Ugliest component competition
 

Occasionally, someone says something nice about one of my bikes, and I'm chuffed. More often, no one comments. But last Saturday, before our ascent of Larch Mountain, gugie said: that's the ugliest stem I've ever seen. He was referring to the stem on my not-yet-completed Black Shadow Campeur KoF.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8df988b5f.jpeg
Admire the elegance of the welds!
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...03be7012c.jpeg
Is the the ugliest stem you've ever seen?

In my defense, 1" treadless stems are hard to find, at least if you don't have arms like a gorilla. (For some reason that I have yet to fathom, the local haunts seem to have plenty in 13 and 14cm lengths). And now that I dialed-in the right size, I have in fact procured a decent looking (even if it is black) NOS Ritchey 9cm stem from fleaBay. But gugie 's comment did prompt me to think of a fun completion for BikeForums: the ugliest component ever competition.

Since it's my competition, I get to make the rules:

1. You have to be the owner of the completion-entry component: no submission of random photos found on the web
2. Post your photos in this thread; component can be on or off a bike
3. Competition is open for entries until Halloween (31st October)
4. The winner will be decided by acclimation acclamation, or, if there is controversy, by voting; all those submitting entries may vote.
5. The prize will be my ugly stem shown above, or any uglier component that a member may wish to donate. (Winner pays postage.)

I need to find my Campagnolo U brake
might win the Klunky / most mass award.
the cable anchor is cool in its defense.

That stem is not ugly for me. Usually the ugliness is caused by an attempt to embellish the part; this stem is totally functional IMO.

Handsome Is As Handsome Does
 

Campagnolo Valentino Rear Derailleurs
Handsome Is As Handsome Does
Not only are they uber UGLY - they don't work for spa***tura!!!

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fed6ed820a.jpg

Tulio must have hated his son Valentino!

verktyg :50:

I would vote for any modern crankset by Shimano.

One small point of clarification that only I may care about.

ac·cli·ma·tion
/ˌakləˈmāSH(ə)n/
noun: acclimation; plural noun: acclimations

1. the process or result of becoming accustomed to a new climate or to new conditions.
   "he spent most of his rookie season documenting his acclimation to life in the NFL"

ac·cla·ma·tion
/ˌakləˈmāSH(ə)n/
noun: acclamation; plural noun: acclamations

1. loud and enthusiastic approval, typically to welcome or honor someone or something.
   "the tackle brought the fans to their feet in acclamation"

Apparently, a football fan's dictionary site paid Google to prioritize it's definitions.

For what it's worth, that certainly is a butt-ugly component, but consider that welded aluminum has an inherent (and possibly unfair) advantage. :innocent:

I think the stem is cool. I sort of wish I had an ugly part to win it. Will have to look for something...

I'm going to have to go with verktyg : while the "design" of the valentino is just OK, its style seems deliberately ugly. The Huret Svelto is a very similar design but looks somehow more elegant while not really functioning any better than the Campagnolo..... :) I wonder if they gave a challenge to an apprentice at the development shop and said "make the cheapest and ugliest derailleur you can"....


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7a53618091.jpg

My entry: not my photo (from interwebs, might have stolen it from gster as this looks like a Toronto photo) but representative of a class of really ugly (IMO) saddles that many of you are familiar with....this one is especially heinous with the chrome rail.....


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...901ed830f1.jpg

You call that ugly? That ain't ugly. Now, this...THIS is ugly!
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d94a75344d.jpg
From an old MTB that my son uses. Actually a rather practical stem.

This Kalloy stem, on my Peugeot PXR80, while not having those *lovely* welds that you have, is very ugly. As far as functionality goes, I'm not sure why anyone would want a bouncy stem. Must be a touring thing. Seriously annoying when I'm hill-climbing, and creaky to boot. Fortunately, I just received a very elegant Nitto Dynamic stem to replace it.

EDIT: Ha! BFisher beat me to it! :D

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...07d7feed96.jpg

Following this thread with great interest. I've been entertaining myself with the idea of building a bike with the ugliest parts I can find, just for funsies

I know some will say blasphemy, but I don't have a picture because I wouldn't own one.

Mavic starfish crank.

Here's a pic from the web (Edit: not allowed)

So somebody that owns one needs to post it. :)

Straight-blade forks, especially straight-blade carbon fiber forks on a vintage steel frame.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...29d2627a8.jpeg
A blob of brown plastic with $200 cleats

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6acc9a590.jpeg
I don’t think the true cheapness and ugly comes thru in this pic…

I use both a welded threadless stem (riser version) similar to the one pictured and an adjustable hybrid stem like the one pictured. Neither is what I'd ordinarily choose to have on its respective bike but each does exactly what I want it to do, and affordably.


Ugly is as ugly does. My own nominee is the Ross Safety Fork End, both ugly and badly engineered. Nearly every Ross fork with these things needed to have the tips aligned in order for the QR to work properly and dozens of them broke off during the tweak due to brittleness. Our shop had a special section for Ross bikes awaiting warranty replacement forks. Hated those things.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...207fccdc6b.jpg

The welds in the op are pretty nice. Clearly you were talking to some clueless lame soo just ignore them.

There are a lot of ugly stems out there. But my vote goes for this Dia Compe (?) cable hanger, made from pot metal:

https://live.staticflickr.com/7545/2...6392aa8f_b.jpg

They do work pretty well, however.

In my opinion the C&V community has aleady awarded that prize. There's only one C&V bicycle component that I'm aware of, where the name of a classic horror monster is commonly used as an adjective to describe the product.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3a0e58c5ec.jpg

There’s ugly, then there’s creepy ugly. This very nice and well regarded SMP saddle came to me on a bike I picked last year. It just looks wrong to me. Hard to appreciate the looks from about any angle. Very high quality - I’d like to like it but it’s hard to get around the way it screams ED.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8bd2372aa.jpeg


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...02d2266c2.jpeg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...97739b5de.jpeg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f4b39f1a5.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...12f9aca68.jpeg

To be, or not to be, is it a derailleur, or a combination tin can/bottle opener?

Looks like a minimalist bathroom fixture of the future.

I feel the same way about the LD stems (photo from the internets):

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...de210f0223.jpg

IMHO that's the winner so far- I think the key is there can be no redeeming aspect of the component that could make one say "but on the other hand, it..." ;)

I place my bets on this


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...eab3efdf21.png
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...50970d3d34.png

A close second
http://www.pyoratohtori.fi/kuvat/201...d%20vihrea.JPG