Bling or Stealth?

I’ve always been one for building my bikes with a lot of bling on them, lots of anodised red parts and that sort of thing.
Over the last 6 month I’ve gradually replaced all the ano parts and replaced them with black-going for the stealth look now.
My mate said I was just going through a faze and would regret it then buy the bling stuff back again. I think its more my age (38) and not wanting to stand out as much as when your young. So we thought we’d put it to the STW vote. Bling or stealth and does it depend on age?

stealth, albeit good quality stealth. (38)

Im a veteran this year…

My 456c is stickerless matt with all black bits

My enduro is like a xmas tree with barnoldswicks finest red bits.

So both!

I did all the red stuff on my first bike. Red ano hope QRs, seat clamp, bar ends, etc, etc. Then I spent cash i didn’t really have on Panaracer tyres with red sidwwalls. That was the final straw, I hated it.

Have had a simple rule since for components. “Get the black one”. Works every time.

It depends which bike it is. Usuaully I go for stealth with a few bits of bling to highlight stuff.

Ti Hardtail is mainly black stuff, with a few red highlights, mainly component branding.

Road bike is a hodge podge, but the new one is going to be all black components to highlight the metallic candy red custom frame I’m having made.

Full sus is showered in blue anodising to highlight the blue on the inside of the Gates Centretrack belt.

I’m 35.

Massive bling whore here! If it’s not available in Orange it isn’t going on my Bike.

One of my lastest hauls from CRC:

Although with all the bike thieving going on I think stealth may be wiser in the future!

@ makeitorange haha fair play to you…the clue is in the name eh 😉

I like both and still have bling and stealth bikes (38)

I’m a big fan of less is more. Although totally “stealth” bikes are duller than a Thackeray novel. One or two nice components on a single colour frame always looks cool. I like CK mango.

Colour coordinated cable outers are trying too hard 🙂

The trick is “stealth bling” i.e. blingy and trick but not obviously so. People in the “know” should look and go, “ooh, nice” otherwise it shouldn’t stand out too much 😉

+1 on the stealth bling.

having said that my black and green c456 isn’t the most stealthy bike 😐

I’m more for functionality now that either. e.g A Deore Crank is more value for my money than a Raceface Atlas. Or the money can then be spent on better rubber or day trips away instead etc. I don’t believe there’s a difference in the real world between an SLX mech and an XTR mech for 99% of people, so i run the cheaper.

+1 on the stealth bling.

I use the following equation to decide what bits to buy.

1. Will it work?
2. Is it the cheapest option that fulfils number 1?
3. What colour do I like that fulfils both 1 and 2?

Which is why I have pink handlebars.

i fully subscribe to stealth bling. trick quality parts in stealth colours. the sort of thing that people have to look twice at to realise what it is.

a bit of proper bling is good now and again. so long as its not gold.

Stealth gets my vote …. I swapped a neon green Specialized Pitch Pro for a grey Stanton Slackline.

Wheeling it through town the other day, I heard a chav say to his mate “sh&t bike”. It made me smile

I am 40 btw

+1 for stealth bling.

I’m more a fan of less garish but not late 90’s stealth black frames and black parts at the moment. Stuff that just looks like a bike.

road = stealth
mtb = a bit of blue (and no white anything at all)

If the frame isn’t busy with decals/colours, contrasting hubs/headset/bb is nice. For a loud frame, stealth kit. If you go bling, use a single highlight colour, otherwise it looks cheap quickly.

Always liked a bit of colour until now. Raw spesh pitch frame with black reverb, black stem, black bars, rawed the brake mounts even, black cranks, black pedals 🙂

My current object of bling desire:

Looks like its a thumbs up for stealth at the moment. I agree with maxtorque about the stealth and bling

Building up a raw scandal and just took delivery of race face atlas gold bars that are a good match to gold headset and gold stem, gold bb too. Going to be ordering some merlin wheels with gold hubs, a gold seatpost and pedals……so thats a silver and gold bike…….I like stealth!! Im 41. Have other understated bikes, above build will only be coming out on sunny dry days so it dazzles everybody

ps…….anyone got any gold cranks to sell??

rob jackson – Member

Always liked a bit of colour until now. Raw spesh pitch frame with black reverb, black stem, black bars, rawed the brake mounts even, black cranks, black pedals

Just done the same, raw bike, black everything else, bar some gold chainring bolts that I might swap for black.

SIB 😯

>Bling or stealth and does it depend on age?<

Sadly not – plenty off old duffers around sporting some truly tasteless creations.

Having said that I’m currently using a pair of gold bars and a gold stem but only because they were dirt cheap. I’m long past caring what anyone thinks about my bike…

Healthy mix. Bright frame, mainly black parts, couple white parts. As much stealth bling as possible (carbon bars, Thomson etc)

Colour coordinated blingy colours (red/gold etc) looks terrible and tacky IMO.

(Just remembered, I do have gold chainring bolts, but they’re to match the Kashima 😛 )

I have a bling BFe, I knew the components I wanted & had to buy some pre-owned. I couldn’t be too fussy over colour with my limited budget. So I ended up with bling. Going to respray and rebuild this summer, it will be more colour co-ordinated.

If I need something new I’ll buy what best suits the need. If it matches/co-ordinates in some way, great. But mostly stealth black where possible.
Currently have a silver XT rear mech and want to go to the S+ so will be getting the black one..(but then the front may need changing to match 🙄 ) I’m 40 this year…

Stealth, every time!! (32)

Have some colour in your life!

Bigger parts need to be bold colours, smaller parts subdued IMHO – stealthy frames/forks with twiddly bits of colour on the smaller parts just look fussy

Stealth, every time!! (32)

what ever is in the sale! I can live with any colour scheme as long as it was a good deal!

slightly gay thread btw 😉

Stealth for me. In principal.

In practice I have an orange coloured mountainbike and the most ostentatiously coloured white, red and black road bike. No anno colour matching though – although my road wheels have red hubs and white/red spokes(!). I’m 39, and aware of my ridiculousness.

By all accounts my bike and colour choice is very antithesism to the too long in the tooth ‘stealth’ look. Perhaps it’s my midlife crisis bike?

whatever colour they start, mine always end up brown…it’s the best colour for a bike to be!

stealth – (34)

In my teens i bought bling ano purple bits because it was all the rage.
Now i buy ano black where i can, and if not silver – i’ve also found that they are easier to sell when upgrading.

My black soul has black saddle, forks and grips, but quite a few small bits of blue anodizing , so bling ish, off the top of my head:
– Quick releases
– Bottom bracket
– Bottle cage bolts
– Seat clamp
– Top cap
– Grip locks
– Cable ferrules
– Jockey wheels

If I had a coloured frame it’d probably have the above in black. My black Boardman road bike has a white saddle and bar tape, but standard apart from that. Oh and 31 by the way.

I’ve never ‘got’ the colour co-ordinated ‘matching’ anodised/coloured parts look. It dates back to my motorbike days of trick anodised rearsets and ‘matching’ fairing bolt kits etc.

My point being you can try your best to have a colour-theme going but invariably you end up with slightly different shades of the same colour and it just looks like a dogs dinner. In my opinion of course!

Conversely I like a frame colour that stands out, but would always try and offset this with black or silver

One mans cage is another mans stage though eh…

stealth everytime.

Guy started working in my office – Graphic designer, very quiet – saw his bike parked outside one day, all black and grungy looking hybrid thing – except for the £400 wheel set and SRAM XO running gear. NICE.