I'm a lucky guy! My 45 year old Dave Moulton still ticks the boxes. If you're looking for notoriety, just take one of these on a group ride! Yesterday I took it on a solo ride on what has been dubbed the "Beirut " course. What an eye opener. You couldn't do better. The 8 speed bodged 14x25 fitting perfectly onto 126mm dropouts. The '74 Nouveau Record derailleur shifted beautifully. The position with modern shallow drop bars is spot on. The saddle height is perfect since I knew something when I was 20! Still can make those my age look slow when riding the latest creation !

WTF I Don't even get a mention! Alert... 5YO having a tantrum. The self proclaimed king reaming.

Great video, honest and to the point, as usual. Love Conti GP, but I agree with your comment, 5000s wear out way too fast, almost twice as fast as the very missed 4000s. Glad to see Mason on your recommended list, but soooo expensive. Been looking at their titanium Aspect for a build and dear God, too rich for my pocketbook. Always have been loyal to Shimano, but their Di2 stuff doesn't make sense when factoring functionality versus cost. SRAM seems like the way to go. Keep the videos coming, watch every single one!!! 👍

This is excellent. It’s obvs very hard for a bike retailer to be so honest and genuinely critique products. As a very regular rider who is retired I like the emphasis on things that last and tool recommendations to enable the home mechanic.

Love your videos. Honest and to the point. Keep them coming. As for tyres, the new Specialized S-Works Turbo 2bliss T2/T5 are really really good and cheaper than anything else out there. I’ve got wheels with GP5000str (fantastic in nearly every way but fast wearing), Pirelli P Zero Race TLR (bombproof but not very fast or comfy), Schwalbe Pro One Addix TLE (used to be the bench mark but dodgy QC lately) and the Turbo 2bliss seem to be the best of everything.

My best investment this year is a HAMBINI BB!

"Cheap but not shit." A ringing endorsement! :-) If I were the marketing guy at Clark, I'd use that for my slogan.

Sturdy Cycles. Absolutely killing the custom game.

Really excellent video! Much appreciate all your effort. It's nice to see that a mechanic perspective is mostly different from those guys who are doing just normal reviews of bikes and products, but actually never "look under the bonnet". As for tires, I accidentally got Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite, so I decided to give them a go (because Pirelli were quite expensive) and they appear to be very bombproof. Survived many cuts, glass and brambles. I did so far around 700 miles with them so I can't tell more about their long term durability. But very good dry/wet grip. Just probably not as fast as Pirelli. Still miles better than my previous Hutchinson.

Echo the wera thing. Learnt about them a few years back from a mate who’s a plumber. Got some colour coded Allen keys with a ball end on one end. Awesome. Mini socket kit great too. A bit dearer but worth it

Could not be happier with my 2022 Canyon Endurace CF SLX 9 Di2 - high quality and a real steal for the price.

As someone who’s buying a mason (when not many people have heard of them let alone seen one ) I was thrilled to see them on your list!

Brilliant video this is the sort of thing we need!!. Well done it helps us make the right buying decisions at a time when due to the price of things many of us can not afford to make mistakes thank you.

My award goes to Schwalbe Marathon Winter Performance Rigid MTB Tyres (200 ice spikes), got me to work over black ice at -7 celsius this morning.

Best bike for me this year was a 1969 Jonny Berry all original just needed strip, clean and replacement of tyres and inertubes classic handmade in Manchester

Love these chats, refreshing stuff as opposed to blowing smoke as some other channels do.

Interesting comment about the Reverb not getting there yet. I've had a Reverb Stealth C1 for 2 years now and it's been absolutely perfect. It's still overly complicated and I wouldn't buy one new - I got it with a bike but It's been pretty good and home serviceable.

