometry for all day & singletrack, lightish, steel.
Weaknesses: The name. Poor graphics
Overall: Probably my dream bike off the peg. Rides superbly, very, very springy & responsive. Looks subtle, plus slightly exclusive, not many to be seen
Weaknesses: The fabric around the drawcord ripped very easily on a pair that were only 2 weeks old, replaced by the shop but for a £45 pair of shorts the fabric needs to be a lot more durable than this.
Overall: Poor reliabilty & because of this poor VFM. Sorry Fox, these were the first fox clothing I bought, and they'll probably be the last.
Weaknesses: They can destroy rims in half the time of a normal pad, and peformance isn't that much different to Shimano pads. I did one 16 mile ride, and on the post ride clean discovered huge sgards of metal, from the rim surface, embedded in the block.
Overall: Sorry, can't reccomened these. Little different to Shimano, slightly cheaper, but with the potential to kill rims in an instant. Ive gone back to shimano pads as a safer alternative.
Strengths: Price. Milnes seems to sell a lot of stuff on Ebay, so £80 for the frame seems quite good VFM......
Weaknesses: Because it was an Ebay purchase, the sizing advice from the shop was a bit lacking. Seat tube maybe a little bit oversize, a 27.2mm seatpost is a sloppy fit, 27.4 won't go near it. Remains to be seen if this is a problem or not
Overall: Has built up into a good tourer/cross bike. Doubts remain as to the seat tube sizing, but the bike is rideable. Otherwise quality seems good.
Strengths: A budget HRM with some features of a more expensive set up. Works well, and isn't too big for use on smaller people
Weaknesses: Analogue chest strap, so some risk of interference, but this hasn't happened with mine yet
Overall: Good VFM, for £20 more go for the model up, with a few more features, or for a little bit less cash, go for the basic model displaying HRM only.
Strengths: Cheap, quite lightweight. Smooth action when fitted with goretex cables. Easy to adjust and set up. More power than V's, and consistent.
Weaknesses: Apparently needs a specific manitou adaptor that no-one stocks or can get hold of. Using the B4 adaptor means a 205mm disc is needed, which do exist, but again, are hard to find. Plus being a cable disc it does rely on some flex in the disc to allow both pads to hit the disc. Pad replacement needs the caliper to be dismantled, but this does allow regreasing of the internals. The adjusters on mine do work loose on rides, but are simple thumb screws so tweaks mid ride are very easy to do. Less powerful than the Formula B4 fitted on the front, and a bit grabby.
Overall: A cheap introduction to the joys of discs, but not without niggles. If you can stand the adjustment slipping during rides and have a bike with disc hubs, you can be set up for less than £100 front and rear. The feel at the lever with goretex cable is smooth, but the power is very on/off, leading to unintentional wheel locking. If your budjet can stretch to another £80 for £180 you can have B4 front and rear. Easy set up, bags of power, no adjustments to slip. Overall cheap, functional brakes, but with reliability and servicing issues
Overall: I'm new to full sus, the Spesh is my first FS bike, but I'm sold on the idea. Let down only by weight, compared to a HT, it does mean riding harder for longer, without the associated aches and pains. The componentry is good, I'm a manitou fan, so the SXR's are fine, if a little basic, while the LX/XT/avid's are nearly the same components as I chose to fit on my Marin HT. They do the job, no fuss, no bother. Not too sure of how cheap (and nasty?) the Spesh in house stuff is, but I rapidly junked the Ritchey post as single bolt posts just don't hold the saddle securely. Valu 5 at the December sale price of £899
Weaknesses: The clamp has sharp edges to put stress risers in your saddle rails, and eventually to break them.
Overall: Good design of clamp, let dowm by poor finishing of the edges. Use a fine file and ensure that the sharp edges are rounded off before fitting a saddle. This post is strong, but a lot of money. As a big rider, I need a secure saddle mount, and synchros gives that, but for the money, should be finished with more thought to the end use. I'm not dissing the product as within 2 weeks of buying a Spesh FSR the ritchey post went to be replaced by a Synchros, so both my MTBs have synchros posts at the moment. I'd like to give reliability 2 1/2, but can't.
