Aesthetically pleasing mountain bikes

I realise that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there are some designs that are simply much nicer to look at than others. Three examples I can think of are…

Look 986

Trek Sawyer

Mondraker Podium

What say you?

The 1st and 3rd look like the same bike to me (and yuk), do you not like stems? the 2nd is nice.

I like the look of retro bikes like the Orange clockwork.

You appear to have a thing for bikes that look like labradors shitting.

haha labradors shitting yeah. neither those nor retro frames look good to me. i like the look of modern FS bikes. hardtails can look ok if they have modern geometry, taper headtube and lots of hydroforming. but no big gussets or extra tubes please. so yeah everyone is different i guess.

They are all fashion/form over function for me i’m afraid, none of them look elegant nor anything i would desire to own.

Chipps did a review of a frame way back in issue 4 of singletrack that i fell in love wi so much that i ordered and bought one,

It’s still my fav bike ever despite being very broken at the moment, a bike should be collection of simple steel or titanium triangles and pleasing to the eye, function before form but form will follow a well designed functional design.

My second fav is my new Hummer,

I dislike plastic bikes and alloy hydroformed tubing, but i can live with plastic forks as i can’t afford to get Jeff to build me a truss fork out of titanium.

And for some reason i love the design of Jeffs frames/bikes, they ride so well there must be some sort of witchcraft involved, at some point in my life i will own a full custom Jones.

>They are all fashion/form over function for me i’m afraid, none of them look elegant nor anything i would desire to own.<

Pot, kettle, ugly stick…

😉

there was statement made over on BM that was along the lines of

the attractiveness of a designers bike was proportional to the amount of sex they got.

with the general conclusion that Cy was a very tired man.

I like the second one

I could look at my SB66c all night, and sometimes I do as its in my lounge, but I guess everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife (or something like that)?
I like the look of the Look but not enough to buy.

(ducks)

I’m with Somafunk on this one, 2 triangles, with straight smallish tubes, no unecessary swoops or curves that just put bending loads into the middle of tubes (the ultimate engineering no-no imo).

Unfortunately, the engineer in me can’t accept the Jones designs as they stray from this golden rule.

There are a couple of full bouncers i like the look of, i guess the Mojo is pretty decent for a plastic bike:

Not exactly beautiful, but not gopping either, and probably the same for a Spicy:

For a DH bike, this is surely one of the best looking frames:

But you just can’t beat simple:

😉

You appear to have a thing for bikes that look like labradors shitting.

Being the owner of a labrador myself, now you say it I can see exactly what you mean! The Mondraker particularly, but I still love the look of the thing. Odd.

do you not like stems?

Not when my amazeballs are flung into them! But I do like the uninterrupted top tube to bars the integrated stem creates.

not biased at all….

The Cotic above is the one for me. That sort of design. Each to their own though.

a jeff jones space fame is not aesthetically pleasing. it is however a brilliant bit engineering of function, then worry about the form bit after, which is why they are some of the best riding bikes ever made.

I like the simple lines of steel framed bikes. Cotic Rocket is a nice looking bike IMO. For downhill I have seen a few Norco frames I like the look of.

Tazzy, what’s that? It’s lovely…

The Mojo is nice the rest are awful.

Jesus Christ. My poor beautiful eyes. This thread should have a warning

For a twattyniner tazzy has posted the nicest bike so far. The rest gop (bar the cotic, soulcraft and orange, they’re just normal)

I’m not a dhiller but I love the look of GTs latest dh bike

Houns – Member
For a twattyniner tazzy has posted the nicest bike so far. The rest gop (bar the cotic, soulcraft and orange, they’re just normal)

Yup. I had to re-read the title and the first post, thinking I’d mis read “ugly bikes” somewhere, then go and get the eye-bleach.

Been wanting this since I first saw it. Looks immense

+1 for the Cotic. Old style simple Steel/ Ti frames look the best.

it’s an Engin. gorgeous frames and they do ikkle wheels for those that haven’t got off their “my first mountain bike” 😆

😀

a good old classic steel frame like the old KOna’s or like that lovely fillet brazed 853 Killi Flyer that keeps popping up on classifieds. Stick some nice bits on that 120mm forks and I reckon you are good to go fo most uk riding.

I do really like the look of the Dialled Alpine – so much so that I swapped my Prince Albert for one.

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And there’s something about a square tubed Pace that is proper nice 8)

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I agree. Alpine’s a nice looking bike for bumpy stuff. I don’t think any full sussers look good. that whole jumble of rear shock makes a bike look messy.

The Engin website showcases some rather beautiful bikes, looks like i’m gonna have to add an Engin to my “if i were rich?” wish list.

Now, i’m not a great one for keeping any of my bikes, however nice, wrapped up in cotton wool, i’d rather get out and fall off ride them, but those Engins are surely getting close to a bit too loverly to ruin??

Engins are surely getting close to a bit too loverly to ruin??

nah, the loveliest looking bikes are those with battle scars.

agreed Snapierre look good. especially the dropouts. i just find it hard to separate what it does from what it looks like, so always thinking how well a design might ride, not as an art project.
to get ****: a bike should have feminine curves, but also some manly straight lines.

things that look good to me:
blackwall tyres on black rims, air shocks, long parallel looking forks and seatposts, stems that point up, low riser bars, metal bar end caps (do not underestimate them!), adjustable seatposts that don’t have boots on (it’s to do with the balance of a fork stanchion against seattube stanchion), brown leather saddles/grips, muted colours and bare metal, square fork arches.

try not to mix forged parts with CNC parts, one or the other. particularly applies to stems and brakes.

wow that got really specific. i need help.

this 😉 I have sorted the brake lines!
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20120923_141043[1][/url] by Richard Munro[/url], on Flickr
this also just sold it 🙄

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DSCF2196[1][/url] by Richard Munro[/url], on Flickr

tazzymtb – Member

a jeff jones space fame is not aesthetically pleasing. it is however a brilliant bit engineering of function, then worry about the form bit after, which is why they are some of the best riding bikes ever made.

As the owner of a Jones Ti spaceframe i’d have to agree with Taz.

Not the best looking bike ever but by **** do they ride nice. 😀

The really funny thing is when people accuse them of being form over function. 😆

My current fav’s

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Shand Stoater[/url] by shandcycles[/url], on Flickr

The niner wins. Tis’ gorgeous that intet?!

I am afraid nothing beats a nice hardtail. The Orange Clockwork looked brillian back in the day as did the old Klein, Pace and Roberts frames.