What is a “cool” bike?

There seem to be a lot of good bikes around these days, but who makes the coolest bikes? What can an “old man” ride that will impress the kidz too? Marin get (got?) stick for being old man bikes, but I get the impression Pace and Whyte are also for the “older gentleman”. Am I mistaken in thinking that Foes are pretty cool?

Not in the market but, as a Whyte owner, just curious…

…and I’m still younger than Steve Peat (just)

and I’m still younger than Steve Peat (just)

If you are younger than him now, you always will be. He gets older too.

oh, that’s not what you meant by ‘just’

is everyone still on the IWH thread or are we all just old men on here who aren’t really sure what’s cool?

Ho hum, back to my Muddy Fox and fluorescent leggings

I don’t think any mountain bikes are particulalry cool.

If you like a particular bike and it is suited to your intended use and is within budget, then it’s cool. If you are worried about what other people think, you are missing the point of owning a mountain bike!

A “cool” bike is any bike that would impress English actress Kristin Scott Thomas

I’ve always believed that she’d love my ‘highly pimped’ Orange Evo4 Special Edition 😉

Commencal, Lapierre, Charge, Curtis and those Corsair(?) bikes seem cool brands to me.

Pashley and Spooky if you want to impress your older MTB buddies

Cool is a wierd concept. Most mountain bikes aren’t cool.

You might not be able to picture Steve McQueen or Miles Davis (or even The Fonz) sitting astride a mountain bike, but some bikes undoubtedly look better or have more badge appeal than others.

How else can Santa Cruz get away with charging what they do for their frames?

A few “cool” brands (to my mind)…

Cove
Turner
Dialled (with their funky gangster transfers)
Maybe Santa Cruz

Although I’d sa the Empire is the coolest bike at the minute is this-

Spongebob

Everything has a ‘cool’ alternative 8)

If you are to reach true Mountain Biking Enlightenment, you must first realise that Mountain Biking should be more about the Mountain than the Bike 🙂

If you are worried about what other people think, you are missing the point of owning a mountain bike!

I wondered how long it would take before someone would respond to my “bit of fun” OP with the “you’re not a real mountain biker if <insert as appropriate>” . 😆

(or maybe Spongebob’s is a subtle troll)

A “cool” bike is any bike that would impress English actress Kristin Scott Thomas

Hahaha, is this the yardstick that bike companies employ, do you think?

Jackass – That picture just makes me think of Jamie Oliver, who is not cool.

Do people think those Jones bikes are cool? Personally I think they lapse into “try hard”, but I can imagine some people finding them too cool for school.

Personally I deliberately buy uncool bikes on the basis that I can get them half-price in the sales – then wear drainpipe jeans and a trilby while riding to compensate.

lol at chakaping 😆

Cheers, that was the point of this post…a bit of a giggle. Keep ’em coming ‘cos I’m having a bad day at work

Arghhhh Jamie Oliver

Bikes aren’t cool, and anyone that thinks riding bikes makes them look cool is sadly mistaken

Bikes aren’t cool, and anyone that thinks riding bikes makes them look cool is sadly mistaken

The local kids thought I was cool when I pulled a wheelie past them the other day

I got some cheers (or was it jeers?) from some SPanish kids just for riding past them with full face and pads on

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So cool it’s hot. Kristin Scott-Thomas loves this bike. 🙂

Mmm, not so sure, I class On One along with Pace and Whyte (God the PRST is awful isn’t it?!) 🙂

Nah, but with a carradice and pedal reflectors it gets me lots of chicks.

I think it needs a bell

What is it with you and carrying stuff about on your bike BigDummy?

Mind you if chicks dig it… 🙂

I prefer a basket to a huge saddle bag myself.

At the risk of showing my age; there was a time when I thought a bike could make you look cool, and this bike was it…

Still, it looks cooler than the Whyte PRST!

Empire = Kirk Precision for a new generation…!

See above. Still got mine, the wife has now called it hers though…

Ha, thats it I have been cool. Once long ago.

edit (not the Rothan)

@tinsy

Still got mine

OMG you’ve got an orange one!!! I always wanted an orange one!!! My dad reckoned that Choppers were dangerous and wouldn’t let me have one. I now have to live with the mental scars that were left 😥

Actually, would you consider selling it??

Nah, its a keeper.

I fell of it and broke my wrist though, when I was about 37!!

Jeez, it looks utterly pristine – it is undoubtedly a thing of true beauty.

I fell of it and broke my wrist

– see my Dad was right! I’d be doing you a favour…

Cheers. Its not bad but there are better about, people spend big money doing them up right…

Anyhow best not hijack the thread too much, but yeah, Choppers are the king of COOOOOOL bikes.

GT Zaskar, i’ve never seen two the same.

most things with two or even three wheels and:
Chopper
Ellsworth Ride
most Indy Fabs have looked cool to me
the On-One Summer Season
rat bikes, Chris Akrigs
Steve MacQueen would ride one of these:
http://www.uncrate.com/men/images/2007/05/felt-mp-cruiser.jpg
or one of these:
http://www.feltracing.com/09-catalog/cruiser/three-speed-cruisers/09-chief.aspx

Good question, but I think cool is in the eye of the beholder. I had a chap jump out of his car once to congratulate me on my choice of bike.

Last week somebody told me the same bike was a ‘bit old hat now’ and asked how come I’d never changed it.

Man, you’re all dorks! Commencal was cool, but isn’t any more (have you seen the Meta 6?). Anything by Santa Cruz or NS is, regardless of how it rides. Marin is now, but only bikes from the last 2 years. Whyte is too prissy and will never be cool. Cotic were, but are losing it a bit now. The Dialled Alpine is the coolest hardtail; the Tweak ones could have been, but are a bit too agricultural looking to be cool (again, regardless of how they ride). Anything carbon isn’t cool. Same for Trek or Specialized (except the Pitch). Again, regardless of how they ride. If you really need to be cool, Chameleon or Nomad.
In case you’re wondering, I have a Commencal.

http://www.pashley.co.uk/products/guvnor.html

very cool.

rj,

Commencal not cool anymore? WHAT?? They fooking rule! I’ve got three of ’em. Have you seen the Super 4.1? Puts the cool into XC.

The bike you own and desire.