Madman/Badman not entirely metal (reasons to be thankful)

[MKO2012]

While I am a huge fan of the older X-Metals, in which the entire frame was constructed of titanium alloy, there is reason to be thankful for the Omatter (plastic) components on the the Madman and Badman...

After working at an O Store over the past two and a half years, I cannot tell you how many times I've had X-Metal owners come in complaining about the nose piece getting loose. Oakley was well aware of this issue because they would do refurbishments on the frames. So is it really a bad thing that with the next generation of the X-Metals they used O Matter? I say no. It's a harsh shock to realize that X-Metals aren't full metal anymore, but these new metals will stay pristine and wearable (If you choose to wear them).

Again, I'm a huge fan of the older X-Metals and I would take a BNIB Carbon X-Squared any day of the week, but there are positives to the new manner of construction. Don't knock em' till you try em'.

 

[kronin323]

General opinion is that the flex couplers were considered a wear-item, just like the other rubber pieces. Not an issue so much as by design. Like brake pads; they're expected to wear out over time.

The "flaw" to the setup is that they weren't user-serviceable, requiring specialized equipment to remove / replace the rivet pins. They corrected that with the final frame, XS, with the use of hex screws. Though they didn't sell the coupler rubbers as replacement parts...

It has been suggested (by me, for one) that the o-matter parts in these neXt-metals, especially the nosebridges, will also end up being wear-items...

 

[mjt42]

comment retracted as cant be arsed to get involved in are they/ arent they x metal debate...

 

[Dallas O Hog]

Or keep it all in one thread! Brilliant!!!!!

 

[Nortika]

so pay more for cheaper material is Oakley's new moto!

 

[pjd1234]

so pay more for cheaper material is Oakley's new moto


that's been the motto eversince Oakley got sold don't you think??

 

[pjd1234]

General opinion is that the flex couplers were considered a wear-item, just like the other rubber pieces. Not an issue so much as by design. Like brake pads; they're expected to wear out over time.

The "flaw" to the setup is that they weren't user-serviceable, requiring specialized equipment to remove / replace the rivet pins. They corrected that with the final frame, XS, with the use of hex screws. Though they didn't sell the coupler rubbers as replacement parts...

It has been suggested (by me, for one) that the o-matter parts in these neXt-metals, especially the nosebridges, will also end up being wear-items...

I agree with you on that one, also the arm rubbers in the long run will slide of upon further inspection upon using its starting to and I have to put them in place quite often.

 

[ucdavis4PT0gpa]

As noted, the flex coupler issue was fixed with the XS---and the introduction of the flex coupler in the first place was to address the stress fracturing of lenses on the R1...so see the evolution in design and hammering out of design issues over time. While the coupler issue on the Juliet could be problematic if you treated your frames right AND took them off your head OVER THE TOP like goggles, they never flex. I have a pair of 10 year old Juliets that are as tight as day one and have thousands of hours of wear using this method.

The joining of plastic and metal like Oakley has done with the Badman is actually WORSE than an entirely all plastic or all metal. The design reminds me somewhat of the original Splice and we all know there were issues with that design due to that mixture of materials especially at the screw points etc. And in those cases, as very well may happen with the Badman, you can't just get a service and have them be good as new- the frame is essentially ruined. Given some issues we've seen with the Carbon Blade QC, I can see there being issues with design/QC on the Badman/Madman and with Oakley only providing a 1 year warranty, I'm not about to go spending several hundred dollars on them....though its moot because I wouldn't pay $100 for either of these new models. In my eyes the current Wiretap has more of a kinship to the X-Metal line than these two models in terms of heft, quality and build- to the point that it's a dead ringer from some angles for the Half-X (leaving out of the mix for right now the argument that the Half X should have been a member of the Wire family to begin with).

Of course, this debate old X-Metal's vs new etc is going to rage forever or at least until those of us "real" X-Metal heads are old and the minority and new blood has long forgotten about the "Golden Age" before Lux took over and started moving production overseas, changing (to lower) lens qualities, making O-Matter more fragile and jacking prices. But that's my view; am I happy Oakley is stepping a little outside the box again? Yes. Do I hope this leads to some more innovative designs I may like? Yes. But I'm not holding my breath.....and in the meantime I'll enjoy my Juliets, X-Squareds, Pit Boss' and whatever other couple newer designs have any remnant of the DNA that made Oakley one of the most innovative companies on the planet in the late 90's to mid 2000's

 

[AusOakley]

I vote next person to start a mad/bad man thread should donate $10 to each member of the forum

 

[Hitech Vojtech]

I am just thinking,sincethe parts on Madman are Alu+O matter,is there anybody who tried take the plastic O matter pieces out and replace it with his own made Alu pieces?-I guess CNC machined nosebridge and earstem pieces?I mean there are lots of cheap CNC machined bike components,so IMHO it should not be such a big deal to make proper 100percent Aluminium badman?