Really good video. I'm critical about a lot of them but this one was very good and helpful. I have too much to comment on this one so I'll just keep this brief. Again, nice to hear both how you classify some brands and also hear why. That helps us as consumers to get past just the pure marketing that the manufacturers put out. I purchased a Cinelli King Zydeco but I'll have to sell it because I don't have the money to build it up. I can say that it's a really nice frame. I've been looking at cinelli for a few years now and in my opinion they offer a lot for the money. Not crazy expensive and a good value. I would recommend them and also I love that they keep making the classic steel frame. I wish more manufacturers would do that. (Do you hear me pinarello? I loved mine from the '80s). So I'm presently building up a 20-year-old bianchi titanium that is in perfect condition. I wanted to go electronic but it was just too expensive so I got some great deals on campagnolo 12 speed. I usually only go campagnolo because of a very positive experience I had with them in 1981. I'm pretty loyal to the brand. I think if one is going to do Shimano electronic personally I would only buy it on a pre-made bike. It seems to be really difficult to figure out exactly what one needs if they want to build it up themselves. That's where SRAM wireless comes in. It seems to be brilliant and easy to set up. I actually would have passed up the campagnolo and gone for it but it was a little bit out of my price range. But now all of a sudden it is on sale and I could have gotten it instead of the campy. I would go that route if I could choose again. Oh, and about look. I had one and they are just so quirky. Brilliant engineering and really cool designs but I think they can be a nightmare to build up a frame on ones own. Again, a brand that I would buy the factory assembled bike. I too was surprised at the prices since they seem in the past to be a little too much. Oh, and I would love it if they came out with a La Vie Claire steel frame also. For those of us who look for bargains on the used market, it would be nice to know which previous generations of components were good and which ones we should pass on. I had the first generation look pedals when they came out. With double toe straps I never came out of my toe clips, but in a big sprint my foot popped out of the look and almost caused me to have a serious crash and take a lot of people down. I swore I would never use look again and I never have. Time always worked really great for me. I just got a pair of the series 10 for a bargain which I'll put on my new bike. Curious to see how they will be. And their frames seem to be fascinating. The Angles and dimensions would be perfect for my body. I would seriously give them a look if I had the money for a new frame. Well, those are my thoughts and experiences. Thanks for this video. It was very good.

Great video. For Time - I ordered a rim brake AdH21 frameset in august this year via the uk rep, he organised it all and it had to come from the States in the end. But from day of ordering it was on my doorstep within 7 days (incl a weekend). Turned up perfect.

Great list + continued honest content. Magura make nice brakes but would disagree that they are leading the MTB brake market. They make a great brake but had some flaws (like any other product). 1, they have a very tight pad clearance tolerance so prone to rub 2. their bleeding process isn't as foolproof as some others (prone to air being trapped in their levers) and 3. Their brake levers a plastic. There's a reason why the Shigura mod is so popular (Shimano Levers x Magura calipers). They make a great brake at the moderate to premium range, but if you your brakes to have decent modulation then Hayes Dominions, SRAM CODE RSCs, Hope Tech 4 are all equally priced and outperform Maguras. If you just want raw stopping power then Formula Cura 2's with their oversized pistons are almost half the price of an MT7s and are very similar in grunt for a lot less money and none of the sticky imbalanced 4-pot piston issue. Want more power? TRP DHR Evo same power as MT7s but more modulation. Bit of flack given to Hope, but if you've used the Hope Tech 4 new brakes, they have a very similar feel/power to the widely agreed best brake (but very expensive) Trickstuffs for less than half the money. Hope also have a full catalogue of easy to source parts for every part of the things they make for many many years. Their hubs are actually proper sealed (so much that you require a press to get the seal on) and compared to DT Hubs (which I also love) certainly are better for keeping ingress out. Price wise, they still offer more engagement for less money > the DT 350 hubs with the same reliability history. Their parts (like bars, stems, seat collars etc) I agree are a bit ho-hum an don't really add value for what they're asking $ wise.

For road tyres, I’ve found Hutchinson work well.

RONDO :) I am now riding HVRT CF. Carbon frame with 105 11s and aliexpress wheels. I built it myself and so far its a gr8 bike :)

22:08 The Hope DUO brakes are interesting, they are two brake levers in one, for one handed users. I would not mind using Hope brakes, but I am not keen on DOT fluid, but they do make calipers with seals for mineral oil, but that's only the calipers, and is intended to be combined with Shimano road levers. I think this is the only hydraulic brake lever/master cylinder for one handed use. I currently use Formula Cura 4, they have worked well.

21:31 I think Archer D1Xtrail is an much better solution, as you can use any mechanical rear derailleur they have road and MTB remotes. you get the benefit of being able to smash rear derailleurs and not have a high cost replacement if you break it completely. and can adjust each gear, so when the shifting gets sloppy due to wear of the parallelogram you can fine tune it to use it longer.

Big fan of Vittoria Corsa tires this year.

Was surprised you didn’t think that schwalbe could be recommended widely. I’ve used a variety of their tires from the Pro One tubeless for road, to pro G one for gravel. I’ve even used their studded cross type tires for snow and ice conditions here in the us north east. Fabulous wear for me. Another brand I tried this past summer was Rene Herse. Superior ride feel but total shit when it came to running tubeless. The casing would let sealant through. Especially at their prices.

Clarks for cables, brake blocks, chains definitely = quality, performance, reliability, cost effective.

I think the thing with some bikes that are expensive (Santa Cruz comes to mind particularly) is that you're paying for probably some of the best warranty support in the industry. Yes the initial investment is high, but any issues are generally solved without hassle.

