Modern bikes is ugly, innit

[Si]

Is what I thought after wandering around the Bike Show today. Especially hard tail MTBs......the big wheels and bulbous carbon tubes just make them look so heavy and cumbersome.

There were a few steel road bikes, and indeed, one or two tourers with chromed bits too, and these just looked so 'right' in comparison. Not saying that steel is a better functioning material - just talking about the look.

Yeah, I know, eye of the beholder, etc. But you know I'm right

[Mick F]

It the fashion for black that gets up my nose. Even cycle clothing is fashionable black.
Components are black, and frames are often black, or coloured to compensate for the black.

I prefer shiny bling components and brightly coloured frames.

Why is CF black?
Why isn't Ti painted?

[c53204]

Its the same with cars..... matt black becoming popular AND it costs a lot more. Dont get it myself.

[tatanab]

Look at the understated elegance of slim steel tubes from the late 80s before everything went fat. But as we all know, fat is stiffer and stiffer is good innit!

Agree about black. It seems odd to me that I consider skin wall tyres as being good looking whereas a modern generation thinks anything other than black for a sidewall is ugly.

[Bonefishblues]

It's the paint and decal schemes that I find remarkably ugly, by and large.

[[XAP]Bob]

It the fashion for black that gets up my nose. Even cycle clothing is fashionable black.
Components are black, and frames are often black, or coloured to compensate for the black.

I prefer shiny bling components and brightly coloured frames.

Why is CF black?
Why isn't Ti painted?

Carbon is black, so CF is black. You could colour the resin I suppose.

Why paint Ti? It's not needed from a corrosion perspective, and it saves weight - and you have to show off the material as well...

[Mick F]

Why paint Ti? It's not needed from a corrosion perspective, and it saves weight - and you have to show off the material as well...

My glasses frames are Ti and are a dark copper brown.
Mrs Mick F's glasses are Ti and are green and turquoise.

Why not Ti bike frames?

[beardy]

Yes that would be great, even the titanium bikes could be black then.

[Mick F]

Wouldn't that be nice.
NOT.

[Flinders]

When I bought my current bike, the choice was grey or grey. I called it Saltash, partly after the frigate in The Cruel Sea not known for being bright in colour, partly because it was winter and the roads were salty at the time.

I'd have preferred red, or if not maybe blue, or possibly silver. But on the plus side it doesn't attract thieves, as in bad light against a Sheffield rack you can hardly see it.

[Richard Fairhurst]

It's the paint and decal schemes that I find remarkably ugly, by and large.

Yep, I agree. Having bought a Croix de Fer the other year, pretty much the first thing I did was take those horrid Alexrims decals off the wheels. I have no idea who Alex is or why he thinks he has the right to plaster his bad typography over my bike, but he doesn't.

[foxyrider]

Best way to stop the crap colours is not to buy them, complain to the Man's otherwise they just claim its 'customer demand' init!

The tyre issue is, i'm told, due to the black being affected less by UV than white/skinwall (it'll be cheaper too no doubt!)

[Neilo]

I have a new Croix de fer. It is steel, so has slim tubes. The components are black. I like it.
It is "Rosso Red" what is all that about then? Rosso means red in Italian, so is it double red. Don't get me started on house paint names.

Neil

[Ayesha]

It the fashion for black that gets up my nose. Even cycle clothing is fashionable black.
Components are black, and frames are often black, or coloured to compensate for the black.

I prefer shiny bling components and brightly coloured frames.

Why is CF black?
Why isn't Ti painted?

The conspiracy theory here is black is promoted as ‘The colour’ for cyclists by motoring organisation infiltrators, so when a cyclist is killed, it’s the cyclist’s fault for not wearing a bright colour.

[Ayesha]

The photons reflecting off a bright coloured bicycling jacket from an oncoming car's headlamps provide a small amount of detrimental thrust.