I think it's usually easier to end up with a "hot" bike if you have $10,000 to spend. BUT it's still easy to mess up a $10,000 bike with a +17 degree 60mm stem and 4cm spacer (madone 9 with a h2 fit? Really?).

I used to have a bianchi single speed steel bike in celeste. I bought it used for $300. I replaced almost everything on it for $150. Everybody said that it was my hottest bike. Even when it was standing next to my $3,000 trek.

I take pics of my commute to work and weekend rides - less 41ish - more for fun.
(Also lego and pets - but no kids) [MENTION=199133]the[/MENTION]surlybiker

Some bikes say, "I am a sexy, sexy terminator. So sent from the future to make you cry like little boy," and they say this very, very well.
Some bikes say, "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you." Low and behold, some say this very well.
Some bikes say, "I do what I want, Maury. I don't give a **** what my momma says because she a dumb broke ***** who can't get no man anyways. All the boys at school know where to come when they want what I got and I got all of it," and they say this very well.

Other bikes say stuff like "I am from the future, Maury. To steal my daughter, who got all of it. Is there any way I can carry more water?" and it doesn't make any sense.
So I suppose, in a way, hotness is not a particular message or aesthetic, but a message - any message - that is complete and aesthetically coherent. While there's always a cash money component, buyer choice has a lot to do with this.

Yes, sadly, there are a LOT of bikes like that! And to Monkey D.Luffey's question, generally speaking the folks putting together $10k bikes have given a bit more thought to the message they're sending than the folks who put together $300 bikes. We have to remember that if the bike costs US a lot, it cost the maker a lot too, and they wouldn't go to so much trouble if they hadn't sorted out their mission and weren't confident about what they were doing.

While what you say about coherent messages is central to aesthetic understanding, and the only reason for arguing about anything here, hotness, per se, is a matter of personal taste, of which there can be no dispute.

When it comes to taste with regard to bicycles, there are plenty of gourmands, as it were, who may find a bike of any style or type - classic single speed, aero TT, full-bouncer mountain bike - to be "hot" if done sufficiently well. Others, however, have more limited tastes, and will never find ANY mountain bike, or ANY red bike (for example) to be hot. Still others are drawn to sky blue and silver (for example) and eat it up, regardless of obvious flaws in components, state of preservation, etc.

With road bikes, one of the most prevalent divides in taste seems to be sort of "assembled" vs. "integrated." In the former, each part is interesting in its own right, and they are assembled in order to achieve some effect or accomplish some goal. "Classic" designs generally fall into this category, and while there is something primitive about this approach to design, I prefer it. With the integrated approach, the overall effect or "mission" of the bike drives the design of the parts; the form of some parts may be completely meaningless apart from the specific bike for which they were designed. That blue Trek is a perfect example of this second approach. But because I don't have much taste for the integrated approach, even though it's message is very clear and coherent - it's an outstanding design - it leaves me rather cold. I'm more amused by how much it resembles an old car I used to drive (that very color), than interested in how well-designed it is.

I'm about to pick up an old 1985 Cannondale ST400 in mint condition (still has the original cannondale dork disk) for $125. I personally think it looks hot as hell.

For awhile there was <$2k HrN thread. The problem was that the entries basically fell into two categories, "Got a decent frame super cheap, spent $600 on carbon wheels, etc" or "Brand new stock bike", and so it wound up looking like the standard thread.

Cost is a major reason you don't see many cheap HrN bikes. You can build a hot bike on a budget, but for the most part you're paying extra to get color matched accessories. The people who will spend an extra $300 on cosmetic upgrades tend to also be the same people who have the disposable income to afford a $5k bike to begin with. Oh, and the Look 795 is ugly on the best days, regardless of price...

Having said all that, my favorite bikes in this thread are usually the older or unique frames where the owner has gone the extra mile to build something truly unique, kinda like custom cars.

Ha, during the build processes I managed to chip the paint around the rear dropouts

You lucky duck. Be careful with that paint, it chips easily. I wanna see a pic when you get it.

