The perception of "Cool" « Singletrack Forum

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The perception of "Cool"

136 posts & 82 voices | Started 1 year ago by Grapefruit | Latest reply from yoda

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Grapefruit - Member

No, not a play on words from the Miles Davis album - I need a diversion from a Monday working at home.

Basically - what brands are considered cool or uncool and why?

e.g. I hear talk about Cannondale referred to as soulless - Marin as "old men's bikes" - Orange apparently split opinion? Lapierre as stylish? Trek, cool but ubiquitous? Do "boutique" brands automatically qualify as cool? I also hear of pre-conceived notions about people based on the brands they ride. Where does this stuff come from?

Please feel free to keep your answers as shallow and jovial as you like. This is just supposed to be a bit of harmless fun and not a serious criteria on which to base purchases or any form of sociological conclusion (I'm sure most people, like myself, tend to do their homework and aren't bothered if something's "cool" or not). I've only got involved with bike-related media and forums relatively recently so am kind of new to this area despite being old enough to qualify for a pass to the dodgy-knee club. Just curious what people think.

I'll kick us off -
Can't stand Specialized (don't know why, they just leave me cold)?
I like Whyte's (a bit biased, I ride a 901)
Would love a Yeti (a bit of mythology about them I suppose, but I rode an ASR-5 at a demo in April and swear I heard "Ride of the Valkyries" going off in my head.)
Cube - German AND cool?

Cheerie Pip!

Posted 1 year ago #
JonR - Member

I can't stand specialized but I have had a stumpy for a couple of years and love it. This I justify to myself as its a classic that they have been making for 20 odd years and therfore they have got it right.

GT were cool until they started manufacturing in the far east and flogging their bikes in Halfords. For some reason I also have a bit of a disliking of Nicolai

Posted 1 year ago #
Coleman - Member

"I can't stand specialized but I have had a stumpy for a couple of years and love it."

Classic!

Posted 1 year ago #
binners - Member

I passionately hate with a demented vengeance whatever Hora's presently riding

To be fair, this is a reciprocal arrangement

Posted 1 year ago #
RealMan - Member

Well first of all its nothing to do with how they ride at all.

Any big american brand is instantly uncool. Specialized, trek, giant, etc. etc.

Any brand that is sold purely over the internet/halfords is uncool. Ribble, focus, boardman, gt, voodoo, carrera (obviously).

Any thing that is ridiculously niche is uncool. So 650b bikes, that silly jones, etc. etc. The exception to the rule is any 36er that isn't designed stupidly.

Santa Cruz is uncool. I have one.

Companies that cater for people with a budget below £1000 are uncool. Mongoose, Orbea, Cube, Gary Fisher.

Most Italian road bikes are cool. De Rosa are cool. Bianchi are cool only if you have the silly green colour otherwise deeply uncool.

Saracen are the gods of uncoolness.

Posted 1 year ago #
cynic-al - Member

Used to love Specialized, hate Cannondales, based on what the shop I worked in sold vs competitor shop!

Not really bothered about brands any more bar Nicolais & Intense being overpriced & ugly/overpriced respectively, and Santa Cruz branding working for me, except the new linkage nonsense.

Posted 1 year ago #
still s8tannorm - Member

I'm with you there ... Specialized just not cool. Seem to be the silver BMW / Audi of the bike world, very "safe" and suited to those with little imagination IMO

Anybody about to take offence at the above comment ... don't, you haven't seen some of the shite I ride!

Posted 1 year ago #
hungry monkey - Member

cool:
focus
'dale
scapin
custom steel frames

uncool:
any FS
5:10s
fox forx

Posted 1 year ago #
singlespeedstu - Member

One mans cool is another mans niche/mainstream tat.

Posted 1 year ago #
richmtb - Member

Having a bike that can be ridden where there aren't any roads is cool.

Branding is just a way for manufacturers to pretend there almost identical products are different in some way

Posted 1 year ago #
Elfinsafety - Member

How on Earth can a flipping bicycle be 'cool'? Unless it has a particular history/pedigree, like an old hand built bike from Nottingham, or something that belonged to a famous racer/adventurer.

'Cool' is something that cannot be bought. Regardless of price.

Posted 1 year ago #
Grapefruit - Member

"Branding is just a way for manufacturers to pretend there almost identical products are different in some way"

Spot on! That's brought a smile to my face that has.

Posted 1 year ago #
julianwilson - Member

Although undoubtedly great bikes, Lapierre is somehow becoming the new silver audi A4 of the mtb world.

