If you hadn't noticed, we take reviews pretty seriously here at road.cc... although we have a lot of fun during the process!

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective.

> road.cc Podcast: how does road.cc review products, and what does it take to score 10/10?

While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

What the road.cc scores mean

Good review scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad. Our scores are: 

Exceptional (10/10)
Excellent (9/10)
Very Good (8/10)
Good (7/10)
Quite good (6/10)
Average (5/10)
Not so good (4/10)
Poor (3/10)
Bad (2/10)
Appalling (1/10)

Buyer's guides and road.cc Recommends

Products that get good, very good or excellent review scores become eligible for inclusion in road.cc buyer's guides. We only ever include products that are highly rated by road.cc reviewers, and the same goes for reviews. We pride ourselves on keeping these sections of the site fully independent and free of any influence from advertisers. 

Products that are worthy of a special mention may also pick up road.cc Recommends awards. We choose these monthly, and then at the end of the year the very best of the best make it into our road.cc Recommends end-of-year awards. Some brands may choose to advertise with us or purchase the Recommends logo to promote the accolade if a product of theirs has received an award. 

If you have any more questions about how road.cc reviews products, buyer's guides or road.cc Recommends, drop us an email at tech [at] road.cc