Some good pointers for my next build, which won’t be for a while, but still good to know your recommendations. “Hope” for the record build bomb proof wheels, own a set of 20Five’s for gravel and winter riding and as a heavier rider just keep on rolling👌 Thanks😊👍

My alternative to Park Tool is just regular tools. Maybe for industry folks you all get shop discounts or some such. But if you've already a nice set of metric Bondhus hex keys, nothing Park Tool makes will be better quality. With the exception of extremely specific things like a chain whip or the adapter cups for BBs, there's nothing I've needed to do on a bike that couldn't be done with my set of Kobalt tools from the home improvement store. I will say, my Hope hubs are silver and I am a forever fan. I got a set on some 2nd hand wheels I found online and they've saved me so much money. Came off a QR mountain bike frame. Put them on a Surly Ogre (annoying TA rear, QR front) converting the rear hub to boost. Now they're about to go on a gravel bike I'm building after converting both to TA road/gravel standard. Those hubs have saved me so much headache. And the silver is pimp. I do agree with DT Swiss though. Esp on my bikepacking wheels something I really appreciate is how quiet the rear hub is. I can actually hear the birds sing. My honorable mention will by my Surly frame. Prices are going up for what they are. And heavy as sin. But that bike through all its wonky compatibilities/track dropout/etc. and stout build has absorbed all my good and horrible decisions over the course of learning to be my own bike mechanic. And its paid for itself in fuel savings and university parking fees allowing me to live car-free.

Agree with you on conti GP5000s. Wear very quickly

Anything touching £2000 is overpriced for the vast majority of people who ride bicycles.

I ordered a Time ADHX from LBS via Aus distributor about 2 months ago. Arriving in NZ this week 🤞

Santa Cruz and Yeti are in the same category...although the Yeti ARC is a reasonably priced hardtail

Really interesting and useful video. Somewhat surprised that Clarks made the list as I had problems with both the levers on my M3 brake set and the position of the bleed nipple also seemed absurd! Oh, and the pads delaminated too!! The calipers seem OK though and given the price and availability off their stuff, I suppose I would still buy bits and bobs off them... but maybe nothing that needs exacting tolerances.

I have the Mavic 360 hubs in my enve foundations and they are not weatherproof at all, a friend of mine has them as well and the bearings where completely rusted. It's now added to the monthly maintenance list.

Good video. Maybe getting a used CX/gravel disc bike for general use to keep rim brake CX bike for races due hard to rim brake wheels for it. Rim brake road wheels are not the best for CX/gravel due spoke build or other issues. Would have to go custom wheelset. The new used bike from friend that is just sitting in their storage. They said a broken shifter so far. So split on sram expl axs or grx 810 depending what the bike needs. Not sure on grx di2 due to setup, charging it, supply issues.

Scored a Time ADH21 is just 6 weeks here in Australia. Expected it to take 4 months but it turned up waaaay sooner.

Never heard of Smith helmets. Just had a look on the website and they look good. Thanks

Excellent video again. Thank you.

I spoke to my local bike shop, who have excellent industry contacts, and they cannot find a Time bike at all.

SRAM could clean up in the retro fit market. We just need a brake lever that can incorporate a blip or a reasonable set of cable levers with switches. Nearly all of my bikes from the 70s on ward have internal rear brake cables with wireless integrated rim brake levers there would be a clean look.

The price for park tools is just ludicrous, for the home mechanic they are overkill

After watching your video on ffwd wheels I’ve ordered a set of their RAW wheels. Still waiting for them to arrive. With discount I paid £1200. Hope they won’t disappoint 🤞

I have an Argon 18 road bike from 2014, it’s legit way ahead of its time. Has some aero tubing and everything. I really like it so much that I don’t want to replace it. They are the smaller but better of the two Montreal brands imo (the other being Cervelo). Argon 18 is the best kept secret in Canada.

Smith helmets are nice when new, but Smith don't offer replacement padding. This is a disgrace. It doesn't take long and the foam pads fall apart. Then you have the choice between throwing away an expensive helmet or using generic padding, which doesn't fit well.

Awesome, thanks for sharing

interesting topic. Pleased to see you had Mason Cycles on the list - i purchased a frame & built a bokeh. Their customer service was awesome - so good i purchased wife a Definition last xmas.

I've given up on western and euro brands, direct from china is matching the quality and beating the price. Support is getting better. SEKA, Light Bicycle, Yoeleo, Farsports, ICAN etc

"Designer Handbag" may not be a good analogy, as the quality can be immediately apparant. Next time at the shops, pop in to Yves St. Laurent and examine their handbags. Heirloom quality but you pay dearly for it.

Used clarks brake floating brake discs and worked perfect and were very cheap

GREAT to hear an unbiased eval. GCN and the like have their head so far up sponsors they simply can not be trusted. How about one on apparel, or old school tips. Like pepper in your socks on cold days?. Conti Gatorskins...great tires, bullet proof. TIME safest carbon , buy used, most bike shops don't recognize the brand and you get great deals. For the shite MAVIC tools, take one to a local machine shop, have em make a clone in better material, they will probably do it for a case of beer.