*hides*

Posted 1 year ago #
davidtaylforth - Member

I cant think of too many cool bike companies, probably Dialled for doing bmx stuff, and DMR cos they had/have(?) done quite alot for uk dirt jump stuff back in the day.

Lapierre - Seriously uncool, ridden/liked by uncool middle aged well off bmw drivers.

Also, being a boutique brand doesnt mean cool. Ive got an old Cotic bfe which you may think is a cool bike/brand, but the release of the new cheaper BFe has seen a load of them appearing with the classically uncool dual ring/bash setup and LT forks. These are then ridden by people who cant jump or ride down flights of stairs.

Posted 1 year ago #
shortcut - Member

OK - will throw my hat in the ring because I have an opinion.

Specialised - not cool. The bike people buy when they can't be bothered to do research and find anything nice. Nothing wrong with them, I just don't like them.
Kona - cooler than specialized but not got a great image now days. They used to be cool but aren't now.
Gary Fisher - becoming less dorky and pointless - probably because of the 29er thing. I have one now but wouldn't have dreamt of it 3 or 4 years ago.
Santa Cruz - quite cool but not that cool. Can be trying too hard.
Cotic - soul, soda, simple - all cool. Not so sure about the others. Need to get a 29er into the range. Steer clear of full suss - loosing something in the coolness stakes and upping the chances of doing something that doesn't work.
Turner - less cool than with Horst links.
Trek - I don't care. Better than specialised though.
GT - has been! I liked the old Zaskar but anything since about 1997 is not cool.
Giant - yeah - big brand cool. I admire their own design full suss.
Whyte - hardtails good, full suss ugly and trying too hard. Still not got over the Preston.
Singular - very cool. Need proper hose guides though.
On One - what is with the new colours! Ouch! Carbon stuff is good though. Ti stuff is ace.
Ragley - again with those colours. TD1 Very cool.
DeKerf - You like quality - go here! Love them.
Cove - less cool than they were. A bit too hardcore now.
Dawes - worse than Specialised.
Boardman - I bought my bike on bike to work. Wish it had a different name on the down tube - Specialised would be better. But the product is actually very good.
Marin - I don't want a specialised and like complicated, heavy looking suspension.
Yeti - is there an uncool one? No!
Titus - lovely boutique brand.

Thats my 5 minutes worth!

Posted 1 year ago #
messiah - Member

A few old rules...

Cannondale - the joke always used to be that they looked good on the top of your BMW as you drove around the town centre with your shades on trying to look cool. The owners never actually rode them so how they handled was unimportant... the only thing that has changes these days is they are now on the roof of Audi's (BMW man's new car of choice )

Specialized - the Siera/Mondeo of the MTB world - this monicer moved onto Santa Cruz a few years back and is currently turning orange.

Marin - for people with beards who speak as if they have blocked noses and know all the specs of all the bikes - beardy brochure whores or do more MTB magazine study than riding.

Posted 1 year ago #
hungry monkey - Member

How on Earth can a flipping bicycle be 'cool'? Unless it has a particular history/pedigree, like an old hand built bike from Nottingham, or something that belonged to a famous racer/adventurer.

'Cool' is something that cannot be bought. Regardless of price.

because 'cool' is a social construct that can be constructed by the individual in any which way they want. you're 'cool' is another man's boring piece of irrellevant history.

HTH

Posted 1 year ago #
khani - Member

Saracen are the gods of uncoolness.

Saracen have accelerated wildly past the cool event horizon, gone past uncool and have gone into anticool,
Which is cool

Posted 1 year ago #
JonR - Member

So Specialized and Lapierre are tha BMW and Audi of the bike world.

Does this make Santa Cruz the Porsche as they are expensive and nice but you see a lot of them about?

Posted 1 year ago #
buzz-lightyear - Member

Sod cool. Fashion is overrated.

But I confess, that I think this is cool and would love to own one:

It's so functional and inexpensive in design (short, jumpy, lively, 1x9, cable discs), no pretentiousness or bling or exotica. And yet it crosses over several MTB disciplines easily (hacking about the woods, 4x, jumps, light DH, pump tracks, urban), and the graphics are bold and modern and yet somehow understated and artistic. So yes I think Charge are cool because their bikes are designed with a style and a look for themselves. They are not designed as niche fillers to compare with other makers' bikes.

They ride their own line.

