I'm not a fan of all the black bikes out there, especially the matte black ones. I'm old enough that a matte black frame looks to me like it was made from cast iron...

I purchased a Trek Domane 4.5 WSD this year, mainly because I think that the red they used in the paint scheme is absolutely gorgeous. I don't mind staring at the top tube for hours...

 

I love subtle.

 

I love subtle.

View attachment 288582

Yawn. Booooring.

 

Nothing wrong with boring. Nobody tries to steal boring. Nobody starts rumors out of jealousy over boring. Boring means nothing went wrong, nothing requires immediate intervention, or will require substantial financial backing.

 

I'm not questioning the quality of American bikes, just their appearance. I see so many ugly color schemes/logos on high end American bikes today (Trek, Giant to name a couple).

The huge name badges plastered everywhere, cheap looking color schemes, outdated logo fonts

Are you sure you're actually looking at the right bikes?

Trek and Giant don't have huge name badges plastered everywhere. And their color schemes are rather basic.

 

Seems like lots of bikes are going away from color and I'm also not a fan of flat black. I spent $400 more for a higher level bike this year to get one in a white color scheme.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
TREK USA and Winnebago Industries Reach Tentative Agreement to Merge Design Teams
Forest City, IA

After years of admitted bilateral design piracy, Trek and Winnebago decided, instead to merge the teams. Winnebago Creative Director Lars Goodwheel said "Trek's use of swooshes and stripes is simply brilliant. How could one not be influenced by such genius application of primary colors in a uniform, symmetrical fashion?" Trek-inspired graphic design can be seen throughout the current lineup. "For 2014, we're initiating a Project-W program whereby consumers can work with Winnebago designers to select the exact specifications and color scheme of their new motorhome" Goodwheel said in an interview Thursday. Trek's Head of Stickers - Nick Carbone agreed the partnership with Winnebago was a win-win, "Winnebago's team learned decades ago that, once you run out of ways to improve the actual product, changing the graphics is a sure-fire way to shake up the portfolio. Further their passionate dedication to and innovation of new shapes of swooshes is simply awe-inspiring."

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
TREK USA and Winnebago Industries Reach Tentative Agreement to Merge Design Teams
Forest City, IA

After years of admitted bilateral design piracy, Trek and Winnebago decided, instead to merge the teams. Winnebago Creative Director Lars Goodwheel said "Trek's use of swooshes and stripes is simply brilliant. How could one not be influenced by such genius application of primary colors in a uniform, symmetrical fashion?" Trek-inspired graphic design can be seen throughout the current lineup. "For 2014, we're initiating a Project-W program whereby consumers can work with Winnebago designers to select the exact specifications and color scheme of their new motorhome" Goodwheel said in an interview Thursday. Trek's Head of Stickers - Nick Carbone agreed the partnership with Winnebago was a win-win, "Winnebago's team learned decades ago that, once you run out of ways to improve the actual product, changing the graphics is a sure-fire way to shake up the portfolio. Further their passionate dedication to and innovation of new shapes of swooshes is simply awe-inspiring."

IMO, with both high end bikes and motor homes (AKA 'land yachts'), if the hardware itself doesn't impress, then the paint job won't either. OTOH, if they're wowed by the graphics, they're not paying any attention to the hardware so it doesn't matter what is actually painted or how.

 

I agree that you purchase for the technology (the ride quality, IMO) but if I have a choice between the same bike in an ugly paint scheme and a nice one I'll choose the latter every day.

 

Everyone has their own taste. I have a Lemond Zurich, which has logos on the down and seat tubes, which is one too many in my opinion. I have RS 80 wheels, and if I could take the logos off them I would. Doesn't stop me from liking or riding it.
I think my favorite bike (in terms of appearance) was the orange and black Orbea Orca from around 2008. We saw one on a recent century ride, and my riding partner thought it was ghastly!

 

Yea Specialized... the name is too long and their choice of fonts leaves something to be desired.

 

Specialized...why so many barcode stickers?

Saw a Tarmac with four under the bottom bracket and two under the top tube at the seat tube end, plus size sticker. Made the bike look silly.

 

20mph ! What about the admiring looks as you are sipping a Cibo Latte with it propped against a wall.

 

a Cibo Latte

A what?

 

Those admiring looks are directed at me, not my bike. Everyone knows that cycling makes you more handsome...

 

I absolutely love flashy bikes (can you tell from my road bike? ). My mountain bikes are exactly the opposite (one is black and one is Ti), and although they are fine, they sure could use some color.

Ultimately I don't care about color, but if I had a choice - "let there be color!".

 

That bike carries its flash pretty well. But you had better ride the hell out of it...

 

I think a better comparison would be if you chose Bike A or Bike B

A. Boring, normal frame and color scheme outfitted with Dura Ace groupset and killer wheels. Price $3500

or

B. Sexy, unique frame and color scheme outfitted with Ultegra groupset and decent wheels. Price $3500

Something to ponder.

 

Its sad to see stealth bikes so expensive..... usually the cheaper ones have horrible colors......... that applies to treck and giant so much

 

I assure you that it is not the color that makes bikes cheap or expensive.

 

Some say red and Black are the colors of the most expensive... Canyon trek are Just some examples...

 

I am another older rider so the acquired taste thing comes into play

I think they newer bikes have to have garish colors or they'd be impossible to tell apart.

One monocot carbon fiber frame built by a robot looks pretty much like the next.

 

I have Focus Cayo 3.0 (Red, Black, and White) with Easton EC90SLs. I went and counted how many times it says "FOCUS" and it's 16 (not including the spacers...which say it three times each). I don't think my frame is sexy or anything, more industrial. The red makes it 11.3% faster and the each FOCUS on the frame is 0.05 kph on flats, so I have that going for me, which is nice.

I got flashy colors with full Force groupset and crappy wheels for ~$3500. Funny though, those crappy wheels weigh the same as the EC90SLs; however, not as stiff.