There are hundreds of road bike manufacturers out there, and this results in road bikes which miss the mark for a multitude of reasons. All of these reasons end up with the consumer being left with a product which doesn't deliver the correct amount of value or just has inherent problems with the quality of the build. Sam Gupta takes a closer look at some road bikes which just should not exist. What do you think about his choices? Can you think of any other bikes which shouldn't exist?
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00:00In a world where there are hundreds of road bike manufacturers, there will of course be some road
00:04bikes that may not meet the needs of the consumer. From odd spec decisions to bizarre views on
00:10pricing, I've pulled together a bunch of bikes that I wish just didn't exist.
00:20The same generation of bikes that enjoy integrated cable routing, disc brakes and
00:24fancy carbon shapes seem to have a few occupants that also play host to steering stops. If you're
00:31unaware, steering stops are a mechanical feature often found within the head tube of a bike,
00:36which stop the bars turning after a certain point. The theory is that by stopping the bars
00:41from turning excessively, you reduce the risk of causing damage to the brake lines and you also
00:47stop the potential of the handlebars to swing into the top tube. However, there is a reason
00:52why steering stops have been included on this list, and that's because I have seen multiple
00:58cases where the handlebars have been turned with such force that the steering stops have then ripped
01:04into the frame itself, essentially killing it. Now, this rarely happens through normal riding,
01:10but instead it can happen when the wind catches the front wheel when the bike is lent up and
01:15stationary, or when you're putting the bike in the back of a car and then the fork catches
01:20something or perhaps an overzealous mechanic may yank on the bar slightly too hard and cause some
01:25accidental damage. Happily, some bikes that did adopt steering stops are already starting to ditch
01:32them. For example, the fourth generation of the Cannondale Super 6 lost them after they were
01:37debuted on the third generation of the bike. Also, as integrated cockpits evolve and cable routing
01:43methods improve, the positioning of those hoses can be threaded in ways that mean that oversteering
01:49won't damage the hoses. My view on this is quite simple. Steering stops should just be a flash in
01:56the pan of road bike tech trends and hopefully in the next few years will eventually disappear.
02:01Too many bike frames end up having to be warrantied after innocuous accidents. I'm
02:06sure that when manufacturers start to realise how much money the steering stops are going to
02:11be costing them, they'll be as fast to remove them as they were to install. Certainly one innovation
02:17to forget. We recently made a video about the biggest false economies in cycling and in that
02:27video I discussed the recent upsurge surrounding the incredibly cheap bikes that can be found from
02:32big generic retailers. Now I'm sure to some those bikes do serve a purpose, especially for those who
02:39don't want to or can afford to spend any more money on a new bike. However, I'm a strong believer that
02:46you should spend that same amount of money but on a second-hand bike instead. You'll get something
02:51that originally costed much more and you'll be giving a bike that already exists a new lease of
02:56life. Should you have any issues, most bike shops will be able to help you out. I believe that these
03:02bikes are awful for the environment. Bikes are supposed to last for many, many years but the way
03:08that these bikes are constructed and the components that they're kitted out with mean that you're
03:13essentially buying a disposable bike and one which will only last for as long as the rider can bear
03:19to deal with its problems. In my opinion, these bikes should just not exist and we should all be
03:25buying second-hand bikes when we can, especially if monitoring cost is a large contributing factor
03:32to your purchasing decision. Right on the other end of the spectrum, we are now seeing bikes hit
03:41the market that seemingly cost more than the sum of all their parts. In my opinion, this is a pretty
03:48big problem. I think it also shows that the shop increases and prices are far outpacing the rest of
03:55the price increases that we're seeing in other areas of the industry and there are a couple of
04:00pretty high profile examples of this. First is the Cannondale Lab 71 Super 6 Evo. It retails at £12,500
04:09here in the UK but I've been able to create an equivalent build for £11,000.
