Strengths: route guides every month, some of the interviews are good (mert lawhill made this months worth buying) hardly any famous DHers or freeriders in it!!! big plus. however what mountain bike also pulls this off quite admirably.
Weaknesses: biased reviews!! let me quote, "the bonty is the heaviest post tested this issue" however they forget to mention that the only other 4 seatposts that they tested were carbon fibre £80+ while this was a ritchey for £25. it isnt as funny as MBUK, and the letters are not at all up to the standard of the idiots that write to MBUK. (someone at school got a letter in once july of june issue last year, nik ball. oh how we laughed) the bike tests are not that good, and the conclusions they come to could be reached by just looking at the bikes. some of the interviews are pants.
Overall: well, if we had the picture captions from mbuk and the routes from mbr (not forgetting mint sauce) and mixed them up with what mountain bike, it would be a good magazine!! but as it is mbr is pants. occaisonally its worth buying, but dont subscribe unless someone else is paying, or you read newspapers like the sun.
Strengths: um, everything? This is a truely excellent piece of hardware. Ignore what people tell you about it being "just the same as the deore mech but 3g lighter" because it is blatently not. It shifts incredibly smoothly, you hardly have to move your thumb, great if you are lazy. like me. It was also incredibly easy to set up, although this might have been a bit of a fluke, but i thought these were supposed to be evil to set up? It is also fairly light and will work when combined with Deore kit, which is could, cos that is what I have got. Also, it looks good in silver, which is good.
Weaknesses: Since there are so many different types, (clamp diameter, top pull/convential, top swing/bottom swing) sometimes shops wont have the one you want in stock. and it will invariable be the one that you want that they dont have, so phone them up first. i ended up getting mine off the internet after doing the tour de bike shops. it was also slightly expensive seeing as I had to pay £4 postage and packing from wiggle, but buy it from a shop and you should be OK. other than that, i havent found any faults yet. apart from the fact it doesnt say XTR on it, but that high quality paintjob is another, what... dont know, but too damn much whatever!
Overall: This a well made, good looking front mech that looks like it will easily outlast my pantsy deore one. It feels nice and solid when you are shifting and shifts are accurate, fast and crisp up and down. no fiddling about trying to push the lever that bit further to get onto the big ring then. It also made me stop thinking about converting to singlespeed, which the deore one was doing quite competantly. I think this is probably the best mix between performance and price for most serious mounatin bikers, as XTR is just a rip off, and deore is a bit chunky/workhorse.
Strengths: it strong!!! its nice and tough and heavy. The rotation is quite good but it never seems all too tough. but nothing has happened to it yet! its also relativly cheap, although its still quite an investment just to hold your bike up. the clamp is easy to use. height adjustment for midgets or if you are just so lazy you sit down to fix your bike.
Weaknesses: The clamp doesnt clamp down enough!!! I have a skinny steel frame, but you would have thought minoura would have made it go down far enough. but this is easily solved with a few dirty rags taped round the clamp. Sometimes it can be a bit unstable when your trying to get something a bit stiff off, but then so is the £150 park one at the local bike shop.
Overall: a well made stand that will probably outlast you, with a few minor flaws.
Strengths: Light Light Light. Smooth action and lots of adjustment including negative spring. not as flexy as is claimed everywhere. if this is your concern about buying one, dont worry. Silver color is quite sweet.
Weaknesses: only 80mm of travel. a bit of noticeable fore and aft flex, but only when riding into something with a square edge. i think disks might cause it to flex more but i dont know. They are also quite expensive, but this is really not an issue since they are 2002 forks and you will only buy them in sales and second hand. mine were £300 from merlin cycles.
Overall: a great fork, get them quick before there all gone!
Strengths: small brand! light! steel! 853! Red! Thin (anorexic, but dont worry) it is fast and skinny, and light. makes a great, cheap(ish) xc bike. looks great in crazy red with no gussets and neat welds. strong steel (been dropping off stuff, nothings gone twang yet) and ring reinforsed head tube. disc mount and line guides!
Weaknesses: you could peel off the paint steel rusts, waxoyl essential if you have to buy it with rigid forks (like i did cos i couldnt afford suspension), get suspension as soon as possible, it makes all the angles nice, but a minor quibble the climb it control on my sids catches the down tube
Overall: nice balanced ride, steely, the envy of all my friends who ride production bikes, and people have been known to ask if it was a custom build. definatly buy a FULL set of protection from cable rub, chain slap etc and waxoyl, because the paint rubs off very fast - i thought i wouldnt bother but it was a mistake.
Strengths: light, plush, lots of tweakability lockout is very cool. stiff enough for me, but you can notice a bit of flex with the lockout on, and the pads rub against the rim.
Weaknesses: I only get about 70mm of travel, expensive.
Overall: great great. If you can afford them, buy them, but not if your over 12 stone.
