About the MEATengines ‘review’ process but a little bit louder for the dude who went two trees deep into the woods to return the coffee he rented. (Hey, we appreciate your modesty).
“Mama Hat.”
As I begin typing this my head is uncomfortably shrouded in my wife’s bright green IceBreaker Merino toque. She accidentally put it through the clothes dryer whilst thinking about five million other things (if there are any dedicated teachers in your family then you know), and, in a moment of, I don’t know, let’s call it moral support, I volunteered my much larger head as a sort of human mandrel to reform it. It’s less uncomfortable than fifteen minutes ago, so I’m making progress.
Nina has had this thin, light, green, toque for ages now and it gets used a ton in the winter under her bike helmet as she pedals to and from work almost every day in any weather. As with any type of headgear worn under a helmet, it gets gross quick – even Merino won’t save you – and gets washed fairly frequently. And I have to say it’s in excellent condition. Two thumbs up. Highly recommended.
What did it cost? Who knows. I have a picture of The Clairebarian wearing “Mama Hat” when she was 15 months old. Amortize your life right? At this point, a decade later, it might as well have cost nothing. It owes us nothing. And I mention this because it segues nicely into my more blunt discussion below.
My goal in long-term reviews is to wear things out. Barring that, it’s to ride the same said things to the point where their initial cost is irrelevant to the experience they have delivered. I’m regularly riding a five-year-old pair of Hayes Dominion brakes, putting torque into a seven-year-old Project 321 G2 hub, and so on, and so on. When I sign up to test-write a product like SUNringlé’s SR309 wheels it’s my plan to be writing updates about them well into the future. Years into the future.
Lately, as the MEATengines readership has grown, there have been some – at times really aggressive – misunderstandings out there about MEATengines X Reviews. And, I realized that’s at least partially my fault as I haven’t really laid it out per se. There are some more typical, unwieldy & wandering, writings on what reviews here could be in a piece called ‘Ride O’ Vision‘ but I’m going to park the alliteration for a few minutes to address some of the worldwide wariness that I’ve been sent, or come across. And, also, to set some expectations going forward.
1) MEATengines’ reviews are all positive.
Yep, with customer-specific caveats, concerns, and considerations put aside, my reviews tend to glow like a child-tasting ice cream for the first time. Wolf Tooth mini-pump? Rad. Project 321 G3 hubs? Rad. Shimano CUES U6000 LinkGlide drivetrain? Rad, on a budget.
This is not an accident. My reviews are heavily curated because life is way too short to ride crappy bicycles and bicycle stuff. I’ve been working in bike shops since 9-speed drivetrains were first introduced, I’m a gear nerd, and I’ve written more than a couple of product reviews (good, bad, and indifferent). I have a pretty good idea of which companies generally make great stuff – price point agnostic here – and which don’t. I have a pretty good sense of what gear will at least probably work for me, and which won’t.
Put yourself in my shoes, if you’re going to commit to riding something long-long-term how much of a risk are you going to take that it’s crap?
2) MEATengines always reviews products from the same brands.
This is a little bit of see-heading-above but also a mix of reality and enmity. In reality, MEATengines is a tiny concern and no one is carpet bombing my apartment building with free shit for me to ride. It’s easier to pitch companies I’ve worked with in the past and who understand my process. Even if a product isn’t the best option for me, I’ll always work to discuss why and find its potential strengths for other folks. It might take me months or years to get there.
In enmity, I have I-love-the-smell-of-napalm-in-the-morning-ed enough brand-bridges with my past writings and reviews that there are a few product managers that wouldn’t respond to me if they were drowning and I was trying to get them to grab a life preserver. That’s the world we ride through where too many brands love “honest” and “independent” bicycle media, and having their products attached to that reputation until the “honesty” is directed at their product.
[mini aside] Here I’ll note that ‘honesty’ is regularly incorrectly used as a synonym for negative and I honestly think that sucks. [/mini aside]
So the product here is curated from one direction and constricted from the other and that’s why you tend to read about products from the same brands. There will be exceptions like the Stooge Moto Bar and there are other brands releasing interesting things I’d love to get my mitts on but for the most part, I have previous test-writing experience with brands that are sending me products to review.
I suppose the short version is, if a company is sending me something to write about they like me (aw, shucks) enough to see the passion through my persnicketiness and/or they are Sacki-at-BikeYoke level confident in the quality and useability of their products. Honestly, I hope it’s both.
[mini aside #2] I also regularly write about things I buy. I’m so biased either way whether I paid for something I wanted to try or a company sends me something I wanted to try I figure any additional concern is like peeing into the ocean.[/mini aside #2]
{Above photo: Steve & Meg @Hardtail.Life}
3) MEATengines is biased.
