Bike names, good, bad, ugly

markos1963

As it says what bike names inspire or repel you?
I was wondering this as I thought do i get influenced by the name more than the product.
For instance Trek make some very nice bikes but I find the name offputting for a roadie with its MTB connotations. Whereas Colnago sounds glamorous and exciting.
What do you all think and what does it for you?

andrewgturnbull

markos1963 wrote:

As it says what bike names inspire or repel you?
I was wondering this as I thought do i get influenced by the name more than the product.
For instance Trek make some very nice bikes but I find the name offputting for a roadie with its MTB connotations. Whereas Colnago sounds glamorous and exciting.
What do you all think and what does it for you?

Hi there.

MTB connotations? You'll have to explain - do you mean the company name or the bike name? Madone, OCLV, 1200 etc don't come across as MTB-like to me.

Ridley Noah: (company named afer Ridley Scott - cool), Noah not so cool...
Cervelo P3: (Cervelo from a mixture of cerebreal and velo - which I like), P3 is pretty generic.
Columbus X-Wing: a bike fit for a Jedi! Sub-zero.
Carlton: lots of traditional connotations, perfect.

Cheers, Andy

markos1963

andrewgturnbull wrote:

markos1963 wrote:

As it says what bike names inspire or repel you?
I was wondering this as I thought do i get influenced by the name more than the product.
For instance Trek make some very nice bikes but I find the name offputting for a roadie with its MTB connotations. Whereas Colnago sounds glamorous and exciting.
What do you all think and what does it for you?

Hi there.

MTB connotations? You'll have to explain - do you mean the company name or the bike name? Madone, OCLV, 1200 etc don't come across as MTB-like to me.

Ridley Noah: (company named afer Ridley Scott - cool), Noah not so cool...
Cervelo P3: (Cervelo from a mixture of cerebreal and velo - which I like), P3 is pretty generic.
Columbus X-Wing: a bike fit for a Jedi! Sub-zero.
Carlton: lots of traditional connotations, perfect.

Cheers, Andy

Yeah, what I mean is Trek sounds like a hiking boot name not a high class bike

andrewgturnbull

Hi there.

I dunno about that, when I think Trek what comes to mind is the bike that's won the Tour 8 times in the last 9 years...

You don't think about water crossings when you look at a Ford car do you?

Cheers, Andy

fto-si

The brand name Cervelo is a combination of the Italian word for brain ' cervello' and the French word for bike, 'velo' .

markos1963

andrewgturnbull wrote:

Hi there.

I dunno about that, when I think Trek what comes to mind is the bike that's won the Tour 8 times in the last 9 years...

You don't think about water crossings when you look at a Ford car do you?

Cheers, Andy

I have total respect for the achievements that Trek have got but I am thinking of the marketing aspect of the name. I don't know if its me but an Italian name on a bike(good or bad) seems to conjure up images of glorious wins over many years(true or not)

biondino

Yeah, but an affected Italian name (and Cervelo are sort of guilty of this) is pure pretentiousness. Would you be more likely to buy a Ribblecchio?

markos1963

biondino wrote:

Yeah, but an affected Italian name (and Cervelo are sort of guilty of this) is pure pretentiousness. Would you be more likely to buy a Ribblecchio?

This is exactly what I am saying, because its Italian are we buying because we think its good but dissmissing brands like Ribble because of the name.
Are we buying because of good marketing?

pliptrot

Have Colnago ever put one of theirs under a tour winner (during the tour!). I understand they came close last year, but it ended up with The Very Wondeful Trek Bicycle Making Company again, if my memory is better than the guy's who nearly did it on a Colnago.

Tom Butcher

It's just personal preference so no offence to anyone that has one of these but to my mind calling a bike brand Sunday - always brings to mind the Alan Partridge quote about bloody Sunday - and then having models like Mondays Child or September is a sure fire way to cut sales in half.

Smokin Joe

Tom Butcher wrote:

It's just personal preference so no offence to anyone that has one of these but to my mind calling a bike brand Sunday - always brings to mind the Alan Partridge quote about bloody Sunday - and then having models like Mondays Child or September is a sure fire way to cut sales in half.

Agreed, the name would put me off too.

Though "Dawes" must be the most boring name ever. It is so cardigan and cloth cap it could only be British.

kevin_stephens

biondino wrote:

Yeah, but an affected Italian name (and Cervelo are sort of guilty of this) is pure pretentiousness. Would you be more likely to buy a Ribblecchio?

The Belgian Company Ridley chose the brand name as an affected British name, at teh time that brish frame builders had something of a reputation

andrewgturnbull

Kevin Stephens wrote:

biondino wrote:

Yeah, but an affected Italian name (and Cervelo are sort of guilty of this) is pure pretentiousness. Would you be more likely to buy a Ribblecchio?

The Belgian Company Ridley chose the brand name as an affected British name, at teh time that brish frame builders had something of a reputation

Hi there - almost right... The owner was a big Ridley Scot fan, and wanted something that would sell internationally, especially in the states. The company was only founded in 1990 - not exactly the height of British frame building...

Cheers, Andy

over-the-hill

It's not just the name, it's also the logo and how it is applied. Wilier and Cervelo have great logos for instance. One reason I bought my Wilier is because I like the logo and would much rather have Wilier Triestina written on my bike than Felt, Scott or Cannondale etc. I would always choose a De Rosa over a Colnago, they just look better to my eye.

Same for Campagnolo, what a great logo compared to Shimano.

