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intense is beautiful
ellsworth is absolutely shocking, like some one else has said its like 2 bikes mashed together
don't mind the swoopy front end end and curves, but that rocker on the back is absolutely one of the most disgusting designs ive ever seen, it looks like a kona from about 10 years ago (which were never pleasing on the eye!)
intense is very very nice (very spesh as someone mentioned), but that's no bad thing
dare I say it but id almost be embarrassed to be seen riding on that ellsworth
danrandon - Member
Sod what they look like. Which rides better and suits your riding style is what matters
Except in a thread discussing aesthetics maybe?...
Is everything you have utterly useful with no consideration to how it looks?
We've had plenty of good examples in history where function as the only consideration for things just doesn't work. We aren't machines, we appreciate beautiful things and how things look affect pretty much everything we desire (including other humans...)
That Ellsworth may be the best performing bicycle ever made, but if it's utterly uncompromisingly excruciatingly hideous, a complete mish mash of ideas, forms and style then very few people will desire it.
Let's not pretend that how it looks hasn't been considered either. It obviously has. It's just that, they got it wrong....very, very, very wrong.
Design is an evolution. It's quite rare that something truly radical looking comes along. It may share similar lines to the latest Trek, or Spesh but what should it look like to be different for the sake of it?
It's form reflects current technologies. Most manufacturers are doing things with carbon and they will tend to share similar traits due to what can currently be done with that material and the technology used to fashion it.
I think a lot of things at the top end of production can look similar. Cars, kayaks, food processors, bicycles... It's often because they're optimised.
That Ellsworth is optimised for ugliness... 😀
I prefer the look of the Intense, but it's not astonishingly appealing . Those long chain stays for those [u]cartwhee er 29" wheels just look wrong despite obviously needing to accommodate the wheel.
I prefer the front triangle on the Ellsworth but the linkage and rear triangle look awful, so overall the Intense is more aesthetically pleasing.
Elsworth looks crap but why does that matter. I remember when I saw my first impezza wrx with its functional so ugly it would still be single in a room single IT engineers. However when you did pick it up...