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06-02-08, 11:17 PM
I've reviewed a number of items on Amazon.com, and never noticed any censorship. Recently, I decided to review some indoor bicycle racks on a well-known bicycling vendor web site that outsources its item reviews through powerreviews.com. After one writes a review, there is a few-day period during which the review is moderated before it appears on vendor websites.
First try:
I wrote a glowing 5-star review about a free-standing bike rack and a 1-star review about a poorly-designed wall hook rack that bent and failed. After a week or so, my 5-star review appeared on the vendor website, but my 1-star review had vanished.
Second try:
I wrote a positive 4-star review about a well-designed wall hook rack, and re-submitted a revised 1-star review of the poorly-designed hook rack. After a week or so, my 4-star review appeared on the vendor website, but my 1-star review had vanished.
Third try:
Last weekend, I revised the 1-star review again and re-submitted it. We'll see what happens...
For those who are interested, I've included my three 1-star review revisions below:
Version 1:
Your rating: 1 stars
Headline: Piece of junk
Pros : Lightweight
Cons : Weak design
The "wall hook" rack style is a good idea in principle, but depends on
proper design to make it work.
Sadly, this Hang 1 has a fatal design flaw: the metal rod it's made of is squeezed
flat and drilled out at two points to make mounting holes for the two bolts. This
significantly weakens the metal rod at those points, enough so that when you hang
a bike from the hook, the rod will sooner or later bend at the upper bolt hole,
and fail. If you're lucky, you'll notice this before the bike falls onto
the floor -- I wasn't lucky!
It is possible to design a proper inexpensive hook rack; the Leonardo rack is a
good example, with its hook rod neither pinched nor drilled, but rather welded to
a flat metal strip which attaches to the wall.
Most Performance brand products function well and are good values; unfortunately,
the Hang 1 fails on both counts.
Version 2:
Your rating: 1 stars
Headline: Inexpensive, but poor design
Pros : Easy to install, Lightweight
Cons : Breaks easily
I got a great deal on this at my local store. Like other similar racks, it's
based on hanging one of the bike wheels on a hook that sticks out from the wall
at an angle; gravity then causes the wheel to press back against a wall plate, and
the whole bike is held pretty securely.
I had no problem installing the rack, but after about a day holding my fairly light
aluminum-framed mountain bike, the hook bent at its weak point and failed (the bike
fell on the floor).
Pros: The rack comes with good instructions and a complete hardware kit, including
heavy-duty anchors for drywall mounting, and wood screws for stud mounting. It's
also nicely finished with smooth edges and a glossy black coating.
Cons: The design of the hook part is flawed. The holes for wall mounting are bored
directly through flattened portions of the main metal rod, creating major weak points
in the metal rod. The upper point (the one with the most bending stress on it)
is the one that bent and failed on my rack.
Bottom line: my bike survived, but I'll be buying a better-designed rack next
time.
Version 3:
Your rating: 1 stars
Headline: Inexpensive but not robust enough
Pros : Easy to install, Lightweight, Easy To Clean
Cons : Wears Easily
I got a great deal on this at my local store. Like other similar racks, it's
based on hanging one of the bike wheels on a hook that sticks out from the wall
at an angle; gravity then causes the wheel to press back against a wall plate, and
the whole bike is held pretty securely.
I had no problem installing the rack (using the supplied hardware), but after about
a day holding my fairly light aluminum-framed mountain bike, the hook bent at the
upper screw mount and failed.
Pros: The rack comes with good instructions and a complete hardware kit, including
heavy-duty anchors for drywall mounting, and wood screws for stud mounting. It's
also nicely finished with smooth edges and a glossy black coating.
Cons: The holes for wall mounting are bored directly through flattened portions
of the main metal rod, which looks like it creates weak points in the metal rod.
The upper point (the one with the most bending stress on it) is the one that bent
and failed on my rack.
Bottom line: I ended up buying a different rack, which has worked well for over
a year now.
First try:
I wrote a glowing 5-star review about a free-standing bike rack and a 1-star review about a poorly-designed wall hook rack that bent and failed. After a week or so, my 5-star review appeared on the vendor website, but my 1-star review had vanished.
Second try:
I wrote a positive 4-star review about a well-designed wall hook rack, and re-submitted a revised 1-star review of the poorly-designed hook rack. After a week or so, my 4-star review appeared on the vendor website, but my 1-star review had vanished.
Third try:
Last weekend, I revised the 1-star review again and re-submitted it. We'll see what happens...
For those who are interested, I've included my three 1-star review revisions below:
Version 1:
Your rating: 1 stars
Headline: Piece of junk
Pros : Lightweight
Cons : Weak design
The "wall hook" rack style is a good idea in principle, but depends on
proper design to make it work.
Sadly, this Hang 1 has a fatal design flaw: the metal rod it's made of is squeezed
flat and drilled out at two points to make mounting holes for the two bolts. This
significantly weakens the metal rod at those points, enough so that when you hang
a bike from the hook, the rod will sooner or later bend at the upper bolt hole,
and fail. If you're lucky, you'll notice this before the bike falls onto
the floor -- I wasn't lucky!
It is possible to design a proper inexpensive hook rack; the Leonardo rack is a
good example, with its hook rod neither pinched nor drilled, but rather welded to
a flat metal strip which attaches to the wall.
Most Performance brand products function well and are good values; unfortunately,
the Hang 1 fails on both counts.
Version 2:
Your rating: 1 stars
Headline: Inexpensive, but poor design
Pros : Easy to install, Lightweight
Cons : Breaks easily
I got a great deal on this at my local store. Like other similar racks, it's
based on hanging one of the bike wheels on a hook that sticks out from the wall
at an angle; gravity then causes the wheel to press back against a wall plate, and
the whole bike is held pretty securely.
I had no problem installing the rack, but after about a day holding my fairly light
aluminum-framed mountain bike, the hook bent at its weak point and failed (the bike
fell on the floor).
Pros: The rack comes with good instructions and a complete hardware kit, including
heavy-duty anchors for drywall mounting, and wood screws for stud mounting. It's
also nicely finished with smooth edges and a glossy black coating.
Cons: The design of the hook part is flawed. The holes for wall mounting are bored
directly through flattened portions of the main metal rod, creating major weak points
in the metal rod. The upper point (the one with the most bending stress on it)
is the one that bent and failed on my rack.
Bottom line: my bike survived, but I'll be buying a better-designed rack next
time.
Version 3:
Your rating: 1 stars
Headline: Inexpensive but not robust enough
Pros : Easy to install, Lightweight, Easy To Clean
Cons : Wears Easily
I got a great deal on this at my local store. Like other similar racks, it's
based on hanging one of the bike wheels on a hook that sticks out from the wall
at an angle; gravity then causes the wheel to press back against a wall plate, and
the whole bike is held pretty securely.
I had no problem installing the rack (using the supplied hardware), but after about
a day holding my fairly light aluminum-framed mountain bike, the hook bent at the
upper screw mount and failed.
Pros: The rack comes with good instructions and a complete hardware kit, including
heavy-duty anchors for drywall mounting, and wood screws for stud mounting. It's
also nicely finished with smooth edges and a glossy black coating.
Cons: The holes for wall mounting are bored directly through flattened portions
of the main metal rod, which looks like it creates weak points in the metal rod.
The upper point (the one with the most bending stress on it) is the one that bent
and failed on my rack.
Bottom line: I ended up buying a different rack, which has worked well for over
a year now.