Ahem...Hambini?

Dare i ask?

I dont want to start some argy bargy, but whats the deal with hambini?

Is what he says bollocks? I have little understanding of the engineering involved.

Are there any proper engineers around that might be able to enlighten everyone?

I find him funny for a few minutes and then it wears thin. Some of it is complete bollocks, like the fact that he expects to find F1-grade carbon fibre fabrication for what a production bike frame costs. It’s not possible. Yeah, bicycle industry carbon is a bit shit, he needs to get over it.

Plus he’s a totally unnecessary cunt towards good people in the industry who he’s obviously never met, e.g. @xavierdisley. Who is he exactly? He’s just another anonymous face at some aerospace company.

He has gone from being interesting if irreverent to needlessly offensive - which is I think a real shame.

I started watching because he has access to his own expertise, measuring instruments that allow him to speak with authority where the rest of us have to say "looks a bit off, but I'm not really sure", and with his side-business he has a decent supply of different frames to examine and make videos about.

However, he seems to have decided that it was his being rude about people that made people tune in, and is doubling down on that each episode - his Sunday Roast for e.g.

I find this part a total waste of time, and as Jonny69 says it's way beyond what's called for.

I wish he'd back away from the cult of the personality thing and allow the engineering to come to the fore, but I get the feeling that that's not going to happen.

I wish he'd back away from the cult of the personality thing and allow the engineering to come to the fore, but I get the feeling that that's not going to happen.

For that YouTube would need to make it less lucrative. And they ain’t gonna do that.

I suppose it's true that more people will tune in to watch him call people cunts than to listen to bearing tolerance bants. It's unfortunate though.

Have we got any way of finding out if his Solidworks license is legit? I feel like he needs cutting down a notch.

Have we got any way of finding out if his Solidworks license is legit?

hahah that would be a laugh, My old work got fined a remarkable sum for a handful of torrented licences. Whoever is in charge of things on that end does not hold back

The thing that I always though was a major plothole in a few of his videos is, he'll spend a good 40mins ripping into some bike company based on a single frame? Surely one frame isn't a broad enough sample size for his pretty harsh comments? Obviously you would hope that not that many frames with wildly out of spec dims make it out of qc, but some will. And yet he rips the shit out of some company for one dodgy frame?

Found him interesting and amusing to begin with. But now he comes across as an engineer trying to do a poor Malcolm Tucker impersonation. He needs a copy of the profanisaurus or some other guide to creative swearing as it’s just boring and repetitive now.

It’s interesting when he points out that a manufacturers allowed tolerances are ridiculously poor to a point where parts wear or fail abnormally when used correctly. However it is unclear if he also lambasts some manufacturers entire output on one poorly made frame or part.

a poor Malcolm Tucker impersonation

ha yeah thats bang on

I always assumed that he must have a history of dealing with certain frames/brands, so he bases his criticism on this experience. However i dont think i ever heard him make it that clear.

Anyone used hes BB? Any opinions.
Hes can be annoying tbh.

I'm not a fanboy by any means but I find it funny when he goes far out of his way to call people/companies out.

He's entertaining, but is what he says bollocks? I have little understanding of the engineering involved, ill watch some of his stuff and laugh, but I take it with a pinch of salt

100% same. Sometimes he goes over the top though, and as much as I love his swearing, it's just redundant. Also, talking shit about the same companies in every single video is getting boring.

Anyone used hes BB? Any opinions.
Hes can be annoying tbh.

I actually emailed him about one of them as I had a frame for which it would have made sense and he never responded.

It's quite interesting to see all the measurements and how shit the tolerances are on some frames, but how he is acting is super annoying, trying way too hard to be funny. Most people on youtube seem to love it though

I have no interested in aero bikes or road bikes for that matter but he popped up on my suggestions this week and I watched a few videos, obviously nothing better to do. He seems smart but what a cunt...

He seems to be a very competent engineer, but he seems to expect a lot of consumer/mass produced recreational sports gear. And quite why he's so obsessed with shitting on other businesses I don't know. Massive ego? Cripplingly low self-esteem? Sure, he's trying to run his own business, but calling everyone else an incompetent cunt while proclaiming that you're the second coming of BBesus doesn't exactly scream of honesty.

I'm not sure if he's a chartered engineer or not, but if he is I'm sure whichever institute he's with wouldn't be too happy to have him setting such a shitty example.

Tl;Dr: he's not necessarily wrong. Just a massive asshole.

His points are valid though. A top end road frame is £2,500+ and when they have misaligned BB holes there's no fixing one of them. And good luck trying to get their customer service team to respond to you in a meaningful way or your LBS to properly identify the issue.

The pursuit of 'lightweight' through carbon frames and internal bearing races has totally compromised the quality and usability of road bikes. They're basically disposable now.

I don't enjoy his style, but if you want to be heard you have to make some noise.

I find him far less annoying than the headset on my Felt F1 that creeps and judders under braking even when properly torqued and the almost constant squeaking BB30 bearings I had to change on a previous one.

Vote with your feet.

Haven't we been educated enough now to know frame weight means fuck all to 99% of cyclists?

Don't buy press fit bearing bikes. If people stop buying them, they'll stop making them.

I have. I only buy old Italian steel fatties now.

I wish he'd back away from the cult of the personality thing and allow the engineering to come to the fore

That would expose him to the danger of having his engineering comments investigated by people who actually know what they're talking about. By being such a gobshite, he can be pretty sure that competent people won't waste their time on him, so he can keep fooling less intelligent people into believing that he's way cleverer than he really is.

I've got one on my Parlee, seems good but then I can't feel watts. Definitely spins smooth. I definitely agree that his unpleasantness gets in the way of the interesting engineering. Maybe if he could dial it from 70/30 rudeness/engineering to 40/60 things would be more enjoyable. Either way, the engineering always seems sound enough to a simpleton like me.

That would expose him to the danger of having his engineering comments investigated by people who actually know what they're talking about. By being such a gobshite, he can be pretty sure that competent people won't waste their time on him, so he can keep fooling less intelligent people into believing that he's way cleverer than he really is.

Which suggests that the Eurofighter and F35 would be significantly more able combat aircraft if they were designed by Boardman bikes?

Vote with your feet.

Haven't we been educated enough now to know frame weight means fuck all to 99% of cyclists?

Don't buy press fit bearing bikes. If people stop buying them, they'll stop making them.

One of Hambini's episodes addresses this - his conclusion is that press-fit is better than screw in, but only if it's made properly for e.g. Look (which seems to be the only brand he likes the manufacturing of).

Look (which seems to be the only brand he likes the manufacturing of).

And then Raoul Luescher cuts one in half and show they're not actually that well-made...