Crappy bike in press shots

Gizmodo has a nice little rant on ugly bikes for press releases. Good for a laugh.

That is pretty funny, though when I worked in bike shops we’d get bike catalogues displaying kinked chains, chains on the big ring and big cog on the rear so the rear mech was almost horizontal, brake levers at weird angles, stuff that really sold their bicycle knowledge.

Seems a bit snobbish. I notice that in the US, people really care about every component of the bike. I appreciate good bike components, but when we are encouraging bike ridership in general, I care not whether someone has XT or Acera. :laughing:

Totally snobbish. But the world’s best blog is bikesnobnyc.

You have to consider the startup in question strategy. Most companies making a technology product love to target early adapters. Those early adapters are the bike nuts (full disclosure, I am one). We notice details like crappy bikes and components. The remaining 95% of the population do not.

I would venture to say everyone is a snob in some way. I know very few bike snobs, but the number of coffee, food, beer, car and even cross fit snobs is staggering.

This bike snob thinks that the inclusion of bikes mentioned in the Gizmodo article simply points to poor art direction, and lack of content understanding on the stylist’s or even designer’s part. The bike is a photo prop, and like a car commercial which may have a model driving it, the point is not to notice the model but remember the car. The bikes in question draw attention to themselves in a detrimental way.

Actually…the reflector bike is bad, but the rest are less bad. A real gem is Tri-dork from Planet Fred that bikesnobnyc likes to use!