Great content very helpful thanks. What’s the root of excessive wear on GP 5000’s ? Mods to the black chilli compound or modified carcass construction ? Interested to know. Any tyre experts out there ?

I’m really happy to see Clarks. Not fancy, not expensive, just work. Any thoughts on Vitus??

As an owner of 2 Mason bikes I approve this video…..

Where would you put Fairlight?

Any thoughts on parlee brand? Are they any better than cannondale or canyon? I would like to know your thoughts from a bike mechanic point of view. What is fair price and value for money for consumer since the price are getting out of hand. Thanks

Any chance you could do a video on main shop brands and direct to consumer best brands...in both road bikes and mountain bikes etc.

Rockshox.. you forget that for their top rear shocks right now the basic service kit is not available before months, possibly years. Right to repair can't do much against supply chain. Also actual full service still not possible on their Charger 1 and 2.

Has a Vielo R+1 been to your Workshop??? Really love the way they look and the idea of a 1x for the road.

Sad Fuji doesn’t even get an honorable mention is it really that rare to see one 😭

One thing that many miss about DI2 is the flexible programming it allows. I have limited use of my right hand and cannot use a paddle shifter from the right. With synchro shift turned on I programmed the left shifter to do all my shifting. SRAM cannot do that. Highly recommend. Had it for 2 seasons without it could not have upgraded from budget bike

Interesting vid, thx

I wonder if you were shooting this video today, would you include Time bicycles?

Have you got any view on the bikes from Planet X? I bought a Tempest from them 1 year ago with 1x Rival groupset which I really like....£1500 for a Ti bike. It's my 1st road/gravel bike so I have nothing to compare it against other than online reviews. Would be happy to hear your thoughts on the brand.

Any thoughts on quintana roo aero road bikes? They’re known for triathlon bikes but I just want to know your take on it as a bike mechanic? Many thanks

Any thoughts on Goodyear Eagle F1 tubeless tyres? I've been using Conti GP5000, great tyres but they are so expensive.

The Smith logo on the helmet is orrible. If it was hidden I'd buy 1

I most probably wasn't paying much attention, but could you justify, why recomended and average are different categories? What separates them apart from fear of looking like a cheapskate... Because it's definetely not the price alone from the example of having clarks and axs in the same category (but omitting tektro and box)

Dieter at Time the uk rep is easy to contact and they have up to date stock levels.

Thoughts on titanium brands? Lynskey? Bossi? Curve?

Which brands are in the 'Gift' category? Winspace maybe?

annoying that clarks need a special bleed kit

I can't say I honestly disagree with you regarding designer brands. Although I think custom geometry and components offered by many of these brands has value that was not discussed. Equally I do appreciate and value of quality of my Cinelli Mash fixie, it's a great bike.

Have you tried a brand called Ceepo?

I thought Time had been bought out. The pedal business went to sram. The frame business went to someone with links to Allied.

If you're gonna buy shitemono, why not go with Campy and have a more durable product with superior disk brakes.

Pirelli road tires are not durable. GP 5000 I have on my bike now are amazing.

Time -ADHX Frame ordered and delivered in 5-6 weeks courtesy of Nic and James at Backyard Bike Shop and UK Rep Dieter Pullan (thisisdeet) local Saddleback rep been getting an EKAR spec one too…….

Honest question, because I am seriously considering it for my next bike, the Mason Raw. £4200 for an XT Hardtail? You telling me its a good buy? I mean, I am just looking for even more justification.. it definitely aint a cheap bike but neither was my Ti gravel bike. Im over carbon, over full squish, ride long and fast, and gravel bike on 40mm is coming short on some rocky terrain.... Now Im trying to tell myself the Mason Raw will complete the do it all garage for me.

Parlee has always been wildly overrated and overpriced. They are now trying to make it out of bankruptcy, but I'm not surprised they went bankrupt because they could not have been doing well given the insane prices they ask for their framesets and even just basic paint. I'd call Look a Premium/Recommended. Park Tool has really gone downhill in the past several years. Just insane prices for basic tools, $32 screwdrivers, cheap outsourced and rebadged torque wrenches being sold for over $100 a piece, just silly prices for their bleed kits that currently sell for $155 and $135, and the boxes that hold the parts do not even have dividers in them and the syringes are made of cheap plastic. $25 for a tubeless sealant syringe and on and on. Decreasing quality and increasing prices, that's Park Tool. Totally think you nailed it with the Shimano Di2 comments. Prices are unreal, almost no integration possible between MTB and road and the MTB stuff has not been updated in forever.

BBB is our go to for bar tape, especially the Ultraribbon BHT-15. Good length, feel, with the right amount of give/stretch and a good price via Windwave. BBB also good for other small consumable. Morganblue another favourite for spray lubes, oils, and polishing sprays.