Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Quality vs.Quantity

http://www.vitalmtb.com/news/press-release/Santa-Cruz-Syndicate-Thanks-SRAM-for-8-Years-of-Support,459

So Sram lost one of the biggest marketing tools they had.Well,one of the biggest in my little world of DH,anyway.I'm glad they lost the foothold they had with the Syndicate."Why?" you ask me.I hate Sram.Plain and simple."Well,why do you hate them?".Why...here's why,I feel like Sram is single handedly bringing down the quality of bicycle components.Example one would be any brake under the banner of Avid.I'm constantly seeing these things come through my doors leaking,not holding a bleed,or just down right feeling like shit.No matter what you do to them,they'll return in a timely manner with either the same issue or a whole new boat of problems.Not to toot Shimano's horn anymore then I already am but i've been on the same pair of Saint brakes for nearly 4 seasons now.They've been on 4 different bikes,2 seasons of DH,2 seasons of trail bike duty.2 bleeds and a set of pads is all they've asked for in all that time.And mind you i'm an overweight hack who typically is a passenger on his bike.So they've seen plenty of rotor-turned-blue runs at Northstar and over braked steep sections on my trail bike.

Example number 2 would be pretty much anything under that ever known red and black logo of Rock Shox.Semi open bath damping?Really?It's fucking 2012 and your flagship DH fork still uses this?Fox has this shit down.Seperate the damping oil from the bath oil,keep contaminates out of the internals,and specially formulate certain viscosities of oils for both.Instead of adding an elastomer cone on a dial to the bottom of your fork and calling it "bottom out control",create a cartrage damper,quit using oil seals,and add more bath oil.Also,the Reverb is something else huh?Already on revision number 3 and the thing has been out for just about a year.No matter what you do the main air seals are still blowing,people are still ripping the barb off,and they still need bleeds at random intervals.Scrap that turd and let Gravity Dropper do what they do best.Make the everlasting gobstopper of seat posts that go up and down.

And we reach example number 3,the ever lovely products of the company people can't pronounce right most of the time,Truvativ.From the wallowed out left side crank arms,to the oddly shaped Boobar,to the $20 stems.It all sucks.Howitzer BB's?Come on...those are a joke right?You made a BB and crank arm set that rivals the weight of most boat anchors yet has the durability of most bruised bananas.Finally example number 4,the house branded products of Sram.The drivechain.I really don't know what peoples obsession with this shit is.Personally,I couldn't keep a chain in one piece and if I did she typically reached the great 1.0mm mark in the sky far before anyone elses offering.Shoddy knuckle bushings in any level of their derailers kept me from down shifting when I wanted to.Now,not to toot the Shimano horn again,but i've had the same Saint derailer getting it's teeth rattled out from being bolted onto the back of my DH bike for 2 seasons.3 seasons on my hardtail...with both shifters going on a record 4th season this year.Not to mention the loud and usually extremely flexy cassettes Sram puts their name on that keep me from up or down shifting.

I just hope people will finally pull themselfs out from the warm,cuddly blanket that is the Sram warranty department and step barefoot onto the cold wood floor that is constantly having to have your bike down for a week or 2 multiple times a year and realize that their products are shit.Absolute shit.

1 comment:

  1. HAAAAAATER, FULL SRAM on my bike 0 problems, 0 juicy bleeds in its 3 year life, 0 x9 derailleur breaks, 0 x9 shifter breaks, and never a chain break. So i highly suggest you pull shimanos head out of your ass and try some new parts you ignorant jerk.

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