Posted 1 year ago #
hooja - Member

lapierre is as uncool as speacialised.
speacialized = mondeo man
lapierre = audi man
mondeo man has become audi man
therefore neither are cool but are bought by people who think they are cool.
now not giving a monkeys about the new must have bike/parts and just building up the right bike for you bespoke and not giving a toss what others think, is the only way to be cool.
in fact scratch that, how can you be even slightly cool when your a grown adult mincing around on a push bike!
i am not cool, but i do think steel is real

Posted 1 year ago #
Grapefruit - Member

"Saracen have accelerated wildly past the cool event horizon, gone past uncool and have gone into anticool,
Which is cool"

Khani - good to see the spirit of Douglas Adams is still alive and well.

Fantastic!

Posted 1 year ago #
Elfinsafety - Member

Saracen have accelerated wildly past the cool event horizon, gone past uncool and have gone into anticool,
Which is cool

True dat, innit?

Posted 1 year ago #
peachos - Member

asking how something/someone can be cool is cool...right?!

Posted 1 year ago #
tron - Member

Specialized riders always look incredibly serious. That makes them uncool as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure the bikes are lovely though.

Nicolai make by far the coolest looking mountain bikes.

Kona make the coolest looking road bikes.

Posted 1 year ago #
Anna Jones - Member

I bought my Zesty because the colour went with my Mini, haha. Mini is owned by BMW though

Posted 1 year ago #
Elfinsafety - Member

because 'cool' is a social construct that can be constructed by the individual in any which way they want. you're 'cool' is another man's boring piece of irrellevant history.

I spose so actually. Good point.

To me, the bicycle as being the focal point for something being 'cool', is in things like the Tour De France, Bellville Rendezvous, Brigitte Bardot sat on one, Albert Hoffman having his first acid trip on one, the myth of the French resplendent in berets and stripy jumpers festooned with onions, the baker's lad pushing his bike up a steep hill in Devon, Chris Hoy winning Olympic gold, people in far away lands riding bicycles with several tonnes of stuff on them, that sort of thing.

Not some nasty logo-bedecked bit of plastic sat in a shop window.

But that's just me.

Posted 1 year ago #
tommid - Member

Coolest brand out there is Surly. Here endeth the thread.

Posted 1 year ago #
Jamie - Member

Saracen are the gods of uncoolness.

Nah.

Posted 1 year ago #
ditch_jockey - Member

The horst link Turner 5 Spot must be heading rapidly towards retro-cool these days! Trying to decide whether to keep mine as 'tatty old classic' or strip it down and send it off to Argos for a respray.

in a similar vein, if I ride my old 'Blue Dragon' Kaffenback with a sense of irony, can it also be retro-chic?

Posted 1 year ago #
10pmix - Member

I saw a guy recently on an old specialized fsr re-done in old school bmx colours (Raleigh burner blue frame with yellow tyres, grips etc.) and he looked totally cool to me.

Anyway its how their ridden that makes them cool. This is why middle aged men in Lamborghinis sitting in traffic jams in Chelsea are not cool.

Posted 1 year ago #
samuri - Member

The most unfortunate irony in all of this is that while some bicycles and bicycle companies may well be cool, most of the people who ride them are not and that invariably, stops them being cool.

Pinarello being a case in point.

In *my eyes* (see above for uncool association), the only really cool bikes are custom, simple and horrendously unavailable.

It's titanium, everything. Even the saddle and spokes. It goes in the fridge.

Posted 1 year ago #
hooja - Member

been pontificating since first post and the conclusion i have now drawn is that, spending the amount of money the average working family can scrape together for a family car on a bloody push bike can never and will never be cool, therefore thinking you are cool cruising around on you £2k+ push bike, whatever it is, is actually the antithesis of cool.
If you have that much disposable income, instead of spunking it away on toy, spend it on something less self serving.
Now going back to your roots and trying to build a bike that suits your needs for under £500, like we all did when kids, apart from the silver spooners of course and then ripping up your friends on their stupidly overpriced ego massagers, that would be cool.

Posted 1 year ago #
RestlessNative - Member

face it bicycles are nerdy not cool

motorbikes are cool

Posted 1 year ago #
jl. - Member

Cotic - cool (I don't need one but really, really WANT one).

Giant. I started riding in the mid 90s and I've always thought of them as "good value" but never cool. Now I'm not so sure. They make some great bikes for the money, are designed and built really well , ride great and if the anthems are anything to go by, are really light for their price... still don't really want one but if Giant isn't cool at least it's doing cool things.

Posted 1 year ago #