Bike bad ideas
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
#2
Occam's Rotor
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 7,248
Mentioned: 61 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2366 Post(s)
Liked 2,331 Times
in
1,164 Posts
#4
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Sorry about the screwup. I didn't have the problem when I went to the site.
The Bicycle Museum of Bad Ideas
Why a museum of bad ideas? One reason is we learn from our mistakes. Failures tell us limits of what we can and should do. Unfortunately, we like to remember our heroes, but less often our villians. As example, Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst graduate thousands of students every year; they live everywhere in the U.S.; and when I ask, most folks have heard of Amherst. Yet almost nobody I ask knows Amherst was the guy who invented the idea of giving smallpox-laden blankets to native Americans. Bad bike parts do not compare to killing people, but there are still things to be learned.A second reason is it's fun. Sometimes the badness is obvious, and as you look in awe you say "What were they thinking?" Or, as I like to say, they were suffering from a misplaced comma: "What, were they thinking?" Some of these are fun like a knee-slapper. Other times, the badness is subtle and it almost seems it should have worked. These are fun like a puzzle. Occasionally you get a winner that combines the obvious and the subtle, like the Gipiemme Colrut Crank. Wow.
Many ideas are bad only in context. If your goal is to make the lightest bike at any cost, some "bad" ideas work well. The problem is using those ideas on ordinary bikes for ordinary riders. So, some things here are always bad, while others are here because they represent my personal bias about what makes sense. I hope you find humor in those, too.
- Bottom bracket standards: the great thing is there's so many of them!
- Highly-cantilevered frames — they're flexy and they break!
- CODA 502M crank — when a chainring wears out, replace the whole crank!
- Hi-E cassette hub: light, but skips under load, even when new.
- Gipiemme Colrut crank: A heavy, expensive, and unreliable way to build long toeclips.
- Interdrive crank: provides the energy-sapping effects of suspension "bob", but without the benefits of suspension.
- Mavic 571 Hubs — a reputation for ratchet failure.
- Mavic 631 "starfish" crank: weight savings lead to flex
- P.M.P. L-shaped "bent" cranks: two bad ideas in one.
- Roval Fusee Star wheels: cool look, but higher weight than other designs with similar performance.
- Shimano FC-E700 crank: Think non-round chainrings are funny? How about a non-round bolt pattern!?
- Or, how about bolt patterns that are round but drilled unevenly?
- Stronglight 23.15 mm crank extractor threads: how did they choose that size?
- Sweet Wings cranks tend to get loose and noisy, sometimes pretty fast.
- Winners roller-clutch hub: slipped when pedaling, stuck when coasting.
- Ye Oldde Pedal/Crank Joint Everybody uses it, how could it be a bad idea?
- Hi-E "Siamese" Spokes: If you break one spoke, it breaks another one for you! And, they tend to break.
- Sharp housing stops near your knees: making small injuries big.
- Campagnolo Power Torque: light, stiff, and... once installed can never be removed.
- 26" tires
- Velocity Cliffhanger rims
- Replaceable derailleur hangers -- it's not really replaceable if you cannot get a replacement.
- Hidden fender eyelets — it is well-hidden if they have any advantages for the rider.
#5
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4,655
Bikes: iele Latina, Miele Suprema, Miele Uno LS, Miele Miele Beta, MMTB, Bianchi Model Unknown, Fiori Venezia, Fiori Napoli, VeloSport Adamas AX
Mentioned: 16 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1324 Post(s)
Liked 927 Times
in
640 Posts
Privacy Error on every link.
Cheers
Cheers
Likes For hrdknox1:
#7
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 33,656
Bikes: '96 Litespeed Catalyst, '05 Litespeed Firenze, '06 Litespeed Tuscany, '20 Surly Midnight Special, All are 3x10. It is hilly around here!
Mentioned: 39 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2026 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1,095 Times
in
741 Posts
How about adding Campy's "Compact cranks" with the 110mm BCD, almost. Design it with one offset bolt to assure no other 110 mm chainring can ever be used.
#8
Bikes are okay, I guess.
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Posts: 9,128
Bikes: Waterford Paramount Touring, Giant CFM-2, Raleigh Sports 3-speeds in M23 & L23, Schwinn Cimarron oddball build, Marin Palisades Trail dropbar conversion, Nishiki Cresta GT
Mentioned: 69 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2647 Post(s)
Liked 2,445 Times
in
1,557 Posts
All 26" tires, or just some of the numerous with a 26 diameter designation?
#9
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Sherwood, OR
Posts: 1,279
Mentioned: 29 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 336 Post(s)
Liked 309 Times
in
180 Posts
The reason I totally understand. This is done for mistake proofing. Google “Poke-Yoke”. You can’t screw up the clocking of the teeth.
From Camry’s point of view, it protects them from “my shifting sucks, I get tons of chain skipping” complaints when people just clocked their rings incorrectly. Matched chainring sets are totally a thing with ramps in precise places to pick up a chain off of a tooth that is in a predicted location.