I think Lance Armstrong would have had the same success whatever brand he had had between is legs.

andrewgturnbull

over-the-hill wrote:

It's not just the name, it's also the logo and how it is applied. Wilier and Cervelo have great logos for instance. One reason I bought my Wilier is because I like the logo and would much rather have Wilier Triestina written on my bike than Felt, Scott or Cannondale etc. I would always choose a De Rosa over a Colnago, they just look better to my eye.

Same for Campagnolo, what a great logo compared to Shimano.

I think Lance Armstrong would have had the same success whatever brand he had had between is legs.

Hi there.

You're honesty on cosmetics is refreshing - albeit a wee bit contrasting to your last statement on Lance. Incidentally for hi first couple of tuor wins his TT bike was a repainted Litespeed.

Personally I bought a Cervelo because it was the fastest triathlon bike at the time (4 years) ago. The Ridley came free, the X-Wing was actually bought after a lot of research, and the Carlton cost me £15 in a garage clear-out sale.

I do freely admit to buying a Trek OCLV in 2000 purely because I'd watched the Tour the year before. But I've no regrets, and raced that bike for 8 years - I've since sold it on and one of my mates got a 2nd place aboard it the other week.

Cheers, Andy

andyp

pliptrot wrote:

Have Colnago ever put one of theirs under a tour winner (during the tour!). I understand they came close last year, but it ended up with The Very Wondeful Trek Bicycle Making Company again, if my memory is better than the guy's who nearly did it on a Colnago.

I thought it wasn't about the bike?

Anyway, a certain Belgian gentleman won a number of Tours astride a Colnago frame.

4kicks

I always thought Cervelo was a play on words - Ser Velo, as in "to be a bike"....

Worst bike name ever: On-One Il Pompino - I mean, come on guys, Ive got an Italian wife..."just off to buy a Pompino darling" :roll:

campagchris

I like to see a riders name on the frame,not sure why but it looks good.I.E. Battaglin and Merckx.
Im also a big fan of Italian frames they always seemed to be classy years ago.Now in the age of carbon etc its down to paintwork.

FAT_ROB

Hmmm Like this, I for one always though Specialized was a great name for a bike company, and the names of some of their bikes arn't bad either, especialy the likes of Hardrock, Rockhopper, Enduro Stuntjumper etc.

On the road bike front im not so sure, Tarmac is Ok I guess (though I have one so Im biassed) Roubaux (or however you spell it) has obvious connections, Sirrus, Langsteer, P3 don't do anything for me at all I am afraid.

but I do feel sorry for the girlies, Don't think i would feel much inspired jumping on my dolcie or Ruby etc,

phillarrow

Much respect to your honesty guys but I can't believe how much importance you place on this. I've spent the last few weeks researching my first ever road bike and have looked at so many aspects of so many bikes that my head is spinning. However, the one thing that never crossed my mind was to favour or dismiss a bike because of it's name.
Now if you were talking about colour! Why is it that every bike in my price bracket is completely bland looking, but if I added another £200 I'd have a shiny, colourful beauty?

P.S. On the subject of names is there a reason that so many brands go for one syllable, four letter names e.g. Time, Felt, Trek etc.?

Blonde

I wouldn't choose a bike for its name, but have ended up with some corkers: an On-One Il Pompino (Blow Job) and a Serotta Cour d'Acier (Heart of Steel) both of which I rather like!

holmeboy

While talking of brand names, how many of you think you're paying more for the name than you are for the product? And it's not just the price of a bike, I think it's the same for the whole spares market aswell. How can anything that is mass produced be so expensive in this day and age? Lets face it if you do a lot of miles then you probally need at least two bikes and the constant repairing/replacing of worn parts. I love cycling but hate the technical bit and the expense. :!:

:evil:

cougie

For me the name of the bike doesnt come into it.

inseine

Why is it concidered that the Cervelo name comes from Italian and French when the French for brain is cerveau? Isn't it all French?

andrewgturnbull

inseine wrote:

Why is it concidered that the Cervelo name comes from Italian and French when the French for brain is cerveau? Isn't it all French?

French? From a Canadian company? Who'd have thunk?

FSR_XC

Cove MTB's have to have the worst names going.

Could you ever ride one of these:

Handjob
G-spot
Foreplay
Hummer
Stiffee

Yes, these are real names!

http://www.covebike.com/bikes/index.html

inseine

French? From a Canadian company? Who'd have thunk?

Well there not from Quebec, so no reason to think they would eh?

biondino

Italian for brain is cervello, btw.

fto-si

inseine wrote:

Why is it concidered that the Cervelo name comes from Italian and French when the French for brain is cerveau? Isn't it all French?

It's considered that Cervelo comes from Italian and French because that's what it says in the 2008 Cervelo catalogue

graham_g

FSR_XC wrote:

Cove MTB's have to have the worst names going.

Could you ever ride one of these:

Handjob
G-spot
Foreplay
Hummer
Stiffee

Yes, these are real names!

http://www.covebike.com/bikes/index.html

Those names would persuade me to buy one! My sense of humour hasn't caught up with my chronological age - it got stuck at 12 years old.

Name really doesn't bother me - I've just ordered a Hewitt and even though he'll stick whatever transfers you want on there, I felt it important to give them the free advertising after such a great experience in the shop getting fitted and speccing it up.

will3

I think 'shockwave' is a particularly poor name for a bike that's supposed to have suspension :roll: