patentcad

1.) USE Alien seat post. This component was so bad (it came OEM on a Cannondale Six13 I bought back in 2005) that I finally gave up on it all together. So did my LBS. All a seat post has to do is hold your seat. The Alien seemed incapable of this, and me and the LBS tried to get these to work for about 18 months. Neither of us could do it.

2.) Cervelo S2/S3 top tube cable routing. Cervelo alleges this is more aero. It looks less aero. It's fugly. Worse, it creates all kinds of shifting issues with cable actuated derailleur systems as the cables bind up with the stupid serpentine cable routing. My LBS hates it. I hate it. I have thrown in the towel on my S2 and used this as an excuse to procure D.A. Di2. Cabling issues solved with electronics and $. It is a testament to what a great bicycle the S2/S3 is that they still sell so many despite this stupidity.

3.) Sidi Electronic Heated Shoe Insoles. Great idea. Poor execution. I tried three different sets of this $300 product, which had a wireless remote control and were rechargeable. But none of them worked. Finally gave up and got a refund. Sidi pulled them from the U.S. market within a year because they couldn't ever get them to work right. Bear this in mind when considering an Italian electronic shifting group from Campagnolo. On the other hand, Italians make Ferraris, so you never know.

4.) Fork mount bicycle carrier attachments. I gave up on these after my Ibis Ti almost flew off the roof in a strong cross wind this winter (the rear strap saved the day). My LBS tells me that they get that story at least once or twice a year. But they never hear that with the carriers that grab the downtube (the ones where both wheels stay on the bike). That's what I switched over to. The problem is that fork mounts put all the stress on the front fork drop-outs, and sometimes they will fail (the CF dropouts on the front fork on the Ibis were bent out, had to replace the fork)

Your nominations welcome.

echappist

no worries, i hear they are made in the electronics capital of the world: Taiwan.

hmm, so that you can improve the design and patent them? Sneaky pcad

Mitro

[QUOTE=patentcad;12707371]1.) USE Alien seat post. This component was so bad (it came OEM on a Cannondale Six13 I bought back in 2005) that I finally gave up on it all together. So did my LBS. All a seat post has to do is hold your seat. The Alien seemed incapable of this, and me and the LBS tried to get these to work for about 18 months. Neither of us could do it.

I second this, I got one OEM as well. Worst seatpost ever, 99% of $20 seatposts outperform this monstrosity.

Accordion

****

rpeterson

I'm pretty sure the Specialized Transition TT bike did this first. It's a great idea on TT/tri bikes, but I've never seen it work that great on road bikes.

Bioluminescence

German cars are better.

BarryJo

This thread won't get stickied like Grumpy's BF Hall of Fame thread did, just in case that's where you were heading with this.

Just sayin'

BarryJo

Oh I just got it, it's about your BF seal of disapproval.

carry on.

patentcad

In my experience, any thread on BF can devolve into a sticky situation.

BarryJo

Clever

bikerjp

Probably not. None of these pointless threads get locked. If they did, there wouldn't be anything to talk about

FLvector

And will the collective wisdom of this tread fit in here?

patentcad

Stick around and you might actually learn something kid.

But then I'm a wild eyed optimist.

patentcad

This thread is hardly pointless. But your own efforts to drive it in that direction are duly noted.

halfspeed

Shimano freehub spline pattern. Shimano failed to consider that companies might want to build aluminum freehubs and the spline pattern is poorly adapted to that use. Shimano tried to fix it, but people flipped out over the compatability problems and Shimano backed down.

patentcad

Thank God.

Herbie53

Di2.... wait no, I do not think we want to cover that here.

Profile Design T2+ Cobra TT bar extension bits that hold the pads in place. No amount of torque short of crushing the bar will hold them securely over a bumpy road.

patentcad

Correct. Forgot about those. Another Utter Fail bit of bike engineering.

I know too many reliable sources that swear by Di2 (people I've known for 20 years who wouldn't tolerate bike crap that doesn't work) to be worried about that stuff. Hey for that kind of money they should be able to get that right.

halfspeed

Because compatability with a crappy design is better than a good design. Thus, we have an explanation for Windows.

awesomejack

Well, they got you to buy it, didn't they

St_Pete_Speed

My vote goes to the new water bottle being held on to frame by a magnet. Proprietary bottles... great idea!

dbh

Canti brakes. All of them. Why someone can't engineer a cyclocross brake with as much stopping power as a standard road caliper is beyond me (no disc brakes don't count).

mollusk

Mavic carbon spokes. You can end the thread now.

ahsposo 

So.

You invested in them magnetic water bottles yet?

I kinda like'em.

Shiz, it's only money. Heck, I had that velcro Cannondale thang. Liked it for a good while. Then I didn't. Gave to the trashman.

But I still use a first generation Polar bottle. Must be going on 17 years old.

Do like the idea of those clean lines wit no cages...

ahsposo 

Oh and gel shorts really suck.