Nice P20 😉

I can only take photos in my dungeon, my wife does not let me out that often

Says the man who appears to have shares in Sideways.

Unfortunatly I've never bought a whole bike or a frame from Sideways :-p 🙂

Cheap frame = not bling.

It has to be either carbon, Ti, or custom build, anything else is too run of the mill.

Full XTR, or XX required. IMO X0 just doesn't quite cut it.

Brakes need to be floating rotors, ideally Titanium rotors floating on carbon centres. Colour matched braided hoses.

Wheels should be carbon rims on Industry Nine or Chris King, and colour coordinated. Anodised spokes are ideal.

Collars and cuffs should all match, ideally two or three colours at most.

Should have added, needs to be a custom build, ideally with handbuilt wheels.

So the more bling the bike, the less it looks ridden? 😆

CrAsH…tEsT..dUmMy, I take back my hurtful dungeon comments, but does that Scott have DMR V8s? Save up for some Burgtecs at least man! 🙂

yep! – spend 5k on a super bling bike, and keep it wrapped in cotton wool!
I reckon to be bling it has to be pretty impractical or a little pointless for "normal" people (YUMEYA is a perfect example).

How many times have you looked at a "pimped/bling" car and thought, why didn't you just buy a better car in the first place?

I reckon a pimped bike has to have at least a £500+ wheelset, and probably cost £4k + all in.

That's not particularly hard anymore though Kramer, Crossmax SLRs are £800 these days, and an off the shelf S-Works Stumpjumper is £5500.

must be a great feeling though £4k+ on the most exotic carbon/ti, suspended, XTR equipped dream bike, and then you get dropped by the guy on a rigid single speed 🙂

If you see pimped/bling Corsa you point and laugh = Spesh with nice bits on imo
McLaren pulls up you don't think, ahhh should have bought a Fiesta and put some nice wheels on it! thats the difference between a custom frame and production frame with expensive bits on.

CrAsH…tEsT..dUmMy, I take back my hurtful dungeon comments, but does that Scott have DMR V8s? Save up for some Burgtecs at least man

It does I am waiting for some Syncros metal Race ones :), ok ok mine is not super pimp but it is carbon, the DT wheels are nice, it has LTD edition Red M4's with goodridge hoses, thomson stem & post and some carbon bars… just needs a nice chainset to finish it off.

And I like my out building, ok its not pretty but it's my space away from the kids when I need some space 🙂

If you see pimped/bling Corsa you point and laugh = Spesh with nice bits on imo
McLaren pulls up you don't think, ahhh should have bought a Fiesta and put some nice wheels on it! thats the difference between a custom frame and production frame with expensive bits on.

My Corsa is one of the lightest bikes on here though! I'd say the Cosworth thing is closer, it's not exactly a £300 bike to start with.

I take your point though, Spesh bikes are never going to be unusual, but if you're stupid enough to pay full price for one it'll way outstrip the cost of a lot of custom bikes, it's not a case of thinking "ok, I can fork out £5500 on an S-Works Epic, then spend another £1000 putting nicer parts on it, or I could go crazy and buy a Turner with full XTR and carbon goodies for £4000." Slightly perverse!

personally I think bling is personal to everyone, what i like wont suit others and so on, for me bling is something not stock, individual, must have nice kit on it but still be practical and do its job.

I think the custom bike thing is something which has changed too, a few years ago you were hard pushed to buy expensive off the shelf bikes, if that's linked to bling, if you wanted top spec (proper top spec) you had to custom build. Now there's bikes like the Scott Spark Ltd, Merida 96 etc coming in at £7000+ and even frames from mainstream manufacturers are costing thousands.

Okay I think that it's all about the detail. This is the best photo that I have of my friend Lloyd's bike.

Custom steel Curtlo frame
Red Chris King headset
Red Hope Pro II singlespeed hubs
Titanium spokes
Red alloy nipples
24 spoke 819 rims (the hubs are 36 holes yes this is possible)
XTR M952 crank with Dura Ace bottom bracket for improved Q-factor
Fox RLT forks
Thompson post
Easton Monkeylite bars
XT 4 pot brakes with Hope floating rotors
Extralite foam grips
Salsa Skewers and seatpost clamp
Selle Italia SLR saddle

Just enough red but not too much, some rare components, great bike…

edd, but then he f*cks it up by making it a singlespeed. 😉

Surely Lloyd's extralite was more bling. 😉

What on that is unusual? Frame's not that common, and you don't see many ti spokes (with good reason!) but that's pretty run of the mill I'd say.

Unfortunatly I've never bought a whole bike or a frame from Sideways :-p

That's quite a carefully qualified statement. 🙂

thats the difference between a custom frame and production frame with expensive bits on

Why get a custom frame, unless you're a funny shape? Does bling = pointless extravagance (in which case fair enough) or should it be synonymous with physical deformity? 🙂

I didn't realise they'd stopped the colour blindness tests in schools since I was a lad!!

