One star road bike review on Bike Radar
 

You don't see these very often.

I'm curious: Are there any examples of a crowd-funded performance bike that came even close to making good on its promises, or was even close to being competitive in its price range?

I'm tempted to comment on the aesthetics of the bike in the BikeRadar story above, but whoever designed it might have a wife, kids, or parents who will Google its name and find this very thread, and I don't want them to read such unkind things about their loved one's artistic creation. So I'm going to keep mum.

The poor spec choices speak for themselves, though.

Old hat
Kestrel 500 ems, those were just weird

https://www.ebay.com/itm/354513038815

This was hinted at by previous reviewers of the Superstrata. To be fair in interviews with the makers it seems like the bike was an experiment in design and manufacturing capabilities. However, when you listened to the makers and read some of the reviews it was obvious they didn't really know the basics of bike geo/handling/design etc, and were coming from a material background only.

Also as hinted at in the review, it seems like it's a sell-off of previously manufactured frames/tubes/manufacturing contracts, but just with "road bike" parts, even though the frame particulars are from e-bike/flat bar territory.

Still you never see 1 star takedowns from Bikeradar, good to know Warren still has some zing left.

While I typically interpret a BikeRadar (and major bike publication in general) 3-star review as a 1 or 2 star review (and is there really any difference between them all when so many 4 and 5 star options are available?), BikeRadar seems to be one of the most objective and trustworthy publications when it comes to product reviews.

Meh. I am old enough to remember their reviews of Pace forks. Personally, I find their reviews to be as stupid and useless as all the rest.

But you gotta admit that they're not wrong, right?

Cheap quality cable disc brakes.
LTWOO shifting.
68 degree head tube angle.
88mm of trail.
Kenda Kwest tires.
Seatstay mounted brake.
1x only.
185mm thru axle with some spacers.
Only 1 bottle cage mount.

Nothing about this bike is appealing.

They will only be this brutal to companies they know will never, ever advertise with them.

Given the dumpster fire that the bike is, they just made the cost benefit calculation or being honest. No cost, benefit in we are talking about it and clicking the link.

Given that the author blames much of the poor ride quality on the components , I’d be interested the read a follow up review of the frame rebuilt with a nicer spec. I’d guess it wouldn’t be much better


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True, anything that gets 3 stars means it probably sucks and they don't want to offend a brand that might send other them products to review.

All the review stuff aside, the iterations of this will only get better. If not from them, it’ll be someone else.

Someone’s gotta be first, and they’re usually not winners. Excited to see where the tech goes.

The CEO of Superstrata was on the Nerd Alert (RIP) podcast last year.

https://cyclingtips.com/2022/08/nerd...lly-seat-tube/

The main takeaway I had was that they're not really a bike company, they're just using the bike is a vehicle to showcase their 3d printing capabilities. They didn't seem to hire any competent bike people, and it seemed kind of obvious this product was destined to suck.

I am 0% surprised that this is a flop.

Also curious how much material they actually save by eliminating the seat tube The down tube, chain stays, and seat stays all look significantly beefier than a traditional carbon frame (even aero ones). Cool if the recyclability and energy savings claims are legit though!

I'm currently riding a Volagi Viaje as my gravel bike - began as a Kickstarter, spun off as a fairly successful independent marque. I did not buy it new, so I can't comment on its value at retail price, but for 2013, remarkably foresighted: disc brakes, clearance for 700x42, full fender mounts, BB standard that is adaptable (386). I haven't found a reason to replace it yet, and that's saying something!

That looks like the Salar de Uyuni, where I've been. It's a very unique place - a former seabed raised up to about 12,000 feet, dead flat. A lot of lithium is mined in the area (with accompanying pollution issues). It's not the kind of place you visit without a lot of covering, as you can get a sunburn in minutes (high altitude, cloudless sky, salt reflecting more light back up to you).

There are also a couple of similar salt flats in Argentina.

This is a wider pic I took when I was there.

https://forums.thepaceline.net/pictu...pictureid=1027