[Closed] What makes a good looking bike... (thread 76)

For hardtails, a straight line from top tube to seat stays.

a straight line from top tube to seat stays

disagree.

straight skinny tubes classic diamond.

Things that look good will be:
Simple
Flowing (as in no jarring, difficult to resolve bits)
Uncomplicated
Look purposeful - as in a sports car needs to look fast when stationary
Well balances - so nothing that leads the eye to one bit more than any other bit
Colour and choice of colour also make a big impact, too busy and it spoils the whole look

disagree.

straight skinny tubes classic diamond.

Nah, that's a gate. Those days have gone - OK for a retro build but not for a modern hardtail.

Nah, that’s a gate. Those days have gone – OK for a retro build but not for a modern hardtail.

I'm not talking horizontal toptube, you're describing a jump bike not a good looking bike.

disagree.

straight skinny tubes classic diamond.

What counts as classic diamond?

For example, I'd say this

https://www.cotic.co.uk/product/BFeMAX

Looks better than this

https://www.cotic.co.uk/product/solarisMAX

The BFe very nearly conformes with my 90 degree rule, and very nearly with TallPaul's straight line rule. The toptube on the solaris max is too high to my mind.

I simply don't care.... I don't pay much attention to it when buying a bike, i buy the bike becasue it's the best bike for the need i want, not because of the shape of it.

I know many don't like the shape of my Whye G160, but it rides like a dream, so it's what i have.

For example, I’d say this

https://www.cotic.co.uk/product/BFeMAXp

looks better

Whereas I'd say anything with a brace between the seat tube and top tube looks fussy and not particularly pleasing to my eye...

The eye of the beholder.

For example, I’d say this
> https://www.cotic.co.uk/product/BFeMAX < Looks better than this > https://www.cotic.co.uk/product/solarisMAX

Agree and it is to do with the top tube presumably because the second is a bigger size so has to have a longer seat tube?. And size is something which can make a bike look good or not. For road bikes a 54 - 56cm looks good whereas a 48 looks too little with big wheels and 58 and above look like gates.

The eye of the beholder

This , end of thread.

The BFE looks slightly better because the short seat tube hides the difference in seat and head angle more. The Solaris looks like the bottom of the forks have been pulled forward too much. I know slack head angles are all the rage but they are not aesthetically pleasing. All IMHO obviously.

finbar

Whereas I’d say anything with a brace between the seat tube and top tube looks fussy and not particularly pleasing to my eye…

Agree totally (and I own a BFe), but the rest of the points made are correct also. I'd prefer the Solaris with a dropped top tube.

Sonder ruined the signal with a MASSIVE brace

I like the look of a hardtail (and FS) with the top tube and seat stays inline (happy for them to be skinnier than the TT).

I think that steep seat angles ruin the look of a bike (regardless of weather they ride better or not.
- I like the front centre and rear centre to be in proportion.
- I like a nice shortish seat tube/standover
- And I think that seat tube braces and extended seat tubes (above the TT) look ugly as well.
This is probably why I’m not a fan of the look of most modern LLS bikes even though I usually enjoy riding them.

I like horizontal shocks over vertically mounted ones as well.

And after all of that I still really liked the look of my 2012 Orange Alpine 160.

That BFe would be a nice bike if they got rid of the seat tube brace. The Solaris is nice as well.

That Sonder is a perfect example of how to make a bike more ugly.

That BFe's still slightly wrong, the centre of the seat stays should flow into the centre of the top tube. The old shape 26s and mk1 650B BFes got it wrong too, even if they were awesome frames, the round wishbone just jarred the lines too much at that junction with the ovalised top tube.

edit- the mk1 Switchback still rides ace but [i]looks[/i] too short now (it's not, it's the right length for me) and the 4X is just ****ing gorgeous-

[img] [/img]

The opposite of every decision made in this design.

That switchback does look ace...

It's the 4X rather than the Switchback, but yes, it's ace.

On a hardtail I like the top tube and seat stays to meet at the same place on the seat tube.

For a full suss this:

Nice lines, nice proportions and rides like a dream

😍😍😍😍😍

😜

Sonder ruined the signal with a MASSIVE brace

eye of the beholder - I think that looks ace. Colour excepted.

