Testing new bikes and bike products is an important part of what Ride On does to keep readers up-to-date. The reviews appear in the magazine, which goes every two months to members*, to subscribers and is sold on Australian newsstands. Back issues are available online to members. The products we recommend are listed below, after an explanation of how we test and rate them.
* Members of Bicycle Network, Bicycling WA and Bicycle Queensland
How we review
Products reviewed by Ride On (all products featured except those in the First Look pages) are used and assessed by reviewers selected by Ride On. The reviewers must assess according to our four areas and put ratings against their assessment. In fact, reviewers are instructed to complete their ratings before writing their review because their language must match their ratings. This is because most people tend to be generous or enthusiastically positive in language but when scoring according to a predetermined scale they feel compelled to award more modest ratings.
The four ratings are:
- Function: how well does it work?
- Quality: will it last? Is it appropriate for intended use, extensive use or limited use?
- Price: Is the price appropriate to the quality? Is it appropriate to the category?
- Appearance: Is it visually appealing?
See the table below for a breakdown of score out of ten for each rating.
Most products, such as bikes, lights, locks, etc, need to be rated in these four aspects to be fully assessed. For some products though, such as books or films, these four ratings aren’t useful, so they are simply given a score out of one hundred.
The four ratings are weighed differently and add up to an overall rating out of one hundred. The Function and Quality ratings are multiplied by four to each become ratings out of forty. Price and Appearance remain ratings out of ten.
This is because Price and Appearance are factors in our decision to buy something but they are more subjective than Function and Quality. So they have a part in the overall rating, but a lesser part. Ride On reviewers give their subjective rating for Price and Appearance but readers can judge for themselves if an item is fine looking or reasonable value in their opinion and whether for them the product deserves a higher overall rating.
The main product assessments are the ratings of Function and Quality, because what matters most to the buyer is “Does it work?” and “Will it last?”.

We find the right reviewer for testing each product because it’s important when assessing Function and Quality that the reviewer:
- is familiar with other products of the type of the one on test, and
- has a reasonable expectation of what the product is meant to do.
For instance, a Gazelle city bike is not meant to go fast, so there’s no point in complaining that it’s slower than a flat-bar roadie; the purpose of a Shimano Nexus hub gear is to be low maintenance, so it’s inappropriate to point out the range of gears and shifting is inferior to a road bike drivetrain.
“Will it last?” is an elastic concept for different riders. Someone who doesn’t ride much might not wear out a low quality product. For general appropriateness of the product, however, we ask reviewers to think of a person who rides every day or most days of the week or every weekend.
Other points to consider
The reviewer must try to think of who this product is most of use to and address them, for instance, “This is a dependable rack for the MTB touring adventurer”.
They also must think about the following and mention their assessment, with evidence, in the text where appropriate:
- How adjustable is it?
- How adaptable is it?
- Does it perform a variety of tasks or one task well?
Impartiality
We know our readers want frank and fearless reviews. Readers are right to be cynical: inclined to believe that magazines give exposure and favourable reviews to companies that advertise. We strive to ensure this is not the case, for the sake of the magazine remaining a worthwhile reference. We request product for testing from Australian distributors according to the categories we want to test and regardless of advertisers the Ad Sales Manager brings in. Furthermore, we test products to destruction if appropriate and products that are serviceable after testing are usually given to Bicycle Network Victoria volunteers, put into a general Bicycle Network Victoria gear library or returned to the supplier. Our reviewers don’t usually request to review a product or get to keep products they review.
The ratings table
We recommend
Every issue our tests turn up great bikes and accessories that we can recommend. We tag them with ‘Ride On recommends’ in the mag and we list them all together in each issue and here. Suggest other products we should review via comment below or [email protected].
Bikes |
Model |
RRP | More |
Reviewed |
Commuters | Kona Dew Plus | $859 | Apr-May 12 | |
Focus Aventura TR 2.0 | $1,399 | Jun-Jul 12 | ||
Allegro W1x9 | $899 | Oct-Nov 12 | ||
Under $500 | Reid City 2 | $299 | Apr-May 13 | |
Road bikes, carbon | Giant TCR Advanced 2 | $2,499 | Apr-May 13 | |
Trek Madone 3.1 | $1,999 | Dec 11 – Jan 12 | ||
Road bike, women’s | Trek Lexa SLX | $1,599 | Apr-May 12 | |
Road bike, steel | Rikulau 931 Ultegra | $4,300 | Oct-Nov 13 | |
Road bike, disc | Specialized Secteur Expert Disc | $2,199 | Dec 12 – Jan 13 | |
City bikes | Gazelle Medeo Plus | $1,699 | Apr-May 11 | |
TokyoBike Bisou | $770 | Dec 13 – Jan 14 | ||
Reid Ladies Vintage | $369 | Dec 13 – Jan 14 | ||
Electric | Ezee Forza | $2,449 | Jun-Jul 13 | |
Ordica Classic | $1,899 | Jun-Jul 13 | ||
Bionx conversion kit | $1,984 | Jun-Jul 13 | ||
Dahon Bullet Ezee | $1,995 | Jun-Jul 13 | ||
Folding bike | Brompton M3L | $1,495 | Dec 11 – Jan 12 | |
Touring bike | Vivente World Randonneur | $1,949 | Apr-May 11 | |
Kid’s first bike | ByK E250 |
$250 |
Oct-Nov 11 | |
Kid’s bike 7–10 years | Fourty Bikes 540 |
$399 |
Apr-May 13 | |
Cargo bike – long bike | Yuba Mundo V4 |
$1,250 |
Jun-Jul 12 | |
Cargo bike – box trike | Christianiabike Model Light |
$3,400 |
Jun-Jul 12 | |
Cargo bike – box bike | Christianiabike 2wheeler |
$2,800 |
Jun-Jul 12 | |
29er | Giant XTC 29er 2 |
$1,499 |
Aug-Sep 12 | |
Cyclocross | Focus Mares CX 4.0 |
$2,399 |
Oct-Nov 13 | |
Merida Cyclo Cross 4 |
$1,599 |
Oct-Nov 13 | ||
Accessories | Model |
RRP |
Reviewed | |
Chain lube | Green Oil | $20 | Feb-Mar 11 | |
Child trailer | Croozer Kid for 2 | $875 | ||
Child seat | Yepp Mini | $169 | Oct-Nov 13 | |
Combination pedals | Shimano M324 | $85 | Aug-Sep 10 | |
Electrolyte replacement | Hydralyte Sports sachets | $20 | Feb-Mar 12 | |
GPS | Garmin Edge 500 | $299 | Dec 10 – Jan 11 | |
Home storage | Steadyrack | $99 | Dec 09 – Jan 10 | |
Kid’s helmet | Nutcase Little Nutty | $100 | Oct-Nov 10 | |
Knicks, mens | Sugoi Evolution | $125 | Feb-Mar 12 | |
BBB Squadra Shorts | $70 | Feb-Mar 12 | ||
Bib knicks, womens | Assos F1 13 Lady s5 | $299 | Oct-Nov 12 | |
Netti Ladies Elite bibs | $150 | [email protected] | Oct-Nov 12 | |
Knicks, womens | Ground Effect Sirens | $149 | Oct-Nov 12 | |
Lights, compact | Moon Mask front | $60 | Apr-May 13 | |
Moon Shield rear | $60 | Apr-May 13 | ||
Lights, high-powered | Moon Power 500 front | $149 | Apr-May 12 | |
Lights, dynamo | Busch and Muller Lumotec IQ-Fly front | $149 | Apr-May 11 | |
Supernova E3 rear | $130 | Apr-May 11 | ||
Light, supplementary | Skully | $22 | Apr-May 11 | |
Locks, D-lock | Krptonite New York Fahgettaboudit | $110 | Dec 13 – Jan 14 | |
Abus Granit X-Plus 54 | $199 | Feb-Mar 11 | ||
Vulcan VSL101B Supreme 2000 | $40 | Feb-Mar 11 | ||
Locks, flexible | Knog Straightjacket Fatty | $36 | Dec 13 – Jan 14 | |
Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboudit chain with New York mini d-lock | $150 | Dec 13 – Jan 14 | ||
Lock, supplementary | Kryptonite Krypto Flex | $20 | Feb-Mar 11 | |
Mirror | Take-a-look | $25 | Jun-Jul 13 | |
Mudguards | SKS Chromoplastics | $110 | Jun-Jul 09 | |
Multi-tool | Topeak Mini 20 Pro | $60 | Jun-Jul 11 | |
Panniers | Ortlieb Back Roller Plus pair | $399 | Oct-Nov 10 | |
Pumps, portable | Lezyne Pressure Drive | $55 | Tel: 03 83278080 | Jun-Jul 10 |
Tioga Alloy Road Pump Dual Action | $40 | Jun-Jul 10 | ||
Pumps, floor | Serfas FMP-500 | $125 | Feb-Mar 10 | |
Topeak Joe Blow Turbo | $120 | Feb-Mar 10 | ||
Rack | Topeak Explorer | $50 | Feb-Mar 11 | |
Rain jackets | Endura Luminite | $235 | [email protected] | Aug-Sep 13 |
Ground Effect She Shell | $229 and $5 postage | Aug-Sep 09 | ||
Netti D4 jacket/vest | $190 | [email protected] | Aug-Sep 12 | |
Rain pants | Ground Effect Helter Skelters | $129 and $5 postage | Aug-Sep 12 | |
Ride guides | Where to Ride | $35 | Feb-Mar 11 | |
Riding trousers | Outlier 4season OG pants | $190 | Oct-Nov 10 | |
