Hisamatsu

Assuming a typical commuter hybrid/road bike, nothing fancy. What brand name would you think less highly of or be less appealing to catch your attention?

Bought 4 bikes (Trek, Specialized, Diamondback, Cannondale) so far over the years and each time people will often say "Nice bike" when they see me riding around. I covered up the default logo branding with "Huffy stickers" and people stopped commenting how nice of a bike I have; interesting behavior. However, when I go into a bike shop for stuff the workers there give a puzzled/confused face especially if it is a model they specialize in carrying.

Example, attached is my trek bike I use while garage sale hunting for fun.

skinny matt

That haul is straight up manland. Well played sir.

tyrion

Pinarello is one of the crappier brands. Sometimes they put the forks on backwards. And the tubes aren't even close to being round.

sgtrobo

excellent post, dwarf.

canklecat

Dunno, but the most appealing bike brand that I think is crap is probably Tern.

I really wanted one. The one I've actually seen, their high end folder, was a beauty. I didn't have the heart to tell the owner that particular frame was associated with some reports of failure. And the company's overall behavior was atrocious.

But, dayum... they made some nice looking folders with good specs and components. I was very tempted by that Castro Duo with the Automatix hub. Seemed like a fun MUP cruiser.

BobbyG

Draisienne. Many praise the "historic" design advances, but in reality they rode like wooden buck-boards. On the plus side, the drive-train was completely silent.

alan s 

Anything from bikesdirect. Having said that, I bought a Moto fatbike on CL last year, and aside from replacing most of the crap components, the frame has held up through some pretty hard use by me and former owners. I think I'm the 3rd or 4th owner.

Darth Lefty 

Some Walmart bikes are now appearing with "Zoom" components.

wphamilton

Canondale and Trek. I don't think that they're actually "crap" but those brands are not appealing to me.

JanMM

Bikes from Acme Corporation would be crap.

RubeRad

I have bought four motobecane 29ers from BD (actually 3 of them were from BikeIsland, their scratch&dent/old stock outlet), and am very happy with them. They were not the very cheapest bikes though, everything XT/XTR level.

To answer the OP's question, the least appealing bike brand that I think is crap is MAGNA.

I love your Huffy decal on the Trek ploy though, but still the rest of the bike looks too nice. You need to add some more cheesy stickers and let it get dirtier though.

srestrepo

if you can get some royce union or pacific stickers, you might be golden.

acidfast7

Surly. Overpriced garbage (honestly).

Overpriced

CUBE bikes (best value/money)

Underpriced

ridelikeaturtle

Most all newer bikes on the road, but GIANT is the one that makes me roll my eyes. Easily 2 of every 3 bikes in Dublin is a GIANT. Same graphics as every other CUBE, SCOTT, MEKK, MERIDA, KTM, TREK, etc etc etc. Absolutely no character or interesting in any way... boring boring boring.

fietsbob

so posting a trolll, rather than working again?

the ones that most people buy thinking you only spend $150 and that gets you a good bike

many are old brand names, bought out, for their past reputation and name recognition ,

but the name drug thru the mud by being applied to a product barely adequate in quality and parts,
and assembled by the mechanically clueless that don't even know when the fork is backwards..


Now get back to work ,the boss is watching.

Staypuft1652

Trek. Every one I've had has been s**t.

Andy_K 

I'm not sure brand names like this even register with bike thieves, but if they do that might actually be a point in favor of BD bikes. As far as ratio of quality to brand appeal goes, I think their bikes are pretty far up there -- decent quality (from what I've read), very low brand appeal. If I were looking for a bike that would make people turn up their noses, that's where I'd turn.

I've never bought anything from Bikes Direct, but I do have two Motobecanes -- a '72 Grand Record and a '74 Grand Jubilé. I would actually get a kick out of it if anyone associated these bikes with BD.

InTheRain

I don't spend a lot time researching crap brands. However, I'm not going to buy a bike from Target, Walmart, or even Dick's Sporting Goods. But, for commuting, a person can make nearly anything work for a short commute.

RidingMatthew

I have a 2012 Moto Fantom CX from bikes direct. I have probably around 20,000 miles on it. it has been a tough do it all bike for me.

I ride with my 7yo son, commute year round, and even toured the GAP with it. Good value for me.


I would say the least appealing bike is one someone is not riding and they are letting it sit in the garage.

Hisamatsu

I almost purchased a Moto fantom CX bike from them, but found out about DB corporate discount which made it similarly priced.

wilkyboy

Giant.

Every gosh-darn heckin' bike they sell looks and feels (I've owned a couple in my short time on this planet) like they couldn't have cheaped out on anything if they tried. They all look the same, they're all popular and relatively inexpensive to the oblivious masses. Both the giants I owned needed a good £100-£200 (~$130-$260) worth of major work within a couple of years of owning them - even with reasonable regular maintenance.

ditto that. I get very upset when I see people with bikes in their garage that they're just like "It's too good to ride". If it's so good, then at least build the bike up and hang it on the wall, rather than let it sit and rust, unloved. People who do it for no good reason should be round up and thrown in prison.

I'm joking, obviously.

RubeRad

In the big picture, it's probably pretty rare for a bike to sit unused in the garage because "it's too good to ride". Mostly bikes go unused because cars are so much easier.

RidingMatthew

yep

liampboyle

I've finally gotten to the point that I'm pretty much disavowing all department store level bicycles. I've ridden various dept store brands for years and usually have some type of catastrophic failure within 3-6 months with all of them. (Basically if the repair costs more than the bike is worth, I call it a catastrophic failure.) Since I'm an apartment dweller with no place to work on bikes myself and have to take everything to the shop, repairs beyond basic maintenance tend to get very expensive very quickly.

bigbenaugust 

Yeah, I'd go with the department-store brands. But then I have a pair of BD Moto's.