[Closed] Bike Aesthetics

Intense.

because it's two triangles.

If the seat stays meet the seat tube at the same place the top tube does then it's even better.

You ride an Orange 5 with flat bars.

Ergo, you know absolutely sweet FA about it.

(Obviously the Ellsworth gops the fat one. Too many lines, changes in tube shape, bends- it isn't "easy" to look at)

Fugly linkage on the Ellsworth.

The Intense is beautiful..

The Ellesworth is some kind of scary and sinister hallowe'en costume designed to scare the beejeezus out of all that cast their woebegone eyes over it's hideous mutated countenance..?

Is this a trick question..?

Intense is better to look at, but the Ellsworth appears to have more manageable cable routing

silhouette wise:

the intense looks good, the 'chainstay' forming a line with the top tube.

the Ellsworth looks like it's being held open, like the bonnet on a car, so, there's a bit of my brain that thinks 'that's broken down that is'

however, i can forgive the Ellsworth's looks, because i do like a proper long-link 4bar (ex Hemlock owner, great bike btw)

both look like they're trying too hard though, too much gold/bling, too many big logos, bikes for chavs.

Ellsworth
[img] [/img]

The Intense looks purposeful and aggressive where as the Ellsworth looks melted.

Smoother, less interrupted lines make for a nicer looking bike. So the Intense for me out of those two, although I wouldn't personally buy either.

Love the intense, although the wheel logos are a bit much.

Ellsworth has a horribly ugly linkage, doesn't have a proper two-triangle shape, has a hideous FSA chainset, nasty steep head angle, and, most crucuially, it just isn't the type of bike I'd like to ride.

Ellsworth's shoddy customer service reputation probably colours my thinking too, not that Intense are angels.

Hard to separate build form aesthetics too - hard to fault any of the parts on the Intense, whereas FSA chainset, red seatclamp, no dropper, fox forks, green (!) pedals, long stem (with rise), no dropper, 2x10 are all things about the Ellsworth that Id mentally mark it down for.

You're all wrong - the Intense doesn't have the tyre logos/valves lined up.

There's a million and one things that make up an aesthetic.
Some things not mentioned so far:
Conditioning is a massive part of it.
Association with other desirable products is also included in conditioning.

Intense profile, but Ellsworth colour scheme. Not a fan of multiple curly main tubes, and the rocker makes the lines very disjointed.

That Intense is a thing of Beauty! (The lower link will be prone to rock strikes though, like the Mk.2 SC Nomad)

The Ellsworth looks like poop - the rocker is way too long (asthetically)

Bet they both ride nice though.

I can't actually believe that bikes as aesthetically tragic as that Ellsworth ever make it off the drawing board. I mean seriously, the designer has zero aesthetic sensitivity. Just about everything is visually inharmonious. Dreadful....it actually makes me a bit annoyed... 😆

The Intense on the other hand is more than a random bag of tubing emptied out onto the floor and welded how they fell.
It's harmonious. Lines follow through and take the eye from end to end. The proportions are very well balanced, the tubing is elegant but purposeful. It's a lovely looking bike.

Do Ellsworth actually sell any of those abominations?

kayak23 - Member

Do Ellsworth actually sell any of those abominations?

Can't imagine they're flying out the door, given the discounts they're selling for at Freeborn

You're all wrong - the Intense doesn't have the tyre logos/valves lined up.

There's a million and one things that make up an aesthetic.
Some things not mentioned so far:
Conditioning is a massive part of it.
Association with other desirable products is also included in conditioning.

No, that's just good practice for taking bike photos.

Speak for yourself regarding conditioning too, as for me you could paint them both black and remove all logos/branding and I'd still prefer the lines on the Intense over the Ellsworth.

The Intense on the other hand is more than a random bag of tubing emptied out onto the floor and welded how they fell.

It's Carbon...... 😉

One has lines that draw the eye in the same direction and compliment each other generally, the other doesn't.

I preferred the aesthetic on Ellsworth's when they were all straight lines and massively milled linkages. Industrial and strong.

It's not as good now it's more organic, the softer lines don't suit it.

If you read some reviews you'll hear them say 'stunning', 'sexy', etc though. Some people must like them.

I'm not very good at this, even with the thread title the first thing that came into my mind was still, "Doesn't look like much mud clearance on the Ellsworth".

Speak for yourself regarding conditioning too, as for me you could paint them both black and remove all logos/branding and I'd still prefer the lines on the Intense over the Ellsworth.

If it was the logos that made the difference, that would be because of things like peer acceptance, previous company failures, company culture, sponsored riders that you like, have met, shops that stock them, etc, etc, etc. I accept that it isn't just this aspect involved above.

But conditioning can be far wider - An easy to understand example is cultural conditioning. One quick example - Japanese cars are required to have a pleasant 'face' or lose sales.
Of course, cultures are becoming less separated aesthetically.

To try and understand Ellsworth's appeal, I'd have to look at the american metal and rock sub cultures. It's not something I know a lot about, but the gothic font, harleys, choppers, the women that Ellsworth emply as 'booth babes', etc.
I've always found everything about the brand 'ugly' so it's no surprise that comes through in the industrial design.

Of course, that's only in addition to all the other stuff like uninterrupted lines, focal points, squatting dogs, etc.

