A lot of bike designers are “hunching” the top tubes on their new bikes. I first noticed Mondraker doing it, but they may have been other before them, and it seems to be catching. Now I am a Very Happy Five owner so I know from experience love is in the eye of the beholder, but YUCK !!

Why do they do it and do you like it ??

Not a fan.

Does make it look like you’ve run into a wall head first….

Does it improve the stand over height?

I don’t really care. Does it matter? Some people make a good living from selling ‘ugly’ bikes (e.g. the bike monger).

The pre-crashed or s***ing dog look is in and has been for a while. It’s a combination of the downtube needing clearance for the forks underneath and the theory that it’s stronger for the top tube to intersect at 90 to the head tube, or at least it was at first. These days I expect it’s just because most things are hydro-formed and everyone is doing it. Fashion innit.

More of a straight tube kind of guy myself, overly swoopy everything just looks a bit weird.

I don’t really care. Does it matter?

Of course it doesn’t matter, but what kind of an answer is that ? where would STW be if everything had to matter FFS. 😉

The forward lump in the top tube thing has been with us for a while now, I have two theories:

1 flaring the tube profiles just behind the head tube improves strength and/or stiffness…

2 It sort of gives the bike a bit of a motorcycle Gas tank bulge[/] appearance, and its an aesthetic decision based on some market research that told them they would flog more it it looks a bit like a ‘proper” bike…

Both seem reasonable enough justifications, but like some others I still prefer the less fussy simplicity of a straight tube not that it matters much TBH…