What bikes do we lust over?

motorbacon from bikesdirect for $299 if you're stateside is probably as cheap as you can get and not be a giant piece of crap.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/fixie-cafe-flat-bar-bikes.htm

bringing it back round to the start of this thread, must say i am feelin the vamoots DR

http://moots.com/wp-content/uploads/Vamoots_challenge_90089-copy.jpg

would it kill em to paint the fork tho, jeeeez

Nice stuff and I see quite a bit of moots here in CO, but it doesn't seem special to me. I should really try to ride one sometime. I swear by my old ti bike, insanely comfy.

yeah sorry $300 mail order bikes not v lustful, but that does actually look just the job. thanks slp.

hunt3r am i right in thinking you took all the old paint off your ti bike - love how there's so many different ways to finish one, from the moots matte look to mirror polish to some of those ano'd fireflys. that's before you even bring paint into the equation!

yeah, it's plain matte except for the bright polished couplers. some people actually ask me if it's a moots, as they do coupled frames. i should get some white decals and put "MUTT" on it, it's got no fine pedigree- dean by sandvik modified by bilenky. (it is of good quality tho).

caek, lustful bikes are those that get ridden regularly regardless of cost, appearance, or mark. imo.

lol MUTT. do it!

nice bit of painted ti from salsa

http://salsacycles.com/files/bikes/Warbird_Ti_14_sv_1440x960.jpg

i guess i shoulda wrote "lustworthy" above.

is the warbird a "gravel grinder" bike? looks like an underside cage braze-on there. that's great looking, no matter how cynical i get about micro-discipline bikes (yes, i know, gravel grinder ultras are the next whatever, just huge, put one in your quiver next to your randonee, cx, 24 hr mtb, marathon mtb, freeride trail mtb, enduro, adventure rig, and fat bike).

yeah it's a gravel bike. I want one.

yep 3rd bottle bosses, you can get a frame bag in there too

i've never used a third bottle, have any of you? are they easy to reach? it seems like you would be getting a steady diet of tirespray mud, sand, cowpoop, and giardia. i guess you get that pretty much anyway, just in lower doses from the regular mount.

i do have some behind the saddle dual mount cages that i used on a long hot unsupported ride back in the 90s. functional but weird.

guess third bottle makes sense for touring?

http://i.imgur.com/wlD259f.jpg

did they blur the background in post? that bike looks tiny for some reason

dead fucking handsome:

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0220/2502/products/No22_4A_Final.jpg?v=1382550080

oooooooooft

love a bit of ano'd ti

Ooh that is very hot

http://www.bikerumor.com/2014/03/18/nahbs-2014-cielo-adds-road-racer-bike-plus-new-stems-colors/

fuuuuuuck

44mm ht on a std steel frame still looks aaaassssss (til i DIE), but otherwise some nice stuff.

it is a bit inelegant, yes.

dat tartan colourscheme, though!

http://d4nuk0dd6nrma.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/titanium_road_race_bicycle_suppresio_013_002.jpg

Ooh, nice. Not a fan of seatmast though.

i recognize that this is completely irrational, since they're the best wheels money can buy, but i can't stand lightweight wheels on bikes. not from a functional perspective, but the logo/name just kills the bike aesthetically. it's like if your bike were made by a company called "really fast" and your downtube had a big decal with "really fast" printed in times new roman. couldn't they just make a cool logo and slap that on there instead? (or, since they don't really do much marketing anyway, no log at all?)

suspect there are like 1,000 straight-from-alibaba carbon frames with variations of faux-brand "really fast."

Is that titanium?

100% agree with you, when I first saw the bike the Meilenstein was uppermost and I was wondering who made these wheels with such cool graphics, then I saw the crappy Lightweight decals and they are an instant turnoff.

Titatnium, yes

I really like that it is a seat mast, it makes the top tube/seat tube lug really nice

yeah my objection is not the visual aesthetic, that seattube 'lug' is nice.

i do think the aesthetic of a 1 1/8 stem clamp over a 44mm headtube continues to be bad.

Definitely agree on that one, I'm not sure tapering the tube would make it much better.

I'm also not entirely sure what the whole tapered steerer thing is supposed to achieve, test theres a bigger crown race but I've never hear a complaint about the load bearing capacity or longevity of a 1 1/8th inch crown race

I now have a ti bike with a 1" hs, and a carbon cx with a pretty massive 1.5/1.25 hs, and while the dif is apparent in riding I don't think it's due to control or precision issues on the road. Imo. On dirt I like the os headset though. Longevity? My 97 Chris King 1" is flawless still.