Modern bikes is ugly, innit

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[XAP]Bob
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by [XAP]Bob »

I got a sensible shiny chain, goes nicely (IMHO) with the all chromed chainring and cranks as well as the chromed stays.
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
reohn2
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by reohn2 »

simonineaston wrote:
moulton_speed.jpg
There you go - that'll make you feel better...


:lol: :lol: :lol:
You really pyle it on :)
Last edited by reohn2 on 2 Oct 2014, 5:33pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Si
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by Si »

I think what prompted the OP was the new diamondback hardtail MTBs.

My first MTB was a diamondback Ascent in, I think, 1991. It had True Temper cromo tubing and a 1.1/8 steerer.

The new DBs don't look too back in pics (actually they look quite normal) but in the flesh the tubes really are bulbous, and the massively oversized headtube with its (comparatively) spindly steerer sticking up out of it just looks like it was designed by a machine (and not a very inspired one at that).

The new DBs that I saw were black but with brightly coloured patterns overlaid.
MikeF
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by MikeF »

Many bikes used to be black. Most cars were black as well. Black cabs still are. :lol: Fashions go in cycles. :wink:
"It takes a genius to spot the obvious" - my old physics master.
I don't peddle bikes.
Flinders
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by Flinders »

MikeF wrote:Many bikes used to be black. Most cars were black as well. Black cabs still are. :lol: Fashions go in cycles. :wink:


At one time if you looked in a car park, everything was either red, white, or blue. Black used to cost extra. (No idea why, as it's a so-and-so to keep clean, shows every speck of mud).
Now the majority of cars are blue, silver or black.

When I was a kid there was a much more mixed bag of bright colours, lots of turquoises, strange greens, oranges, and bright yellows - even purples. Now the few non-mainstream colours around are really odd, many of them look like undercoat waiting for a 'proper' topcoat colour to me.
MikeF
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by MikeF »

Flinders wrote:
MikeF wrote:Many bikes used to be black. Most cars were black as well. Black cabs still are. :lol: Fashions go in cycles. :wink:


Black used to cost extra.
Not pre-war it didn't - it was the main "colour". Henry Ford is quoted as saying "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black."
"It takes a genius to spot the obvious" - my old physics master.
I don't peddle bikes.
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Cunobelin
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by Cunobelin »

Mick F wrote:This one's quite nice.
(but it needs pedals)
Note the silver rims and components.
img1.jpg



IIRC the pedals thingis about the sale description

If there are no pedals it is not a "complete bike" and therefore the manufacturer does not need to fit wheel reflectors, bells etc and other "point of sale" items
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Mick F
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by Mick F »

Yes, I understand this point, and have made the point myself.

However, there is another consideration ......... pedals are a personal thing. There are a myriad of pedals and footware choices out there, and if I were to buy a complete bike, the one thing I would ask them not to fit, is the pedals, as I have my own. The other one is the saddle. I have my own one of those too.

The mere thought that a bike manufacture could even suggest what I want for pedals and saddle, fills me with amusement.
Mick F. Cornwall
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by [XAP]Bob »

MikeF wrote:
Flinders wrote:
MikeF wrote:Many bikes used to be black. Most cars were black as well. Black cabs still are. :lol: Fashions go in cycles. :wink:


Black used to cost extra.
Not pre-war it didn't - it was the main "colour". Henry Ford is quoted as saying "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black."



I have read recently that that was because the black paint dried quicker - which was important in the production line...

No idea if it's true...
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
Bicycler
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by Bicycler »

My understanding was that they started using a special quick drying paint which was only produced in black.

I read an article about the quote some time ago. Ford claimed he made the famous statement when originally announcing to his employees the decision to produce the Model T. The phrase itself is often erroneously claimed to be a misquote because in fact the Model T was produced in a range of colours upon its introduction and in many places you couldn't even get a black one! It changed to only being available in black years later. The quote is attributable to Ford. It is from his autobiography, written in the era when all Model Ts were black , so he was probably just failing to let the truth get in the way of a good story.
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maff1977
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by maff1977 »

orange is the new black?
beardy
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by beardy »

My Orange (Prestige) is black!
Bicycler
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by Bicycler »

Mick F wrote:Yes, I understand this point, and have made the point myself.

However, there is another consideration ......... pedals are a personal thing. There are a myriad of pedals and footware choices out there, and if I were to buy a complete bike, the one thing I would ask them not to fit, is the pedals, as I have my own. The other one is the saddle. I have my own one of those too.

The mere thought that a bike manufacture could even suggest what I want for pedals and saddle, fills me with amusement.

That makes sense for an enthusiast but most ordinary people's bikes probably never get the saddles or pedals changed. If I were to buy a frame I would arrange some way of transporting it home. If I buy a "bike" I expect to be able to ride it home from the shop.

On the one occasion I bought a newish bike a few years ago I had someone try the "it doesn't come with pedals" line. The option was given that I could be given the pedals (and the bike fitted with the required reflectors) or the shop could lose the sale. I suspect that selling the bikes without pedals doesn't actually remove the legal obligations in the way that shops think it does either.

Obviously it is fair enough if you ask the shop not to provide you with pedals but it shouldn't be assumed
reohn2
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by reohn2 »

Flinders wrote:....... Now the few non-mainstream colours around are really odd, many of them look like undercoat waiting for a 'proper' topcoat colour to me.
[/quote]

I agree and yet curiously I quite like some of them,grey or pale green with a white or ivory panel on the DT look good to my eye.Some would say my new baby blue Vaya looks like undercoat but the graphics in the contrasting darker blue make it for me:-
Image
What does spoil the look for me are the polished chainrings,black with polished ''hi-lights''(look at the rims)would look much nicer to me and when I feel suitably indulgent I'll put things right :).
Ultimately we're discussing taste which is personal and so one person's choice will never be 'right' for everyone.
Viva la difference! :D
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Bicycler
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Re: Modern bikes is ugly, innit

Post by Bicycler »

Bicycler wrote:On the one occasion I bought a newish bike a few years ago I had someone try the "it doesn't come with pedals" line. The option was given that I could be given the pedals (and the bike fitted with the required reflectors) or the shop could lose the sale. I suspect that selling the bikes without pedals doesn't actually remove the legal obligations in the way that shops think it does either.

I've just checked up on this. Chris Juden's Safety Regulations page on the CTC's website says that the wording of the regulations was changed in 2010 so that retailers cannot avoid the issue by omitting pedals. The regulations now apply to "a substantially complete vehicle (whether or not assembled) even if one or more parts are not supplied. " So now there's even less justification for this dubious practice
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