who makes the best bikes?

jimycooper
jimycooper Posts: 740
edited September 2008 in Workshop
i'm just wondering who everyone thinks make the best,nicest and sexyist bikes.
:wink: i want photograshic evidence ovcourse :wink:

Comments

  • bill57
    bill57 Posts: 454
    My persinal favarit is prinsipaya cos I have wun
  • Principia?

    Pinarello missing from the list.
    ============================================

    FCN is minimal as I don't see many bikes on the way to work
  • inseine
    inseine Posts: 5,788
    In assume BILL57 is having a laugh, but at least get the spellings right in the poll. It's,

    Ciocc, Wilier and Specialized

    Could you change these, it's hurting my brain.
  • gabriel959
    gabriel959 Posts: 4,227
    Orbea missing from the list too!
    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
    Commuting / Winter rides - Jamis Renegade Expert
    Pootling / Offroad - All-City Macho Man Disc
    Fast rides Cannondale SuperSix Ultegra
  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    Serotta and Cyfac missing from your list.
  • What about litespeed
  • Massimo
    Massimo Posts: 318
    I agree with Serotta, but what about BMC and Parlee??
    Crash 'n Burn, Peel 'n Chew
    FCN: 2
  • Ah, but does this poll only count complete off-the-peg bikes rather than bespoke and/or frameset-only makers?

    David
    "It is not enough merely to win; others must lose." - Gore Vidal
  • Can you please include Enigma within your poll ?
  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    I don't think your list is the best of the best somehow, perhaps you shouldn't be listing mass- produced and popular frames.

    I am astounded you have Bianchi and Specialized up there tbh.

    Parlee is indeed missing. And so is Seven.
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Depends on whether you are talking about genuine designers and manufacturers or those that are just marketing operations that outsource manufacture, sticker and box up bikes? This would include the likes of Specialized, Pinarello, Scott, Cervelo and a significant proportion of Bianchis, Colnagos, Treks and Wiliers for example.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • inseine
    inseine Posts: 5,788
    Though the question was who 'makes' the best bikes, but I don't think it means you litterally need to make them. I would say design was everything since you could move the manufactureing and still have the same product. You are narrowing down the scope pretty radically if the manufacturing needs to be at the headquarters.
  • Look

    Maybe i'm a bit biased though.

    I now have a focus Cross which is very impressive. Are we talking best altogether or does value come into the poll!
  • mrushton
    mrushton Posts: 5,182
    what about Sacha White/Richard Sachs/Pegoretti/Calfee
    A lot of the big builders just have the bikes made abroad and shipped in. Why do you think they all look similar with curvy top tubes etc. Nothing wrong with Far east bikes, but if someone says who makes the best bikes, you have to go to the builders as those mentioned above plus Serotta/Billati and a number of others.
    M.Rushton
  • DavidBelcher
    DavidBelcher Posts: 2,684
    edited September 2008
    mrushton wrote:
    what about Sacha White/Richard Sachs/Pegoretti/Calfee
    A lot of the big builders just have the bikes made abroad and shipped in. Why do you think they all look similar with curvy top tubes etc. Nothing wrong with Far east bikes, but if someone says who makes the best bikes, you have to go to the builders as those mentioned above plus Serotta/Billati and a number of others.

    Agreed - there should be a few more USA and European 'craftsman' builders included if 'best' is defined by the sort of drool-inducing frames we'd all like to own but, in the absence of an income to rival that of a Premiership footballer, can't. Some good US suggestions above, plus from the Continent I'd throw in the likes of Tommasini, Casati (their Linea Oro is a nice modern take on the traditional lugged Italian road frame) or De Rosa, and closer to home Roberts, Rourke or Mercian, for instance.

    David
    "It is not enough merely to win; others must lose." - Gore Vidal
  • well i'm sorry i'm dislexic.
    and like it sayes you can only have so many poll options
  • Scrumple
    Scrumple Posts: 2,665
    Father Christmas's elves.

    They deliver the bestest of best bikes.
  • balthazar
    balthazar Posts: 1,565
    The best bike is the one your local framebuilder made for you! There was once something lovely about visiting a new region and seeing a club ride, all matching jerseys and matching frames, some name you didn't recognise at all, or only vaguely from the comic. I broke that rule myself when I ordered a Roberts, never having lived in or near Croydon.

    Apologies for the misty eyes. Apart from my Roberts (or my old silver-fillet Dennis Field) I could covet a Rob Telfer, or a Richard Sachs, or a Waterford, or a Bilenky. However I suspect the best frame, functionally speaking and ignoring cost, is Trek's OCLV.
  • Cervelo haven't been in the game very long, but they've made astounding progress.

    I'm not sure who to think of... what about Look & Time? They both make excellent frames which are a bit more exotic that some on your list.

    I would say that if money was no object, I'd probably be riding a Ruegamer Zen Überlight... it's certainly one of the lightest frames around at a claimed 600grams and looks exceptional in my opinion with its unidirectional finish...

    ruegamer-zen-uberlight-head-tube.jpg

    ruegamer-zen-uberlight-dropouts.jpg

    rue-zen-2.jpg

    I know many people on the weightweenies forums are big fans of Parlee, but I can't stand their stuff... it looks too amateurish (handmade) for my taste.
  • wilwil
    wilwil Posts: 374
    Perhaps this should be changed to : Who makes the best looking, sexiest bikes. Regardless of where and how they are made.
  • bobpzero
    bobpzero Posts: 1,431
    edited September 2008
    a nice big picture edit
    08-argon-road.jpg
    tho they make a lot of mtb dh & xc frames, they have one roadie frame
    http://www.nicolai.net/index.html
  • inseine
    inseine Posts: 5,788
    If only we could have a nice BIG picture!
  • icon_frightened.gif@ the Nicolai. They should stick to making DH frames. :lol:
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    De Rosa
    I like bikes...

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