Really crap and useless bike accessories and components.

[betty swollocks]

MY first vote goes to the Minoura Space Grip
Put any weight on it and it swivels down: bloody useless.
Second vote goes to the inside chainring bolts with those two small slots and the virtually useless tool which is supposed to hold them still.
I heard you can now get ones which are held at the back with a Torx spanner: good!

Other candidates please.

 

[Amanda P]

Any of those bolts made of cheese instead of steel, so that they round out or round off the first time you try to loosen them to adjust something.

No-one knows how those cunning Koreans manage to get them tightened up in the factory...

 

[Amanda P]

Oh yes, and spanners stamped out of sheet cheese that come with bikes. Equally useless.

There's also a dumbell spanner made of the same stuff that breaks the first time you use it.

 

[4F]

MY first vote goes to the Minoura Space Grip
Put any weight on it and it swivels down: bloody useless.

This has my vote as well Mine is somewhere at the back of my shed where I threw it in anger Bloody rubbish

 

[yello]

MY first vote goes to the Minoura Space Grip.

+2

I stripped the thread trying to get the darn thing tighter so it'd actually take some weight. Packing out didn't help. As I recall, the metal strip that wrapped around the bars just would not pull up any tighter.

 

[wafflycat]

I've got a Minoura Space grip on my tourer and on my 'bent. Use as mount for two front lights on each. Had them several years and absolutely no problem with either of them. Don't know what you lot are doing with yours, but mine work a treat!

 

[tdr1nka]

Cheap chain splitters made of the same dye cast mettalic cream cheese those dumbell spanners are made of!

Q: how come those dumbell spanners snap so easily but have enough strength to round off a nut??

 

[Amanda P]

Q: how come those dumbell spanners snap so easily but have enough strength to round off a nut??

It's another of those oriental mysteries...

 

[Aperitif]

Mudguards!

 

[Dayvo]

Rear-view mirror. It seemed like a good idea in the shop, but lasted only five minutes on the bike (shook too much).

Take it with me on long trips and use as my shaving mirror, and to annoy people by flashing the sun at them with it!

 

[llllllll]

The plastic bracket Cateye supply with their lights. Few years back the were done up with a small screw and worked perfectly. Nowadays you have a little plastic dial thing that you have to turn. It's badly positioned and too small to get any force on, so the light slips as soon as you start cycling. In an effort to get more force on the dial I've tried putting Molegrips onto it, but then it just chews up the notched strap thing. In the end I had to glue the bracket onto my handlebars to make it work.

 

[Trillian]

Oh yes, and spanners stamped out of sheet cheese that come with bikes. Equally useless.

quite fond of mine actually, its come in quite handy for smaller things that aren't taking as much torque.

 

[Trillian]

The plastic bracket Cateye supply with their lights. Few years back the were done up with a small screw and worked perfectly. Nowadays you have a little plastic dial thing that you have to turn. It's badly positioned and too small to get any force on, so the light slips as soon as you start cycling. In an effort to get more force on the dial I've tried putting Molegrips onto it, but then it just chews up the notched strap thing. In the end I had to glue the bracket onto my handlebars to make it work.

the one thats like a little QR lever? works beautifully on mine, was swapping it between two bikes quite regulally at one point.

 

[RedBike]

MY first vote goes to the Minoura Space Grip

Great, guess what i've just ordered. I might be taking advantage of wiggles return facility.

 

[wafflycat]

Great, guess what i've just ordered. I might be taking advantage of wiggles return facility.

See my post on the subject. I've got two (one on 'bent & one on tourer) have two front lights on each and have done for years *without problems* Don't know what the other heavy-handed clods are doing with theirs!