It combines my 90 degree rule, with the straight line through to the axle, plus the low down kink in the seat tube means seat and heat tube angles are almost the same, avoiding the squashed in the middle look of many modern bikes. Even the cable routing is neat.

at 6ft 3in I thought I'd never have a bike with the straight line from top tube to seat stay, but my new frame is 99% there. Ignore the rest of the build, but the frame meets a lot of my definitions of 'good looking' 😀

I'll happily take a brace to get the super low top tube.

[img] [/img]

That Whyte. The 90's gave us a brilliant decade for music, bikes.... not so much.

I may be biased but if it looks like a Mk1 Cotic Soul it will look stunning

ayjaydoubleyou

seat and heat tube angles are almost the same,

I actually dislike that about it too, just looks too slack in the seat tube for me, although that's maybe a case of function informing what I think looks good.

@tallpaul1 - that's going to have a serious gear range with the Eagle & pinion combo 🙂

that’s going to have a serious gear range with the Eagle & pinion combo

12 speed? Pah, 144 speed is where it's at. 😀 😉

That was a 'I've been waiting so bloody long for these parts that I'm going to stick my current bike wheels on it to see what it looks like' moment.

Surprised nobody has mentioned a straight down tube, surely there has got to be a better solution to fitting in a shock and bottle than the pregnant front triangle look lots of enduro bikes now have.

Surprised nobody has mentioned a straight down tube

Good point, though I did want one of these *so* badly in the mid 90s. I suspect its just rose-tinted spectacles making me think it still looks good now.

[img] [/img]

EDIT: It does have an almost perfect 90 degree angle between the forks and toptube though!

Modraker Foxy XR Carbon from 2015. Just something about the lines and the promise of something different thanks to the top tube shape. Stunningly pretty. The colours helped too.

EDIT: It does have an almost perfect 90 degree angle between the forks and toptube though!

And tbf the kink in the downtube (which I normally dislike) is matched by the kink in the seatstay at the dropout.

Seat tube parallel to the forks and a straight line from the top tube to seat stays.

An example of the opposite is this monstrosity:

Ugly Bike

Looks like the rear end has bottomed out, and the almost upright seat tube looks like a Picasso sketch.

People have commented on how nice my bike looks before and I'm inclined to agree with them. Simple pleasing lines,nice elegant looking narrow tubes and a 32 mm fork to match. Shame it's usually covered in mud 🙂

For hardtails, a straight line from top tube to seat stays.

Full sus too!
Cinto/Tarvo, Spur, Izzo

Yeah, that Slackline is a lovely clean design, and the red paint doesn't hurt either. Not quite the straight line from top tube to seat tube, but the seat stays blend in really nicely.

And with hardtails it helps if the forks aren’t too long or chunky. Otherwise the top tube becomes too steep when combined with a short seat tube and seat stays that meet the top tube.

Fussy beggars ain’t we!
And straight tubes with minimal hydroforming

I’ll happily take a brace to get the super low top tube.

No, I'm in the braces-are-for-supporting-weak-or-incorrect-things camp.

There's no need for them to exist, given the available range in length of dropper posts.

The answer is an Orange 5 right?

Currently I like all Spesh full suss, except stumpys although I do like the last gen stumpy. Most yeti look good, some transition like the spur. Colour is important. Orbea occam is nice.

All hardtails have that nice look, my favourite was the Charge blender ti.

Put me in the saddle of any good looking bike I could make it look fugly.

I don't agree with the top tube-seat tube has to be a straight line thing, especially with huge travel forks. And taking it too far so the top tube is steeper than the seatstays (eg Sick Gnarcissist) just looks like the frame is broken.....

A few days ago this was widely regarded as a stunning bike:

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/new-bike-day-custom-29plus/

Big wheels and a decent paint job

Personally, I don't like a bendy tube, on a FS or an HT. A good few years ago it looked like there was a bendy top tube and down tube on just about everything, like someone had pre-crashed all the bikes into a wall. I'm glad that's gone away, for the most part, anyway.

Lovely lines, I'd like that in a brightly coloured (single colour) frame though. too many variations of silver with the frame, suspension and cranks.

Im gona throw it out there cause nobody else has yet...

Tanwalls 😏

Im gona throw it out there cause nobody else has yet…

Tanwalls

What, as something to avoid doing you mean? 😝

Just to add I think there is something in the straight line from top tube to seat stays. Sadly my Marino is slightly off that - I think if I’d made the seat tube slightly longer it could have been a perfect straight line.

Also some of the modern angles on certain bikes (looking at you ‘Hello Dave’) are too much and make bikes look squashed / broken. Usually too steep a seat angle combined with too slack a head angle.