04:16Unsurprisingly, there are some caveats to that price. Yes, that is by utilising the best prices
04:22that I could find all over the internet for all of the components. For example, I found the Dura-Ace
04:27groupset for £200 off at one retailer. Also, I didn't opt to spec the same wheels as the Lab 71
04:34stock build. Instead, I chose some Zipp 303S Firecrest which some may argue is actually a
04:41better wheelset. Also, I wasn't quite sure how much their Momo handlebars would cost so I went
04:47for an estimate and did a worst case scenario of £600. I did also factor in a £300 labour cost
04:54to cover the cost of having a mechanic build up the bike in its entirety. The Specialized S-Works
04:59Athos is another example. Here, I'm able to save about £350 over the cost of the stock build and
05:06it's worth highlighting that on this build, I actually spec some Zipp 353 NSWs which again,
05:13some would argue are a much better wheelset than the Roval Alpinist CLX wheelset that is found on
05:19the stock build. Also, I actually added in the Roval Alpinist integrated cockpit to really take
05:25the build to the next level. But if you weren't to upgrade the components and you were to mimic
05:30that stock build, you'd actually be closer to saving £1400. In the case of the Lab 71 Super 6,
05:38at full retail pricing of all the components, the build came in at £11,700 and that's still cheaper
05:45than the £12,500 asking price of the stock bike. So we really have to wonder, what are we getting
05:52for our money at this level? In the lower echelons, it is more like business as usual where
05:57the bike manufacturers are able to pull on their economies of scale and create bikes which we
06:03wouldn't be able to go out and create for less money. Perhaps even the bike manufacturers are
06:08struggling to buy things for the right price. We have no evidence to support this but it would be
06:13one explanation as to the obscure situation that some top end bikes have found themselves in.
06:19While I'm sure that there will be plenty of comments surrounding the fact that brands are
06:23just charging silly money for the sake of it, and you may well be right, I wouldn't be surprised
06:28if they need to sell at those levels just to maintain the margins that those products need
06:33to achieve to make them commercially viable. You cannot forget and disregard the impact that
06:38Covid, Brexit here in the UK and shipping issues will have had on the cost of some of those
06:43products. Pair that with a struggling world economy and you can have a little understanding.
06:50Plus, if there are customers out there who want to buy those bikes, who are we to stop them? While
06:54I understand that there could be reasons outside of the control of the bike brands meaning they
06:59have to charge such high prices, I don't think I'll be a customer for a bike that I know I can
07:04build up for less money and also enjoy the ability to spec some of my own parts.
07:14As I'm sure a lot of you know, not all bikes are created equally. Some are created by artisan
07:20frame builders who can spend weeks creating a bike which has been handcrafted to perfection.
07:26On the other end of the scale, we have bikes which maybe haven't quite seen that same level of care
07:31and attention. Much like my issue with bikes that are too cheap, bikes which are created without
07:37the appropriate amount of due care should not be hitting the market. They will always have
07:42inherent problems because if strict manufacturing tolerances aren't adhered to, the components that
07:48then get mated to that frame will never operate as they should. Happily, frame facing, which is
07:54the process of removing excess material from a frame to ensure that a flat surface is achieved,
08:00is something that can be done by most mechanics. Frame facing is something that's actually really
08:05important to do anyway because it ensures that when bottom brackets, headsets, brake calipers
08:11and the like are bolted to a frame, they are mated to a perfectly flush surface. Also,
08:17the process of re-tapping threads is something which can be done after a frame has been built
08:22if needed. But if the bikes have deeper, less rectifiable problems, that's when things get
08:29serious. The bottom line is when considering the energy and materials required to produce a bicycle,
08:36manufacturers should be ensuring that it does not go to waste.
08:45I love riding on semi-deep carbon wheels for so many reasons. They look good, they're generally
08:51pretty light, they sound cool and of course they help you go everywhere faster. It's rare for a set
08:58of these wheels to actually make the experience of riding your bike any worse. However, these tend
09:04to be wheels that you upgrade to, rather than having them on your bike from stock, unless you're
09:10spending a pretty serious amount of money. My issue lies in the bikes that come with alloy
09:15deep section wheels and I can understand why the brands want to fit those wheels to stock bikes.
09:21I'm sure that the brands would argue that the profile of the rims do offer a speed advantage
09:26over box section rims and I'd be inclined to agree with them. I'm sure that they also fit them so
09:32that the much larger tubes of a carbon bike don't look quite so unbalanced and odd against the wheel
09:39choice. And of course, by fitting alloy wheels they can sell the bike looking as they want it,
09:44but offer it at a more affordable price. And some may see this as a pretty fair exchange.
09:50For example, Oro sell the Venturi Evo in a 105 specification with Fulcrum DB800 wheels. And
09:58it's hard to deny that on the face of it, the bike does look fast. But to be honest, I would
10:04rather opt for a box section rim as it will be lighter and more practical in the short term
10:09before I have the chance to upgrade the wheels to something that I really want. Plus the extra circa
10:15300 grams that you'd have to carry around just to have something that numbs the ride and is harder
10:21to spin up just isn't a good trade off. Happily though, wheels are easy to change, so the problem's
10:27never terminal. Let me know down below what bikes or trends do you wish didn't exist? I've no doubt
10:35it's going to get pretty feisty down in the comments section. If you enjoyed the video,
10:39then please do drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for more content and I will see you again
10:43very soon.