A Little Knowledge…

"Sneakers" !!!!!!

Just a jolly for the presenters these days...............

Have just Google'd Ortis Deley to see what happened to him....oh dear oh dear... Went to Channel 4 to commentate on athletics...onwards and upwards according to Ortis. Suspect he is still saying to himself "I should have practiced reciting their names". Poor chap. Cookdanbombd blogsite tells the tale better than me.

Have just Google'd Ortis Deley to see what happened to him....oh dear oh dear... Went to Channel 4 to commentate on athletics...onwards and upwards according to Ortis. Suspect he is still saying to himself "I should have practiced reciting their names". Poor chap. Cookdanbombd blogsite tells the tale better than me.

And bring back Ortis

you are not wrong pmr...imagine David Millar explaining how all that computer data is harvested and can be analysed to improve your cycle to work or to the newsagents...could take hours

Yeah, Ortis seems to be the only one of the lot of them who might have a clue about bikes. Thanks for the link to his original bit about the Factor; I didn't know anything about that bike and that was actually quite interesting.

I don't usually watch the Gadget Show, but this clip stuck in my mind because of Polly's awful saddle height on TWO bikes in a row: http://fwd.channel5.com/gadget-show/videos/challenge/monopoly-challenge-.... Any wonder she complains about how tired she is (although the flat tyre she somehow didn't notice probably wouldn't have helped either...)?

Like others have said, seeing what they do on bikes made me suspect they know just as little about everything else. But I suppose it is good if they give the impression that cycling is a common activity that one can engage in as naturally as messing about with mobile phone apps. I just wish they'd do it with a modicum of intelligence, so that people would know that if you set a bike up properly, it's not going to be completely knackering to ride.

Why why why why why.
Why? because at the Gadget show they, like a lot of armchair cyclists, like bikes. They just don't like riding them or make too many excuses not to. Hence the complete lack of any knowledge on the subject. Still funny as hell though and who would really want to watch a SERIOUS cyclist telling everyone how these new ceramic bearings really make a difference going downhill or how his new sperm helmet saves 15 watts power in a time trial. Ok, I'd watch that, along with a few other hardcore Eurosport viewers, but lets face it, it'll never make terrestrial TV.
This lot are still celebrating Mark Cavendish's Tour de France win.

All of you referring to a "slight" hill - it's actually surprisingly steep in reality - probably around 7%-8%.

But can't believe they had the front wheel like that...

That was 5 minutes I will never get back, at least Polly was wearing a tight outfit.

I noticed the wheel, but thought that maybe the editing guy had got the footage muddled, but when I heard the "peculiar braking" comment I knew that something wasn't right. after that I just switched into 'watching Polly mode'. Shame they didn't have Otis back, as he seems to know how to ride a bike...

She let him win didn't she! Cos she knew he would sulk afterwards? Certainly painful to watch but good to see cycling get a rave review even if it is from F1 wanabee's. VERY High grade carbon sounds great! You realy need VERY high grade carbon especially up hill... Priceless; theres me going out training rain or shine when all I need is VERY high grade carbon...and £22,000

The strange thing is that they did a proper test a year ago. Have a look at this:

http://fwd.channel5.com/gadget-show/videos/feature/factor-001-bike

In that you see Ottis using proper shoes, the wheel on the right way round and some of the tech being explained. I guess for the piece above they just shipped out a bike.

Even so I'd have thought that somebody who could operate either a camera or sound recording kit would have enough basic appreciation of mechanics to see that the wheel was on the wrong way round.

Here's Pollyanna falling off a mountain bike (albeit one with a novelty caterpillar track fitted).

She falls off, fair enough, but then gets back on with the handlebars spun through 180 degrees.

About the 4:30 mark.
http://fwd.channel5.com/gadget-show/videos/challenge/gadget-rally-full-c...

