Ugly Modern bikes

[NeilM]

My son is of the opinion that you can never have too much black on a bike.

 

[David B]

My son is of the opinion that you can never have too much black on a bike.

Cue Spinal Tap "none more black" reference. Possibly involving a modern Campag gruppo that goes up to 11.

David

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

My son is of the opinion that you can never have too much black on a bike.

Obviously a Black Sabbath fan and keeps a pet raven

 

[Johnsqual]

My son is of the opinion that you can never have too much black on a bike.

Obviously a Black Sabbath fan and keeps a pet raven

I always liked Disraeli Gears anecdote about the mania for painting stuff black: apparently it stems from the Vietnam War when photographers would paint their gear black to avoid spotted by the Viet Cong. This expanded to the idea that 'serious' photographers should have black gear, then outwards to other electronics and eventually bike parts too.

No idea if this is true or not, but a nice story if it is.

 

[ibbz]

There's definitely something aethetically awry in the headtube/stem in the current crop of bikes. The Trek Madone 7.9 is a prime example of it. An oversize stem looks tiny and badly out of proportion against the very fat headtube. Even the forks look like they don't fit against the headtube properly. But as has been previously said its worse amongst the pure race bikes. I think modern F1 cars are ugly too but i won't be taking one of them around either. Don't know if there's ever been a proper study into it be don't we all just have a golden age (teens to early 20s) at which we form most responsive to our environment. I know my main views on whats good or bad in music, cars and bikes to name three were formed at that time and don't really change that much.

Pretty much nailed the whole debate with this excellt post.

A question, why do bike makers insist upon A Head system for higher end stuff?
Performance or looks?
It's inferior to threaded quill in my opinion.

 

[David B]

There's definitely something aethetically awry in the headtube/stem in the current crop of bikes. The Trek Madone 7.9 is a prime example of it. An oversize stem looks tiny and badly out of proportion against the very fat headtube. Even the forks look like they don't fit against the headtube properly. But as has been previously said its worse amongst the pure race bikes. I think modern F1 cars are ugly too but i won't be taking one of them around either. Don't know if there's ever been a proper study into it be don't we all just have a golden age (teens to early 20s) at which we form most responsive to our environment. I know my main views on whats good or bad in music, cars and bikes to name three were formed at that time and don't really change that much.

Pretty much nailed the whole debate with this excellt post.

A question, why do bike makers insist upon A Head system for higher end stuff?
Performance or looks?
It's inferior to threaded quill in my opinion.

It does allow the use of carbon steerer tubes to shave some weight off, likewise if using a steel or alloy steerer the problem of a threaded portion constituting a stress riser (Alan and Vitus threaded alloy fork columns are known to bulge if the quill is over-tightened, and I have had a Holdsworth steel fork fracture across the headset thread in the past) is overcome.

6 of one & half a dozen of another though, I guess, as clamping the stem to the steerer plus the use of star-fangled nuts in threadless systems raises another set of structural stress issues.

David

 

[Kerplunk]

To me form follows function - something that is high performance because if design and engineering is beautiful to my eye.

Yep, I agree with that to some extent. I can admire the 'science' (for want of a better word) involved in the design and engineering but they just don't stir my soul. In the same way I prefer an old E-Type Jag to the new F-Type.

 

[KermitGKona88]

I tend to find that a lot of new 'plastic' (lets call it what it is) road bikes are soulless and leave me feeling cold

Here is a £3699 example :facepalm:

 

[vivelesalpes]

I think there are some potential carbon design classics o ut there such as the Pinarello Dogma and Cervelo S5,

I can't be doing with some of the cheaper olastic bikes that have obviously come out of the same mould in China and have been rebranded - they are just so boring to look at.

There is some interesting new steel bikes out there. I think this is maybe a result of folks who are new to bikes have got bored of their carbon ' first road bike' and fancy something different,

 

[David B]

There is some interesting new steel bikes out there. I think this is maybe a result of folks who are new to bikes have got bored of their carbon ' first road bike' and fancy something different,

Don't know if anyone watched the Durham round of the Tour Series crit races on ITV4 last night, but Rapha-Condor-JLT have taken a leaf out of the Madison-Genesis book and adopted steel Condors (albeit with carbon rear triangle) for city-centre racing. Dunno what tubeset they are built with but I suspect Dedacciai or Reynolds.

David