Yes, but, I think I do a pretty great job of disclosing this in any piece where it may be the case? That’s on top of the general reminder to salt every review you read to taste. After all, there’s not a person writing about bicycles who doesn’t know (positive or negative) folks working at brands and in shops. Either way, I like to think I still give it to you straight for a variety of motivations. Not the least of which is that the folks (behind the brands) who I’m biased in favour of tend to be the sort who would hold me to a higher standard. For examples:
I just kicked off the MEATengines review series on the Outlier’s Void and Pendulum pedals, and it’s clearly stated that one-half of that brand is my friend Cam:
“I typically only write about products and people that I like so just imagine a giant neon ‘Caution: Biased’ sign in the header. This is no exception as one-half of Outlier Pedals is my friend Cameron Belisle O’Donnell…“
I’m really enjoying my Stooge Moto Bar experience, but how much of that is because I enjoy that Andrew is doing his own thing in a sea of plastic superbikes (not to mention that his name is Andrew):
“I think Andrew at Stooge is doing a great job of carving his own niche, telling a rigid mountain bike story, and making interesting products that support his bicycles and, also, just happen to work with others.“
I’m a sucker for good people, good products, and a good brand story, and when you put all three together, well, I’m going to write that.
4) MEATengines uses surrogates to test products (and then Andrew writes about them).
The jacket that is still fresh because it turns out we only get the right conditions for me to wear it three days of the year. The knee pads fit fantastically in the shop but rubbed me raw five minutes into a three-hour ride. The pack that is either too small or too large for every occasion. The shoes that are a half-size small but maybe they were okay, but no they aren’t. Ugh. I despise under-utilized gear.
As stated, my goal for any product I buy is to use it until it owes me nothing and I try to take this mentality to any product I’m reviewing as well. At the same time, if I commit to test-writing about something I try to hold myself accountable to follow that up. At the nexus of these two, at times competing, ideals is an aversion to agreeing to test anything I’m not fairly positive will work for me.
I shouldn’t throw stones from my glass apartment, and I can shit on crappy products with all of the eloquence and angst of the next gear editor, but whether it’s cutting the sleeves off jackets or adjusting the tension on my Shimano clutch derailleur if I sign up I want to make a bike or product work as well as it can for me.
Sometimes, whether it’s a bar sweep that just doesn’t work for me, a dropper post that doesn’t fit my frame as projects change, pedals that I never really meshed with, etc., I write my initial impressions of a product, and then ask someone to put their boots, and their voice, to it. Even then, I tend to match products with people who I think will genuinely have a good experience with them. Mountain bicycling is fun, writing about it should be fun too.
In the coming weeks, MEATengines is going to be delving into this on another level with our first product review series where I won’t be involved, at all, with the product testing. I don’t wear hip packs, but we have a novel one coming from MEC – in calculating bias, note my love of Mochilero Stretch Pants, I have worn a pair (not the same pair) almost every day in November – that Claire will be reviewing along with a cadre of hip pack aficionados who I’ll be asking to take it out.
5) MEATengines is about getting free shit.
I’m not sponsored. I generally buy my own chains, rings, brake pads, rotors, tires, Mochilero pants, and so forth. These are the things I need in order to keep riding. My personal bikes consist of two custom steel Waltworks hardtail frames (V1, now my commuter, & The Truculent V2, my single-speed mountain bike), Steve’s 1981 Talbot (that I ruined), and Will’s 2019 Arcturian.
There are certainly a few bikes on the market that I would love to ride and write about – new Devinci Troy, Starling BLE, etc., etc., etc. – but it takes quite a while and a lot of tweaking to make a bike feel like it’s my own and I don’t really feel like I’ve done a bike review justice until I’ve made the rig ride line it is mine. Honestly, when it comes to bike reviews, I can take it or leave it. I’m quite happy riding my own bikes.
I do truly enjoy reviewing products with a great story (the product, the brand, or both), but not to the extent that I’ll compromise myself or my riding experience to make product reviews happen.
One thing I despise more than under-used stuff is spending other people’s money (especially miss-spending other people’s money). The true heart of everything about min-maxing I’ve ever written is to differentiate needs from desires when it comes to the cost of mountain bicycling. Here’s the Deore-level hardtail with four-piston brakes and a decent suspension fork and here are the things that could make it awesome for 90% of the riding that 90% of riders do.
If you want more carbon, more batteries, more suspension, more rarity, etc. that’s great. I am also a bike nerd and I also love the lightest action DH brakes, the most beautiful small batch and custom steel frames, and the sweetest fast-engaging rear hubs. And, I’ll chat about alt-bars and push-on grips until we’re out of beer and shivering because I already lent Jacnokie my emotional support jacket.
From a review perspective, customer service being equal, if anything I’d believe I’m biased toward less expensive products. I readily recommend PNW’s Range dropper posts to anyone and everyone all the time, but I equivocate actively when I recommend my favourite droppers, like the BikeYoke Revive, down to the upfront cost.
Anywho.
I’ll leave you there. Save some of that for the sequel, and all that. Hopefully, this clears some things up and at the very least it’ll be a resource I can point to. While I’m a total bike nerd, MEATengines really isn’t and was never intended to be a gear-review-focused site. Gear is just a big part of mountain bicycling.
As always, I want to be accountable for anything I write here, so if you have a question, concern, a solid criticism, or any general concerns about something you read on MEATengines then fire me an e-mail, and let’s chat about it.
Cheers,
Welcome to MEATengines, I hope you enjoyed this piece. If you did, please consider buying me a coffee. Any questions, concerns, or comments – or to order a MEATengines water bottle – feel encouraged to drop me an e-mail, or join us at r/MEATengines.