Paul Aston has been around in the mountain bike world for a long long time, and used to write for Pinkbike among other media outlets. A few years back it seems like he set off on his own little mission to become an independent reviewer.
The plan, he states is:
My mission is to bring the most independent MTB reviews online:
Where the majority of bike reviews online are funded indirectly through advertising by the brands who also provide the products to test, or where youtube reviewers are paid thousands of pounds to review bikes and have an eye on keeping the brands happy – in order to get paid for the next review – I wanted to do something different.
Admirable stuff!
His videos are well worth checking out, as is his Instagram for some honest reviews of products. What's particually telling is how often he seems to run into issues that strangely other reviewers never mention or come across.
Of particular note is the Commencal Supreme saga:
Where he bought 2 frames, both cracked and then he had many many other people commenting that their frames had cracked in the same place.
Anyway checkout the video to see the full story.
Another highlight is his write up on his experiences with DVO suspension
At this point, I’m not really happy. It seems like everything I’ve bought new with my own money in the last 18 months has a problem with it. The other new single crown forks in the last year include a Fox 36 incorrectly assembled with too much grease in the air spring meaning the positive/negative pressures not balancing properly. A brand-new Ohlins 38, that was pre-checked by J-Tech including bushing sizing, worked nicely for a grand total of two whole days. After this, the bushings swelled leaving an extremely sticky fork, eventually fixed under warranty, with the explanation it was a “small batch problem with bushings” – it’s funny how small batch problems seem so common. All these products cost over £1000 at RRP and are touted by the brands as their flagship high-end products.
Reading this is like a wave of vindication that we are not alone in finding many many mountain bike products sorely lacking in reliabilty.
Paul, we salute you!