Although there are some easy fixes on the Ellsworth - drop the saddle, put a 1x on there, use a longer lens on the camera (to slacken the front) or change the angle to front 3/4 so that the rear linkage looks smaller as it's in the distance.

AlexSimon - Member

Although there are some easy fixes on the Ellsworth - drop the saddle, put a 1x on there, use a longer lens on the camera (to slacken the front) or change the angle to front 3/4 so that the rear linkage looks smaller as it's in the distance.

Or burn it in a huge fire

Both pig ugly. Forgetting that, too much black. Alloy should be silver.

the intense looks better by far, neat lines and it just looks right. the Ellsworth looks like someones either (a) stacked the front in or (b) fitted the rear link and front triangle from two vastly different bikes together.
its not good

[quote=alandavidpetrie79 ]

The Intense on the other hand is more than a random bag of tubing emptied out onto the floor and welded how they fell.

more than a random bag of tubing emptied onto the floor and bonded how they fell.

[quote=wwaswas ]I preferred the aesthetic on Ellsworth's when they were all straight lines and massively milled linkages. Industrial and strong.
It's not as good now it's more organic, the softer lines don't suit it.

Indeed - the shitting dog front triangle would look a lot better with the Tracer's simpler back end (still shit, but less shit). That Ellsworth looks like somebody's put the front triangle of one bike together with the rear end of another and the linkage from a third.

The teeny weeny chainring ruins the otherwise flawless lines of the Tracer. Makes it look all mouth and no trousers somehow. I love the idea of 1x11 but compared to double n bash.... it just doesn't do it for me.

The Ellsworth, I love Ellsworths

But then I own a Maverick so what would I know...

The Ellsworth.

The first one looks like any other generic Taiwanese full susser.
TBH, it looks like a cheap Trek lookalike with that paint job.

The back end of the Ellsworth looks like it was designed by an engineer, not copied from a catalogue.

The Ellesworth looks all hunched up like some kind of old lady with osteoporosis... no idea why? Intense is long and slack with better lines...just easier on the eye all round.

The Ellsworth like every Ellsworth ever is horrible. It really is like they design 2 different bikes then just smash them together, curvy front and square rear. Vile. Not as bad as my Dare though.

The Intense is boring, mind, and a bit leggy. And the high seatmast is ugly and quite likely unhelpful.

Vertical rear shocks and a big rocker link look shit. Always.

Playing Devil's Advocate... are both the Intense and the Ellesworth same wheel size? The former is definitely a 29er but I'm not sure about the latter - proportion is a design factor.

I just asked the missus, who knows precisely **** all about the minutiae of modern MTB aesthetics, what she thought. She says that the Ellsworth is more pleasing, because "it has an elegant curve to it."

I assume she's looking at the back tyre or something, I dunno.

To me the Intense looks like it should work, the Ellsworth looks heavy and aesthetics are generally about defining an object based on looks alone. Slacken it off with some triple clamps an it wouldn't look any worse than most DH bikes out there. I alway felt the SX trail was a little warped by the sun but people love it.

Ellsworth for me. Like the industrial look and it has the best suspension by a country mile. I loved my elli went up hill like like a scalded monkey and was better in the rough than more burly boingy stuff like my sinister and orange 5. If it wasnt for the fact the gears are most definitely for effete ladyboys and susension for the wrak wristed and infirm I'd habe another without a second thought.

The Intense looks purposeful and aggressive where as the Ellsworth looks melted.

tazzymtb - Member
Ellsworth for me. Like the industrial look and it has the best suspension by a country mile. I loved my elli

Funny how the only person who likes the Ellsworth is the one who had a previous positive experience with the brand

Funny how the only person who likes the Ellsworth is the [i]only[/i] one who had a previous positive experience with the brand

After some consideration I have to say, my missus's opinion notwithstanding, that whilst the Ellsworth looks like a massive rocker link with a bike attached as an afterthought, the Intense looks like a Specialized. So on balance I think I'd rather look at the Ellsworth; whilst it's not appealing at least it's interesting.

i cant see past the pathetic weedy, what is that a 26t, chainring on the intense.

to those who think its 'purposeful' you should be ashamed.

if i had to pick one, bloody hell its close, but i might plumb for the intense and fix it so its rideable. but if i only had those two, i would seriously consider a road bike.

Wrecker, don't be a knobend. Yes the bike industry is wierd little clique and tony ellseorth is reputedly a bit of a cock and in the early days his rep for being a bit of an abrasive shit also affected yhe rep of the company. Yet they manufacture using alternative energy source, produce their kit in as environmentally responsible way as a manufacturer can and make some fantastic bikes. Some of the early problems eith rocker links cracking was down to trying to get stuff as light as possible, but rockers were replaced f.o.c without quibble on early bikes. A few of the early truths had issues with seat tubes failing, again a combination of light ad possible tubing and people sticking a long layback seatpost in rather than an inline like the owner's documents tell you to. So yes in some cases there will be unhappy fools who broke their bike and got told to cock off as it was their fault. With reagrds to ride quality, guys like steve worland bloody loved it and he wasn't given to talking bollocks ir bigging up bikes for the sake of it. Finally, freeborn the uk agent are top lads to deal with. So if you dont like the look of the elli, fair enough, but dont just regurgitate tired old internet forum crap as gospel without experience. For the record, ive also ownned an intense, nice bike, crap frame alignment, poor customer service in my personal experience.

Sod what they look like. Which rides better and suits your riding style is what matters

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...