Prettiest Bike you ever saw?

The whole thing of a custom frame is that it's for you.

Pooh on a stick.

A custom frame is about buying the prejudices and pre-conceptions of a frame builder just like a 'factory' bike, except it costs more and takes longer.

Plonker.

I rather like that

Just love breezers i will have one some day :)

Plonker.

Succint and incisive, but not particularly illuminating.

A custom frame is about buying the prejudices and pre-conceptions of a frame builder just like a 'factory' bike, except it costs more and takes longer.

apart from the fact you can get it to fit you perfectly, made for your style of riding and it can have all the little design features that make it special to you. I'd prefer to get a tailored suit to fit me rather than a cheapo mass produced one with compromises, why would I not do the same with a bike?

Sorry, don't agree.

Custom frame builders can change the length and the angles of tubing. That's about it.

What if I want hydroforming? What if I want carbon fibre? What if I want a 3D rear end ala Orange 5? What if I want a frame designed to work with a particular suspension setup or device?

Innovation in bike design is done by the big boys, custom is essentially as I described; you pay more and wait longer for a few tweaks on a basic, albeit time served, design.

…and given the adjustability of the modern bicycle, most 'custom' work is done as vanity projects, rather than for any sensible reason.

LOL- that's a big chip on the shoulder you have there crikey, does sir own a carrera and feel a bit aggrieved?

vanity projects

Oi! That's my phrase!

sorry crikey but eh wtf? you can get a pair of shoes from clarks but a pair of shoes made to your feet will feel like gloves in a destruction of simile sort of way*

*I've never owned the latter it has to be said :)

No chip, honest!

I've had a custom frame, built just for me, with all my own little tweaks added….

It cost more than an equivalent off-the-peg frame, it took 8 weeks then another 6 weeks to get to me, and I lived 3 miles from the shop…

Bike frames are not that sophisticated, and can be adjusted in numerous ways; I think the whole custom thing is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over-rated, and is not where innovation and development occurs.

As things of beauty ( a nod to the OP..) they may have a place, but one steel frame is pretty much like any other at the end of the day, whether built in a shed by a man with a beard, or built on a production line with modern quality control.

Sorry cynic-al, you must be rubbing off on me.

In a manner of speaking…

Heh :D

pretty much agree with you on the custom thing. Tho I love mine!

and is not where innovation and development occurs

no that tends to happen with small frame builders who can play with trends whilst the big corporate design houses are working to a strict criteria.

Carver with the 96er…..trek followed

Frank the welder with the hard core hard tails like the spooky metalhead and adjustable geometry and travel bikes like the sinister splinters

gates belt drives are being embraced by the custom frame boys, if they get them to work the big boys will follow

29ers in general

FFS even orange started out as a bloke in a shed and are still mainly designed by steve wade

big companies have the money and teams to smooth out some of the oddball designs and get them to the mainstream with some much needed tweaks, but a lot of innovation and risk is still taken by the smaller guys

Hmmm.

I think you are still talking about tweaks rather than real innovation.

What I do think would be a major step forward is the development of custom carbon frames at a price point that allowed people to walk in and order one, and see it built in a reasonable time.

The idea that building a steel frame with a few changes to geometry and tube length or swoopiness qualifies it as some how better than a mass produced frame is hard to justify.

I suspect that you could take a steel custom frame from the UKs best builder and get it reproduced in China or Taiwan, in quantity, with good quality control, in half the time, for half the cost.

Maybe I have a different attitude towards bikes than others; I see them as tools rather than objects of beauty, as functional rather than aesthetic, although one does not exclude the other.

I rather like that

If it said Carrera on it you'd be saying the opposite.

no because I'm not a label whore, I couldn't give a **** what others think about the way I look or what I do, so why would I give a shite about the name on a tube? if i like the look of it and it would give me pleasure to play on it then that's all that counts. It's a bit like humping a fat lass :wink:

Valid arguments and all but can we go back to pretty bikes.

reynolds 953 singlepseed

Depends what you mean by tweaks. I would say a bike as we would define it is pretty well agreed – 2 wheels, sit between them and pedal through some form of connection to the wheel to make it move forward. After this it is probably all 'tweaks' including what its made of, what size the wheels are, how to do the gearing, headset and BB type and size, etc, etc.

I would say a lot of these tweaks came from custom builders like tazzy writes – 29ers, belt drives, chain tensioning systems (black sheep HACS or the guys that do that hinged thing) even frame materials – 953 tubing, bamboo…
I cannot see why having a cheap mass produced carbon frame is any more innovative than this?

I've had one of these for years. Still think it's one of the prettiest mtbs out there.

WTF is that? Is it from a circus? Looks utter ridiculous.

No coogan it's made by wolfhound who are apparently uber niche bearded builders and is therefore beautiful.

It really does look like a fat man has sat on it.

Normally I'd avoid threads like this because they'd get me angry but I can't sleep so I browsed away.

From what I've seen.

Almost everyone posting needs mental help, the bike pictures posted on this thread explain an awful lot abouit people in Britain and why this country is in such a terrible state.

For god's sake, look at the pictures you have posted and ask yourselves just how nasty these things are.

Someone with 'fish' in their username posted a fixie, now that's a nice bike.

now now samuri. objectivity. also some people aren't even british. :-)
I'm smitten with this

I know I said objectivity up there, but really PJM?

I'm so sorry, I own both.

The Enduro I've always admired since 2002, it's graceful and sleek in the way that pot-bellied post 2006 Specialized bikes can't emulate.

The Marin? It looks purposeful, but that swingarm is a work of post industrial art.

Shoot me now.

Custom Curtis 853, I think it's pretty, dirty or clean

William Morris has much to say that is relevant here (although I suspect that he didn't have bikes specifically in mind when he said it :wink: ) –

Principally – "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful".

I will concede that he has a beard however, which may suggest a bias.

How cool would that be!

Litespeed Ti goodness ummmmmmm

Innovations: suspension, disc brakes, spds etc

Different IMO to what the wee guys have done.

If you consider companies like AMP research or Mountain Cycles wee (certainly compared to the Giants, Shimanos and Treks of this world) then they did innovate suspension – horst link, linkage forks, upside down forks – and disc brakes. Not sure about SPDs though.

I Like the Amaro Lollobrigida above but prefer the Rossellini

i've just put myself in charge of judging this: candodavid – yes; that's the idea.

alwyn – no; the letters are too big, the silhouettes too contrived, they're loud and vulgar.

(they're drunken tarts with too much make-up, shouting insults at passers by outside a football pub at 1am on a sunday morning)

i've previously voiced my opinion on the genesis equilibrium, so for a change, here's my input:

do I win?

Should we have the same thread but restricted to bikes that you can actually buy and use? (avoiding Vanillas etc?)

horst link, linkage forks, upside down forks – and disc brakes.

I'll give you those, none of which are really anything significant apart from disc brakes, and horst links – to DH guys and marketeers.

corroded +1 doesn't matter if off the peg or custom, pretty is pretty. name or quantity sold do not influence looks.