Strengths: Roll well, quietly, puncture-free. Grip is good.
Weaknesses: My wife wants a pair.
Overall: Put them in place of some Michelin 24 DH 2.5" tyres as 8 miles on road was taking over 60 minutes and my Ground Effect merino top was not wicking enough to deal with my sweat. Still the bike looks good (important), rides well (just as well), I sweat less (great!). Good choice.
Strengths: Great frame ready for upgrading (cheaper to buy a bike than the frameset). Quality wheels (as long as you don't want/need a bolt-through solidity). Workable components that won't spoil the fun. 1point5 headtube allows to fit Shermans (£100 from eBay), 200mm eye-2-eye shocks are dirt cheap (my TFTuned 4Way was £82), the frame is light enough to be an all-day beast, whilst riding some stupid downhills won't be too much either.
Weaknesses: Narrow bars, weak-looking stem, rubbish grips. Seatpost - too short on a medium for me (5'7"). The original air shock was not subtle enough for my liking, but I prefer coil anyway.
I bought mine from Leisure Lakes in a semi-built form. It needed a complete strip down and a rebuilt. The shop messed up the cable/line routing, and the headset was lose. Reacting to my complaint the shop said: THE CANNONDALE ISN'T THAT GOOD, YOU KNOW.
Overall: You can't deny the quality of the frame, the sanded welds and its straightness. Looking at the bike you begin to wonder why so many poorly finished bikes are more expensive. The bike should be looked at as a frameset with some extra bits for less money than the frame alone. Hence you can afford a custom for non-custom sums. I've found loads of great cheap stuff on eBay and the bike is as I want it for under £2k.
One thing needs noticing - fitting a pair of Blacks was impossible as the dials were hitting the downtube. Nixons, however, were fine. As are the Sherman Breakouts.
Strengths: Looks great in red. Looks fast in red. Looks quality in red. Looks "Lady in Red".
Fab geometry, stiff but not uncomfortable, rare round my area.
Weaknesses: Possibly the stickers, but as it's second-hand Iprobably would not pay any attention to this fact.
Overall: When I bought the frame with a Thomson seatpost, completeset of X7 gears and a HOPE clamp for just over £100 I could not complain. Will give it some good trashing next year, maybe new forks will happen? Overall, instead of a cheapie from Halfords (ehem) I have something to be proud of. It is so much better than my Transit (works and actually goes to places) I can't believe it took me so long to get one.
Strengths: Fit is wonderful, protection worthy of Durex, quality as high as I need, they wash (unlike my bike).
Weaknesses: WTF with those colours!?!? Mine are racing green with some black, white and ORANGE bits. Are we one of the German lands? I know the 80's are back.....
Overall: I wear them as and when needed - rough terrain or stupid cold. Work better than my Troy Lee's as they don't ride up my calfs, although they look rather "different". Picked up on eBay for £1.99 can't be bad, I suppose.
Strengths: Light, very light. Makes my life easier if I need to travel further afield. Handles 100mm forks without a single complaint. Precisely made to the point of being too precise (threads and the like).
Weaknesses: Unles you fancy a MTB BMX you'll need a rear disc mount. The older DS-1 doesn't have one. So it might be dear. The tyre clearance is small, but then how often do you really need a huge tyre? I run Tioga XC 1.95 without trouble, maybe if I had a DH 2.3 version it'd be an issue? Seatpost is said 27mm, mine is 27.2. Even better, just slightly inconsistent. Seriously, though, not much is wrong unless you expect features off a custom-built frame from it.
Overall: 14" frame in silver looks great, rides lovely and feels absolutely fine. It's a bit short for me at 5'7" but it should be expected, should it not? Bearing in mind that you can get all the gear made by Azonic for small money, why not? Overall, a very sound frame for a normal rider.
Strengths: Smooth shifting, long life-span, no need for tools to split. Besides, have you ever had a chat about a chain on a foreign trip to the mountains? Makes a great conversation topic.
Weaknesses: Doesn't clean itself, rusts if left outside for a week of rain, makes your bike oh-so-heavy - probably around 5 grams over PC89! Doesn't cost a bomb - no bling-bling factor for MBUK readers.
Overall: Bought one, fitted without a second thought, went for a long ride - 120kms in The Suddeten, hosed the mud off, repeat a week later, never looked back. No difference between the 59 and the 89. If its weight bothers you, shave your pubes - the weight advantage will be felt more. And you'll end up going out more as your other half will still be pissing their head off laughing. No doubt - the best chain for a regular rider.
Strengths: English resembling what I was taught at school - concise, careful and precise with what it wants to say. Quality photos and drawings. Meticulous attention to detail bordering on mad and ridiculous.
Weaknesses: Do I always need reminding London sucks when you're a mountainbiker? The pictures are way too good and beautiful. Kitch isn't featured nearly often enough - I'm short so he makes me feel less unusual.
Overall: Buy, read and judge for yourself. The lack of other disciplines is more than made up for by other titles - MBUK and DIRT namely. Read 3 days a week, every other day preferably, ride 7 days a week and you'll see no football/rugby/cricket/darts results for so long your favourite team will've changed players by then. Just try it, now!
Weaknesses: Difficult to get hold of cheap in your local bike shop. Need to use mail order.
Overall: Used them for years. For a change swapped for something dearer and... no difference. Great chain for an everyday normal biker who doesn't give one about 20gms weight penalty.
Strengths: They are really cheap an look great. It's easy to feed a cable through and they always seem to work 100 per cent.
Weaknesses: Extremely limited stopping power comparing to LX, let alone Hope Mini, modulation of poor quality, do not work as well as others.
Overall: Had a set of LX levers but had to change them due to my girlfriend's "They do not look nice!"-type comments and as I was giving her the bike I thought I'd keep the good stuff... They work but if you ride hard and still have V's you wanna be looking elsewhere. They do the job as long as you ride gently. And no, I did not try them with Avids, my brakes are LX with XT carts. Summing up, I WILL NEVER EVER BUY THEM AGAIN EVEN FOR MY COMMUTER. Too cheap and chearful for Shimano to work.
