The Ugliest Mountainbikes of all time

What would get your vote?

Almost any Turner for me 🤔

Topic has been done before. Klein Mantra is all-time champion.

Paperclip Bike wins the amateur class.

The old Proflex, with Girvin forks?

I had one, and would buy another for nostalgic reasons, but it ain’t pretty!

Ellsworth. All of em.
Redalp.

Some of the weirder Nicolais from the early 00’s

The old Proflex, with Girvin forks?

Klein still wins.

Well that Mantra is pretty special, I did want one in the late 90s, but luckily couldn’t afford.one.

not watched the video yet, but do any Whyte E-bikes feature?

Also, I have huge respect for whoever created the PaperClip bike. It’s like the Star Wars kid, got relentlessly mocked online but deserves credit for actually doing something, did a better job than most of us could do. However, the people that made the Klein were supposed to be professionals.

Nowt wrong with that Klein Mantra that removing those stupid forks in the picture wouldn’t cure. Nice set of Judys or SIDs and it’s lovely…

As someone incurably stuck in the 90s with regard to mountain bikes, I reckon everything made in the last ten years is ugly.

The Klein up there looks worse as it has totally the wrong fork and front wheel on it.

1998 Marin Quake fits the bill as ugly though!

A more interesting question would be what company continuously churned out the most amount of ugly bikes, Cannondale have a long list of hideous munters.

A more interesting question would be what company continuously churned out the most amount of ugly bikes

Ellsworth

Ellsworth

Yeah, actually when I said Turner in the op, I meant Ellsworth (although not a fan of Turners in the main)

Topic has been done before.

Not this week. 😊

Nukeproof Giga and the Santa Cruz Hightower it was copied from. Utterly hideous when I first saw them. Still think the tube forward of the BB looks stupid but at least the colours come in something other than pastel shades now.

Mantras have always looked weird but I wouldn’t say they were ugly, that’s a good cargo fork but not something I’d put on an already noodly FS. V Ravens and Trek VRX on the other hand haven’t aged well at all. There were definitely worse DH bikes than the Nikolais too, I remember one Dutch one that looked like it was inspired by a Mk1 Tank.

Nowt wrong with that Klein Mantra that removing those stupid forks in the picture wouldn’t cure. Nice set of Judys or SIDs and it’s lovely…

Elsworths, all of them.

Fat bikes, all of them.

The Be One dh bikes (and a lot of the 90s/00s Euro stuff) were a special kind of ugly.

Anything with a SuperMonster fitted to it.

Most ebikes, though they’re getting better.

Special mentions…

Time has not been kind to the Raven, but I remember at the time thinking it was amazing. The Kleins also look pretty boak, but kinda did at the time!

The Klein didn’t exactly float my boat at the time, but it did look futuristic and expensive – rather than just plain minging.

Astonishing that Pole are currently making very expensive bikes which can easily hit the all-time top 10 munters list.

If it serves a purpose, I can kind of forgive a bikes looks. The Whyte PRST couldn’t ride the way it did if it looked conventional. But if it’s just because we could…… Nope.

Nowt wrong with the Mk1 Raven. (I had two, may be biased)

Not watched the video but a quick think results in:
Klein Mantra
The Pole e-bikes. Most e-bikes in fact.
Most things with bottle/rack mounts covering every square inch of them. Look like they were conceived within the Matrix.
Those weird Marins they did about 10 years ago that looked a bit Pole-esque
Anything with Haibike written on the downtube.

Came into thread expecting the Geometron G1 to be mentioned, was pleasantly surprised. 🤣

To be fair, there are some abominations in here! The 90’s has a lot to answer for.

Kirk had a good ‘crack’ at being the ugliest!…

…and Cannondale Raven – nooooo, they were the bollocks back in the day. My mate had one with Spinergy’s on. I was so jealous.

I owned a Whyte Preston and loved it.  Pig ugly though

…and Cannondale Raven – nooooo, they were the bollocks back in the day.

Ftfy

Sorry Orange.
Up close it doesn’t improve.

Anything with Haibike written on the downtube.

Yup…

The newer models are getting much better, but it’s still a pretty strong look imho.

Whatever happened to Bionicon?
Can’t think why they wouldn’t be all that popular 🤔

I used to work for the company that machined the Kirk frames. We had quite a few in various states of machining in a storeroom.

The bleach I used for my eyes must’ve got through to my brain, had completely forgotten about Pole full sussers, ebike or not!

BMW Q6.S, Whyte PRST and anything by Karpiel. Nothing wrong with the Mantra or the Raven up there! (Yes, I’m still stuck in the nineties!)

Thinking about it, it’s hardly a level playing field if eebs are included, is it?

Those Haibikes just make me shake my head in disbelief. Imagine being the designer with that on your CV.

Whatever happened to Bionicon?

It’s not exactly pretty, but it’s perfectly fine IMO – and arguably looks more relevant now than it did at the time (when it looked a bit too burly).

kayak23

Anything with Haibike written on the downtube.

The newer models are getting much better, but it’s still a pretty strong look imho.

There is a new Haibike, a lightweight one with the smaller motor, it’s a genuinely good looking bike.

First thing they have made that’s not hideous

Edit – just found it, maybe I went a bit too strong. I’ll say it’s “not that bad”

If that’s an eeb, then it’s one of the best-looking out there, I agree.

Looks a bit like a toned-down Unno?

It’s the best looking Haibike for sure, but there are a few better looking eebs out there; all SLs of some description. Once the huge leap in battery density that everyone wants happens you’ll be hard pressed to tell an eeb from a neeb.

Saw the title and guessed 5 posts before a picture or a bike from Stainland. In true singletrack fashion I wasnt disappointed.

I was going to post up the Orange eMTB which is pretty grim. They had a prototype which was even worse (sorta box welded to down tube) but thankfully that didnt make it into production.

I’ve got to say the recent idler wheel (I think that’s what they are called with the pulley above the chainset) bikes all look pretty horrible to me even if they are meant to ride well.

Almost pips the PRSTN to the post

That new Haibike looks very tidy…

That Proflex still looks good to me.

An Arantix Isotruss

with

ONZA HO cranks

and….

The new Ibis Oso…..

If we’re doing “ugliest MTB that’s actually quite popular”, I’d nominate any Evil full-sus frame.