Why do people post pics of off the shelf bikes?

Pink bits should be a crime on anything other than female riders bikes, and that includes hemaphrodite runners!!!

Not claiming to have the most bling bike, and wouldn't have posted had I not felt the need to put my two penneth in!!

Built from all second hand bits except the rotors and frame, would be more bling if I were richer and you could actually buy the bits you want! Ever tried getting your hands on Beoone chainrings 😯 I'm not know for my patience 😳

null

Not sure if this will work.
Blue bits now swapped for Red.

Also about to put on Hope floating rotors.

See above.

Blue bits now Red.
Floating rotors on there now.

Not silly bling but nice and solid.

Is that a before it was ridden through a thousand gritty puddles on Transwales pic Al?
Fair play though you'd never loose it in a field full of bikes 🙂

Came up looking peachy after a little wash. Didn't even need new disc pads.
Even have special Gore samples to colour match but not enough to have lasted me the whole event. Hence I rocked out the Red look! 🙂

Oh, I dunno, I think Algore is a strong contender with that late entry Ibis (off the shelf expensive with added jewelery).

I like the Ibis, but in the prosthetic limb beige, or the RAF semi matt blue – but that's all subjective……….

🙂

I'd do (almost) anything to own either of those Fat Chances.

"I know -I'll sell one of my livers – I can get by with one!"

Funny enough i'm still on the same pads, been in there since January! Avoiding trail centres and bedding them in seems to work for me 🙂

Algore for me or the Jones

Kramer – indeed he did stuff it by making it a singlespeed.

ac282 – I agree the Extralite is even more special but I don't have a photo of that, it doesn't see the light of day often…

njee20 – I'd say that a Dura Ace bottom bracket on XTR cranks is innovative and rare, 24 hole 819s are definitely rare and I've never seen another Curtlo in the UK.

That Jones is a contender for me also. They ride so nicely. Changed my view of rigid 29ers.
Would certainly be a nice addition is any bicycle quiver. Though carbon rims would make it even nicer.

Very tempted by the Edge composite rims. You can't see the Carbon steerer tube in the photo.

I'm a tart realy……………..

not so bling road bike

now with added bar plugs (full spec a few page back)………….

particularly bling dropout (IMO)

roadie bling

Bling M******* F******* (surely the win right here?)

Would it be possible to include a Ibis Mojo SL in naked carbon DT Carbon Shock & DT 150mm travel carbon forks, with Stans Olympics on American Classic Hubs, full XTR drive train, avid elixCR's, FSA Carbon Stem & bars, SGD i-beam carbon post & saddle?

Actually being ridden and looking dirty too?

I'd be tempted to throw in my Nicolai Helius CC, Pushed RP3, (only) RS Rev 426's, various hope red bits & hope hoops but (no bling ROTM) SLX/X7 drive train, and (obviously crap) pro seat post & Sunline V1 bars & stem 😀 , but it's not dripping in over priced badly colour matched stuff so I expect to be told it's not 🙄

it's mine and I like it….

bling? -not sure.
mid-life crisis? guilty as charged.

Ah, but the Curtlo wasn't always a singlespeed. It was 2×9 until SITS a few years ago when the inner Middleburn Hardcote chainring got eaten by the grit. And it may well return as a 2x"whatever I can squeeze out of an XTR cassette onto a Hope SS hub". With Campagnolo Chorus front mech 😉 (the cable routing was done specially)

But yes, the Extralite is more bling. And racy. I'll try and get a pic when I'm stripping and re-greasing the suspension (again) on Friday in preparation for the Downs on Saturday. Its certainly getting out more now!

I reckon Nicolais are fantastically bling, but that's just me 😉

This is not a spoons last pic wins. Bling is all about how shiny it is…

Even the grip is shiny on that bike! Plus, although the saddle isnt shiny, it is as cool as a polar bear.

I know naff all about BMXes but i have the same brake on mine and it cost the princely sum of twelve pounds. Bling FAIL. 🙂

My new build.
2010 Reign X Frame, Lyriks, Hope stuff (hubs, stem, hset, brakes, clamp, rotors etc), Stan's Flows, Spank bars, Goodridge hoses + cables, Dark Cycles bash, Blackspire rings, Saint mech, Thomson post, White SLR, Mg-1s etc

Gallery link to blingness

i haven't read all the posts so forgive me if this is a repeat, but i think we are experiencing a serious ontological blindspot in our bike philosophy: the difference between 'bling' and 'pimp'. discuss.

money ? taste..

havent laughed so hard for some time, so thnks!