PDKL45

Taiwan isn't exactly unknown, and neither are Vietnam, Malaysia and Mainland China. The Giant factory isn't exactly hiding out either, like Maxway and Merida. They all have their names on them, just take a trip to Taichung to see them, they're not exactly secret facilities.

bikingshearer 

And I, at age 66, propose that you and I agree to disagree about every word of your post. I bet we could still have fun riding together, assuming you don't get tired of my glacial uphill pace. (Yes, I am big "YMMV" kind of guy.) Ride what you like.

brokewheelspoke

The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it. It began with the forging of the Great Tubes. Some were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Some to the Dwarf lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And even more tubes, weird top tubes were gifted to the race of men, who, above all else, desire electronic shifting. But they were, all of them, deceived, for another tube was made. In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged in secret a master Tube, to smack everyone in the face with.

Eric F 

I was going to ask which countries are the unknown ones, but apparently, you don't know.

Eric F 

You're not alone. Meanwhile, I prefer a bit more color on my machine.

wolfchild

That's just an opinion and not a fact.

indyfabz

This thread is about opinions. So what’s your point?

wolfchild

This thread is about looks and fashion... Using words such as boring and mediocre to describe something that isn't boring and mediocre and is really designed to be practical and more for utilitarian purposes than fashion has nothing to do with looks.

Maelochs

I imagine if I walked into any sort of social environment and said, "Al your wives, mothers, and daughters are ugly," I might get a chilly response.

Here at BF, if I say "Your mother is a Surly Ogre" I get praise.

Bizarro World?

bruce19

I have 6 bikes and each one of them makes me smile. They're all beautiful.

wheelreason

Is that your opionion, or something you read on the InterWeb?...

indyfabz

Damn! I could have sworn the thread title was “Just my opinion”. I must need new glasses.

Maelochs

It could be that the point I was trying to make above is, sort of: When you do want to express an opinion, it might make sense to consider how your opinion will be received by the audience at which you aim.

One could say, "I prefer older bikes' styling, with thin, round tubes, level top tubes, threaded headsets ... more 'Classic' styling as exemplified by steel bikes."

Or, one could say, "All the rest of y'all have ugly bikes which should be consigned to a dung heap or a dump."

Freedom of Speech doesn't equate to freedom from the consequences of that speech.

That is one of my opinions.

smd4

I agree with the OP and several other posters. Modern bikes are most definitely fugly. As in F'ing Ugly. Paraphrasing Renoir, why shouldn't a bike look nice? There are enough ugly things in the world.

plumberroy

For the record ugly doesn't mean that they are bad. And I have what I consider an ugly bike and ride it fairly often . Bikesdirect Gravity 29 plus. Flat black . If I don't know what kind of terrain I will encounter, it's what I take. As far as colors I have flat black , Nickel plated , mustard yellow, purple olive green, Bronze green (Raleigh) what Surly called maroon and a kind of steel blue green gray that I don't know what Surly calls but I like it.

big john

When I look at the "Hot or Not" thread I see a lot of bikes I consider beautiful and some bikes I consider butt-ugly. Doesn't matter if they are new or old, what the frame is made out of, where it was made, or even if it has a sloping top tube or not.

I can think a bike is beautiful even if it wouldn't work for me and I couldn't ride it.

There are plenty of bikes on the market now that I would be happy to own and ride if they would fit my body and gearing needs.

big john

Like this? It's not ugly. It's simple and utilitarian, but looks good imho.

Trakhak

I wonder if the Model T Ford forums are equally vitriolic about its successors, with their sculpted curves and swoopy lines, which contrasted so sharply with the Model T's rectilinear aesthetic and its (quoting E. B. White, in an early New Yorker article) "serene disregard for the laws of aerodynamics."

Edit:

FWIW, as one of the dozen or so people who post on this site who started racing in the mid-'60s, I still like the boiler room ceiling aesthetic of classic steel bikes, but I think I may like the look of modern bikes a bit more. Lennon or McCartney?

big john

I think this is a beautiful bike. I am not offended by the top tube or the brakes. It just looks great.

plumberroy

Yep it's, also aluminum frame which I usually don't care for. But it fills I niche in my stable of bikes.
I don't think they still sell them in 29 in . I think the latest ones have 27.5 wheels and tires. When I bought it they didn't have the 26 inch plus bike in stock or I probably would have got those.
At the end of the day. My opinion is just that and anyone else's opinion is just as valid.

seypat

Long live the Midnight Special! May the memories never die out.

prj71

I agree that the Surly bikes are ugly.

plumberroy

I think it's where the tubes come into the head tube. That I don't care for on new bikes. That's not a bad looking bike.
The bike I have that I like the looks of best doesn't seem as much use as what I consider my ugly bike. I have an Electra loft 1 nickel plated single speed coaster brake that I love the looks of. Nickel plated black trim nothing on the bars traditional frame shape . It sees about half the miles of the black bike pictured above

smd4

Of course earlier Fords looked better than the crap being churned out today!

jadmt

I think for the most part skinny tubes and lugs just look better than molded CF. Lugs>fillet>tig>molded carbon.....On the other hand I don't mind riding ugly bikes that ride nice.