Here's the photo from the craigslist ad. I haven't actually seen it in person yet, but from the ad, it looks great. I talked to the guy on the phone and he said the bike was given to him by a friend, but he never rode it because he has a bad back. It was kind of comical talking to the guy...

Seller: "The wheels need air in them but I don't have a pump."
Me: "Oh, that's no problem, I'll bring mine with me."
Seller: "Well, it takes a special kind of pump, the valves are quite skinny, I can't remember what they're called."
Me: "They look like presta valves in the picture, we should be good."
Seller: "Oh yes, that's what they're called!!"

Lucky duck, you got the metal cable guides too. Good score.

This is good to hear. I'm really not sure on the age or the model, but looking at catalogs makes me believe its the 400 from 85, I should know exactly Saturday night tho!

Whooooooops.

Reflective striping was falling off the pink gilet, so I got a new one from rapha, but they didn't have that same color with pockets anymore, so I wasn't able to keep the pink.

Also, the dean looked great, but I didn't really like the way it rode. The supersix evo is so much quicker, and is just as comfortable. Confidence on the evo descending is miles ahead of the dean too. The headtube is also a lot shorter, so I can get even lower, which I've wanted for a while now. 130mm -17 stem is pretty damn comfortable to me right now.

I'd say you're right except for the saddle is from the ST500, but that could have been switched easily enough. Either way, when you get it the serial number will make it clear.

So the new race rig was ready to roll today. It's not 100%, though, but some of the bling is there. Sure, the overall look isn't going to change, but let's see if any "nots" on account of details might be something that is already slated for "correction."
The guy at the shop says I should get these cages.

I dunno - they seem pretty pricey.

Hot, love this bike. Would look better if you closed the wheel release tabs so the brake levers are lined up with the shift paddles.

Medium. White bar tape, while it looks good when it is fresh, is always a not for me. The rest of the bike is nice. Of course, if you change the bar tape, to lets say black, you change the saddle as well right?

Ha! Thanks, yes, I noticed that after posting the photo. It had been in the car and was just put back together for the photo.

Actually, that tape is temporary because it's squishy with a sort of soft suede-like finish. It feels nice, but I know it will be impossible to keep clean, or even get clean after a while. However, the replacement will also be white, only the hard, more easily washable kind. If that doesn't work out, I'd probably go with gold again.

I guess it's not noticeable in the photo, but the tires need to be replaced, too. The wheels were on the previous bike, and the gray sidewalls looked great then. But that was a matte "natural" carbon bike. On this bike they just look grubby.

The high price is why they say you should get them.

It looks pretty hot to me, but the bars look a little rotated up at a strange angle. Maybe it's just how it's leaning against the wall, or the angle it's photographed from.

A Propel with Campy? Well, that's certainly different.

I've thought about putting Record on my Propel because that's what I run on all my other bikes but for some reason, it just never seemed right. Giant screams for Shimano to me.

Seeing this one, I might have to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/T437DdmFNPU Seriously, it might have been easier if I could stand the way Shimano works. It's nice that you can adjust to it. I went back and forth between SRAM and Campy before without too much bother, but each time I try Shimano it feels ever more idiotic.

I hear what you're saying. I started on Campy in the early 80s and haven't been able to make the crossover. I mean, I can do it but I prefer the Campy shifting.

Anyway, looks good on your propel.

Those arundel cages are the shiz, totally worth the money.

Everybody always says the Arundel Mandibles work great. I think they'll look very elegant and match the elegance of Campy on your bike. My personal choice for cheap but non-aluminum cages would be Elite Custom Race on sale. Probably 15 to 20 grams heavier than a Mandible, but you save a decent chunk of cash.

Yeah. Maybe I'll get the mandibles for the Casati. But since this is also my flashy poser bike, I think the cages that more pros use is appropriate, and I'm digging the fact they can be had for a fraction of the price. I already went overboard with the saddle, bars and stem.