HTupolev

The hottest bike ever is obviously Marco Pantani's 1998 Mercatone Uno Bianchi road bike.

FeltF2Tarmac

KraneXL

Is it just me or does it sometimes appear as if ADHD has gone viral?

diphthong

if it ain't italian, the answer is automatically no.

woodcraft

The things that make it the hottest looking bike:
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I got nothin'


AFAS the Cervelo, that solid chunk of set stay looks SO un-aero...

Campag4life

Based upon what you have written, you pal. ...kidding.

Of course any train of thought or lack thereof can be dissected. It all started with a false premise. What inherently is 'best looking' about perhaps the most ordinarily shaped race bike on the planet, the EVO? Not taking anything away from the EVO...a hellova race bike...my buddy has one in my size and I have ridden it and it is a great bike. And of course no picture to drive any sort of narrative. So, the thread splinters to a pleathora of different permutations i.e. many machines considered a work of art to me is a cool diversion and even germane because it portends to the essence of design...what is considered beautiful. It can be conjectured that design and beauty are rooted deep in the brain due to evolution...what our ancestors experienced in the wild and lived and died by...many sleek and fast animals. I am pretty airplane illiterate but can contribute pretty substantively to the world of bicycles and motorcycles because I have built plenty of each.

But to bring the thread a bit back more on point. Some have no shame. An average rider is most ubiquitous. Very good and of course elite amateur riders are more rare. Some middle aged guys who have no game but deeper pockets like the little guy who buys a big truck maybe alright pedaling around on a $8K Venge, Foil or Madone. But other even stronger riders prefer to ride more under the radar on bikes a bit more understated like the Tarmac, TCR, EVO, Cervelo R, Emonda….a long list of uber light all arounder race bikes which typically are more fun to ride as well.

As discussed personal taste is in the eye of the beholder. I tend to go for a bit more understated elegance in design and so an over the top bike like a Venge, Madone or lets not leave out Cannondale...the System Six...I'm not going choose such a bike for daily riding. I would rather have an all arounder. Others like to make more a statement. I know because I catch their wheel all the time.

As many have pointed out in the thread...lets take F1 cars...are modern F1 cars really more beautiful than early F1 cars? Many here would say no.
Slave to utilitarian function aka aerodynamics may not at the end of the day be most pleasing to the eye for any including a modern F1 car compared to what Fangio drove. Evolution can be extrapolated relative to what design has survived due to natural selection and survival of the fittest. Both the Cheetah (Ferrari) and not particularly aero or fleet of foot elephant (Kenworth) have survived. To me its all good but most still have a preference.

Cannondale flagship System Six:




And even an elephant can evolve. Genius of Musk:

Campag4life

It isn't. R-series along with the S was developed in the wind tunnel. To me the rear seat stay triangle is based upon lowering the hinge point of the spaghetti strap seat stays for even more compliancy. This is because Cervelo engineers deliberately made the chainstays as stout as possible for maximum energy transfer and torsional stiffness. The rear triangle of a bike is a truss and works as a system. As with earlier Cervelo including previous S series, it is conjectured the bike is ridable even with cutting the rear seat stays off they are so minimalistic. This is because the chainstays are the stoutest in the industry which gives the rear triangle its strength and yet the seat tube can bend back with rider weight over irregular road surfaces. In fact, the entire bottom of the new Cervelo R is the stoutest in the industry...head tube to downtube into massive bottom bracket into huge chain stays. The bike has amazing road manners....but not kiss your sister ride quality. You have to own the performance this bike gives. It is no Roubaix or Domane. It is a performance bike and a monolith. Road disturbances manifest along the entire wheelbase of the bike not a particular end of the bike, latter more common for a less stiff chassis. Handling is telepathic and not nervous like many race bikes like the Tarmac for example because head tube is slightly tilted back...and chain stays lengthened 5 mm's to offset a longer front end. Goldilocks and in my opinion better than the Emonda which was the previous goldilocks bike between skittish race bike and more laid out endurance geometry which many find less appealing. I prefer a bit slower handling to too twitchy. Personal taste and I am no crit rider.

bruce19

My inclination as well.

Campag4life

They do have the flare for sure. In the water or DNA...certainly in the majesty of the landscape.

BillyD

I knew planes would eventually appear.

The semi-truck was unexpected.

BillyD

If I were ever to venture into crabon, this would be a leading contender because of the virtually level top tube.

Campag4life

I mentioned I was plane illiterate and only know slightly more about big trucks, but Musk is the man when it comes to design and he ain't even Italian. Musk wanted to call his new truck the Venge...which will undoubtedly be robot driven more and more over time but that name was taken and so is calling it the Verge.

MoAlpha

Yeah, what's up with that? I thought that was slow.

DougRNS

what about shovels?
#AwesomeShovel

Bikeracer123

noodle soup

Verge is taken already.

https://www.ternbicycles.com/bikes/467

Fox Farm

It looks like a harsh ride to my eyes. But yes, it has a lot of bling (as side wind issues).

noisebeam

ventolin

Almost every decent custom (or custom-ish) bike I've ever seen is 'hotter'.

I'd take anything from the folks at Vanilla, all day, every day, over a production Cannondale, personally...



As far as production bikes go, frankly I'm a curmudgeon I suppose, in that I'm of the mind that nothing's every surpassed the elegance in design of vintage steel racing frames — and old Ciocc San Cristobal, IMHO, has far more visual appeal to me than anything contemporary in a chunky composite construction and its ramifications on tubing geometry.

noodle soup

looks familiar

ventolin

Or vintage French/British. There're some hawt Mercians out there. Hell, I'd even throw in some Japanese stuff (Miyata), if one's attracted to the aesthetics of touring rides (I am).

ventolin

Hot diggity damn!

ventolin

It's hard to argue with this at all.

noodle soup

Not mine. This one belongs to robbyville.

ventolin

Whoever's it is, it has the kavorka. In spades.