Shy shorts | Ground Effect Supertankers and Underdogs |
$89, $59 & $5 postage |
Feb-Mar 10 | |
Saddles | Charge Spoon |
$60 |
Feb-Mar 11 | |
Serfas Carma Womens |
$105 |
Feb-Mar 11 | ||
Sunglasses | Addidas Evil Eye | $350 | Dec 11 – Jan 12 | |
Serfas Mirador | $89.95 | Dec 11 – Jan 12 |
Ride On content is editorially independent, but is supported financially by members of Bicycle Network. If you enjoy our articles and want to support the future publication of high-quality content, please consider helping out by becoming a member.
web site person – check the base reference for your links on this page – all wrong:
eg: http://rideons.wordpress.com/ride-on-recommends/www.groundeffect.co.nz
hth
J
Thanks for the heads up – fixed now.
i don’t mean to be difficult, but I looked up the BMRSL02, the Trek 1.5 and the Mongoose Kaldi and none of them were on the companies’ websites.
Thanks for the feedback. Those bikes have been replaced with updated recommendations now.
So where are the links to the reviews?
Full reviews are in the magazine. It’s on sale every two months: Feb, Apr, Jun, Aug, Oct, Dec.
i like the idea of your recommendations, but some of the company web sites suck, eg, i want to do a search to compare saddles but i get redirected to “choose a brand”, well really i just don’t have time to search through branded products manually, that’s what their web site should do, so i immediately loose interest in their site and close the tab.
Did you try using a targeted search yourself? Just open a tab and type the search terms followed by “site:____” with their website and you should get a quick list. Sure it’d be better if they coded their websites to do it for you but it’s not terribly hard to do it yourself. If you don’t care enough to look a little then that’s cool, you just don’t need to know.
i like the idea of your recommendations, but some of the company web sites suck, eg, i want to do a search to compare saddles but i get redirected to “choose a brand”, well really i just don’t have time to search through branded products manually, that’s what their web site should do, so i immediately loose interest in their site and close the tab.
+1
Price for Garmin Edge 500 wrong. Confused with Edge 800. The 500 is around $299
Hello! I like the idea of the Steadyrack (home storage recommendation) but I have a parking space in an apartment building with no solid walls nearby.
Do you know if there’s any storage set up that’s like a folding bollard but in the shape of a U-shaped bike stand?
You have said the Ortlieb panniers were in the Oct- Nov 2010 magazine, I have searched and can’t find it, can you please confirm?
Thanks for pointing this out. They weren’t reviewed in Oct-Nov 2010, that date shouldn’t be there. We’re obviously due for another pannier review. In the meantime, we’re confident to recommend Ortlieb back-roller panniers as an excellent product.
The Gazelle Plus Energy XT in latest Rode On mag got 99.5%, so basically damn near perfect? This is despite your comments it only has 3 power settings which must be cycled through, it is not as powerful as other ebikes and the propriety parts are more expensive and often harder to work on, plus it costs $3,000…so all these issues only account for half a percent from ‘perfection’ ? They are a very good bike, no argument, but you guys appear a little overly bias. 99.5%, I don’t think so.
I agree Steve and I work with Gazelle. It probably should have been 99% :p
the Ground Effect over pants (HELTERSKELTERS) were the bewst thing slince sliced bread, unfortunately they have now put a zip in them and compromised the water proofness. ie THEY LEAK LIKE A SIEVE. the orignal pair i had – with no zip were 1000x better. the new design also has a company logo on the velcro tabs below the knee which makes it impossible to tighten up the leg gap. this can be removed with an sewing unpicker in 5 min, but is poor design. the zip issue is a deal breaker