tuxbailey

If you were to order a high end custom bike that has custom paint option (Lynskey, Seven, etc,) would you make it a Q-Ship? In other word, no manufacturer decals to reduce the visibility, theft possibility, or the vanity factor?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship

grolby

Paying the premium for a name like that without the sticker would be moronic. What makes a Lynskey special? The name on the downtube. Without that, you might as well be riding a stripped Airborne or Motobecane. Kind of like erasing the lettering on a King headset - if you're not showing it off, why are you spending so much?

Also, uglifying or otherwise making a bike anonymous doesn't protect it much against theft, and you end up with an ugly and/or anonymous bike. There's a bizarrely persistent belief out there that bike thieves are idiots, incapable of recognizing a high-quality bike. It's a belief that has been consistently proven wrong. Most bike thieves know what they're looking at. If you want to protect it, keep it inside (you're not locking your fancy bike up outside, are you!?).

tuxbailey

I don't have a fancy bike (only in my dreams) but it is more for curiosity.

ericm979

I have a black carbon PedalForce QS2 with no logos. I get more questions and comments about it- typical is "what IS that? Is it an experimental bike?" or "is that a Parlee?"- than my other bike, a Cervelo R3.

I thought that having a generic carbon frame with no logos would make people not notice it and thus not bother me with chatter about my bike, but it seems to have the opposite effect.

Little Darwin

If the frame isn't better on its own merits, then the name isn't special either...

I would rock a frame from a known (or unknown) manufacturer without decals, because I don't ride a bike to impress others... which is good, because with my lack of speed, I won't impress anyone.

grolby

It's not a matter of whether the quality is better, it's a matter of whether the difference in quality alone merits the mark-up. The answer is pretty much always no. Is a King headset worth 3x as much as a Cane Creek S-3 on quality? HELL no. A large part of what you pay for is the name. That's not necessarily a bad thing mind you, but names are definitely special and definitely worth something. This is why companies are willing to spend so much money to defend their brands, even under what appear to be questionable circumstances.