It's funny they even tied the walkie-talkie to the helmet. That basically stops the air flow of the helmet. Didn't they even study any pro tour video to learn how to mount a walkie-talkie onto cyclist? Or could have just stuff inside the jersey pockets since they aren't carrying other things. From the video it wasn't very clear, but the two seems like on MTB shoes. Correct me if I am wrong.

Did they say "laterally stiff, yet vertically compliant"?

That's my fave. Not overused at all. Hell no.

They've a response on their blog and their twitter feed says they've sold a few frames since! No mention of the wheel though.

http://onixbikes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/onix-bikes-on-gadget-show.html

We're all for cycling getting exposure on TV and i'm certainly not going to take the piss out of anyone for not looking cool on their bike but… letting Polly ride around the Monaco circuit with only a rear brake would not have been much of an advert for cycling if at any point she'd been forced to brake hard that could have been very nasty indeed.

What a farce, Jason is normally alright when i've seen him do cycling article's before, but this one takes the piss.

I mean, even a 5 year old could notice that if the disc is not going into the braking system, there is something wrong there. Why do it in trainers?

That hill climb was a gentle rise in my book, if you want a race track with a climb, get yourselves to Spa, I doubt you could even measure it with a percentage as it was tiny.

“this is when you need all this carbon” So before carbon you couldn't climb a "hill" on a bike? I could have beaten them up it with a penny farthing.

I don't care how many times you've "driven this track on your gaming console" Of course it was not going to be that difficult, you've sitting there with a control pad not doing exercise.

speechless and angry. 2 bikes featured, one bike has no relavence to anyone who is looking to buy a bike or interested in road bikes as a) it's not strictly a road bike b) it's 22 grand, and the other is a cheap chinese frame that would have been 'exotic' and 'advanced' about 6 years ago. Either the researchers on this program are 17 years old and know little about how to do their job, or they took a wad of cash.

My brother works for BF1 Systems, who designed and built the Factor to prove what is possible with the technology and build processes available nowadays. Bear in mind that BF1 make componentry for the leading F1 teams in Britain. He wasn't particularly happy about the comments from that bimbo I can tell you, particularly a) the brakes not being good enough (explained in the article above) and b) the steering feeling too twitchy. Why in the name of hell didn't they use even amateur cyclists who could give a realistic view?

They completely missed out on the fact that the computer is an intrinsic component of the bike, is the main selling point and gives the rider (and team car) full live updates on power being produced at each crank, rotational velocity of each crank, power at the rear hub etc...

My head nearly exploded

I want to watch it now!

(and not just* to see Polly in Lycra)

(*mainly)

I never understand the logic of these tests, like the one they did before pitching the carbon Trek Session against a low budget big box store bike. No non-cyclist watching this show is going to drop £22k on a bike, they probably wouldn't even be motivated to drop the £2-3k the Onix would cost, and given the cringe inducing nature of their 'reviews' I can't imagine any cyclist running to their computer, credit card in hand to place an order.

There seems to be an opinion that any exposure is good exposure but I just can't agree. Any *relevant* or *worthwhile* exposure is good, but asking the Gadget Show to review bikes is like asking Top Gear to review computers. Just because they could make it go doesn't mean that they have any clue what they're doing and most likely won't convert viewers into buyers.

Now, if somebody could stop bike brands from giving 'Wired' bikes to review, I'd be really grateful. They showed how knowledgeable they are when they 'tested' a $6k Gary Fisher Superfly 100 in the landscaped park outside their office while wearing jeans and brogues.

Odd choice of helmets for the road as well

Nah, get on with the mockery!

Not the best review, I agree, and to the regular cyclist, yes there were glaring errors (but don't Halfords put wheels in the wrong way every day?)
What is more importaint is, BIKES ON TV!!! There is a revolution going on, and we should be embracing all aspects of it, not mocking others because we have more knowledge.

comedy gold - I nearly didn't read this article to the end, but I'm glad I did

Yeah but, despite all that, I think Polly is lovely.