Bicycle Network Victoria: Ride On magazine
Our ratings explained
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Reviewers for Ride On contribute ratings for bikes and products, to give you an overview of a product’s worth
Ride On's reviewers test bike products by putting them to use in the way they’re intended. Products are judged on the basis of:
Function: how well does the product do what it’s supposed to do? This takes into account ease of setting up, ease of operating and ease of maintaining the product.
Materials: What is the product made from, and will it last?
Construction: How is the product put together, and will it be durable?
Appearance: How does the product look?
Value for money: Is the product worth its price?
Each category is scored on a scale from 5 (excellent) to 1 (poor) and the total score out of 25 is reduced to a rating out of 5.
See table below for details.
Function |
Materials & components |
Construction |
Appearance |
Value for money |
|
Outstanding
|
Functions exceptionally well | High quality. Durable. Goes above and beyond expectations | Solid. Will withstand repeated use over time | A pleasure to look at | Well worth its price. Might be costly but will pay itself back over time, or might be cheap and still great value for what you get |
Very good
|
Functions very well | Above standard | Reliable. Above standard | It looks very nice | Good value for money |
Good
|
Functions well | Suitable. Appropriate for intended use | Reliable construction that’s neither above nor below standard | It looks fine | Satisfactory value for money |
Average
|
Mostly functions as intended | Lesser quality | Slightly inferior to competitors in the range | Passes muster but nothing to brag about | Price is too high for what you get |
Poor
|
Fails to function as intended | Low quality | Unacceptable | Ugly, inappropriate | A waste of money |
Reviewers record their scores for each category and submit them to Ride On. The Ride On editorial team divide the score by the number of categories ranked (usually the complete five, unless the editorial team deems a category to be redundant for the purpose of review) to achieve a final rating out of 4.
A product with a rating of 5 is OUTSTANDING.
A product with a rating of 4 is VERY GOOD.
A product with a rating of 3 is GOOD.
A product with a rating of 2 is AVERAGE.
A product with a rating of 1 is POOR.
Ratings for each category and a total rating are published in Ride On along with the review of the product.