I love this bike and it rides perfectly despite all of the cheep or very old parts. I have just given it lots of TLC and got it ready for the winter but still everyone that see this bike has the same comment. “I imagine it rides well but it is ugly”


Why is this bike ugly?

Your stem is way too long!

What am I looking at here?? There appears to be a dirty great brown turd next to that fence??? ….none intended 😉

It doesn’t have enough gears. Other than that it looks ok.

yup change stem & seatpost to something posh & it’ll be a looker. The saddle is a bit of a minger too 🙂

mismatched graffics (multi coloured)/fork (shiney)/rest of bike (stealth black).

Doesn’t look that bad, forks are a bit ugly and the stem seems a bit long for a small bike but I’ve seen worse.

Forks don’t compliment the frame, the rim brake compatable rear isn’t a good look with the disc only front.

I wouldnt say ugly, but its a bit monochromatic for my tastes. Saddle looks a bit sofa like and seatpost a bit too much showing.

i) Long stem makes it look a bit ‘unbalanced’, in a feng shui way.
2) Massive clumpy saddle.
c) The aforementioned saddle is nose down, which mings.
iv) The decals are truely awful. De-sticker it and it’ll look 100% better.

My guesses on why they’d say that(not neccessarily my opinons):
Stem too long
Saddle pointing nose-down
Fuggly looking graphics (what frame is that?)
Too much seatpost showing
Use of tensioner on chain, doesn’t look as clean as sliding dropouts etc
fork lowers don’t match colour of frame

Doesn’t matter anyway – it’s your bike, and you have fun riding it. job done.

valves and logos not lined up 😉

but seriously, apart from the clashing paint job, it looks fine to me, plenty more fugly bikes out there

Mismatched rims
Mismatched tyres
Mismatched spoke nipples
Mismatched valve caps
Tyre logos not lined up with valve caps
Naff fork decals
Saddle at wonky angle
Singleator
Hideous frame decals

Seems to be quite a concensus forming.

Get a half link to take some slack out of the chain.
Sorry but I just hate tensioners on SS bikes – yuk !

(Slidey dropouts for me all the way…)

Ugly ‘does the job, nae fuss’ bikes have a glamour of their own IMO …

You do need to magic ratio it or something though.

A bike can’t be ugly unless it costs over a grand (mebbe even two)

up to that, it’s just a bike IMO – why should it have to be pretty ?

at least you haven’t tried too hard appearance-wise & failed (I hope 😳 )

Yeah, to be honest the overall proportions are right and it’s just the details that are wrong. But as far as dirty and functional goes, happy days.

Its a mess, the bottom line is you need to spend money on it and fast

leave it be if it works. its a bike, not a poodle 😉

The way the top and bottom of the chain run parallel looks clunky, the seat looks cheap, and get rid of the v-brake bosses.

If you can be bothered, I personally wouldn’t care about it too much.

In all honesty, that is quite a nice looking fence. Try standing your bike next to something less attractive – like an Austin Allegro.

The only thing I’d change (if you like the riding position) is the frame. Then you could get one the right size.

But while I don’t mind a chain tensioner on a singlespeed, I do like them to be set the other way, push up.

Yes. The fence looks better!

Boring grey.

I don’t really care that it is ugly, I ride it thus don’t spend much time looking at it. The reason i ask is that nobody could say why it looked ugly but just said it didn’t look right so i was interested to know why.

I think the siny fork and bright frame decails that throw everything off.

Seriously though… it’s a bike and you ride it for fun.

Who gives a **** what it looks like. As long as your happy.

Personally it looks good IMO.

You’ve taken a saddle from an antique & spilt orange paint on the frame?

Too many black bits, and the graphics are gash. And the frame’s too small, so the stem ends up a bit over-long, the same with the seatpost. I think even if the colour scheme were lovely, it’d still look wrong purely from a proportions point of view.

Saddle is the worst thing for me, take a link out of the chain and maybe do what BigJohn says and go for push up rather than down. The braking rim looks wrong due to mismatch. Generally the frame graphics are ugly, stealth it up imo.

Just noticed is the back tyre wider than front tyre? – that looks wrong.

It’s a singlespeed. There’s your problem.

The only thing I’d change (if you like the riding position) is the frame. Then you could get one the right size.

Brilliant. So if he likes the riding position, the only thing he should change is the part that more than any other would change the riding position?

Yeah, do that. Then it’ll be ugly and crap to ride 🙂

Looks fine.
But mines a frankenbike too. if it does the job it’s designed for then why worry about what others think. I don’t.

If your mates told you your wife/GF/BF was a minger would you change her/him even though she/he serves your purposes perfectly?

Ride it and love it.

1) Get a new saddle
2) Remove frame graphics
3) Spray the rear rims braking surface black

Job done.

Dogs n their owners? Perhaps they were making a pass at you?

Mismatched front & rear wheels
Graphics of frame & fork clash
Saddle looks rather large.

Aside from that, it looks OK IMO.

Be sure to repost a pic when it’s had the STW advice make-over 🙂

the loooong rising stem looks weird, and the nose of your saddle points down a bit.

those forks are pretty old, are they a bit short for the frame? it looks like the head angle is a bit steep – but that’s probably just me.

it looks better in the the second photo…

It’s been said a couple of times already, but that frame looks too small.

e.g. long stem, setback seatpost at a loooong extension.

if it fits and feels ok why do you care what people think?

It’s a bike not a fashion accessory, none of this ‘ooh the forks don’t match’ ect crap from me some people are just fannys cos you don’t fit into their ideal box.

it’s not ugly – it’s a hack bike… bits and bobs hacked together to create a loveable XC steed… it’s not pretty, but it’s functional.

level the saddle and that’s as good as it’ll get.

I presume it’s an XC machine primarily for flatland (southern) riding.. and if so, then the stem is probably about right length if you find it right?

if it was for more varied terrain, then yup as others said, that stem is to long and it’ll put to much weight forwards on descents.

my guess is you don’t realy care that much…