Why is it that bike companies produce beautiful frames and then ruin it by writing their brand name 5times all over the bike covering about 60% of the bike frame surface?
You would never see a Mercedes S Class with Mercedes written all over the door, the roof, and the hood? With the engineers names on the front and rear bumper? Why do bike companies ruin all those awesome frames? I understand that branding is important, but everybody knows already what bike it is. LESS IS MORE!
If you lack a creative design department, why not give the public a chance to come up with something great? Maybe a design competition where the winner of the chosen design would get a free bike?
This is serious stuff, I can’t take it anymore. I’m about to start training 100% on my Computrainer or ride at night so that I don’t have to look at most of those fugly stock paint jobs anymore.
There was an add for a new Cannondale in this month’s Triathlete. I already tossed it so I don’t remember the name but it was solid black, one place the name Cannondale and nothing else: not even on the wheels. No lables at all. It looked really sharp. Maybe someone else knows the name.
LOL. I’ve wondered this myself. It isn’t just the frames either. Seats, seatposts, stems, bars, brakes, levers, tires, wheels… I haven’t even mentioned the drivetrain yet. If you REALLY look at a typical bike, I swear these things have more logos per square inch than any other product.
Yesterday at Ladera Cyclery Jeff showed me the new Cannondale TT bike in the catalog, I think it’s called “Slice” or something like that and that one did look amazing… The new Felt DA also has a nice paint job IMO. But many other bikes not so aesthetically pleasing.
that’s what’s so great about Ti.
take all those decals off. clean it up once in a while with a scotchbrite pad and polish it with pledge.
then, if you want, contact kai and get a custom decal or your name and put it on the bike.
you know that part is actually unique and ok. But I just don’t understand why bike companies aren’t more creative with their paint schemes. Do they really need to write “OURCOMPANYNAME” on the top tube, down tube, fork, etc.?
I feel exactly the same and much as I love my P2K it takes a lot of the fun out of owning a nice bike to be reminded it’s one of thousands of identical bikes every time you go to a race. My solution is to get both my bikes beautifully powder coated British Racing Green - one done so far and I think it looks incredible.
What I find even weirder than people paying so much for the right to provide free advertising for the bike company is that many people who go the custom finish route like me then spend even more money replicating the company’s logo to spoil their new finish!! I know a lot of people on the board have done this but why go through all the trouble of giving yourself a blank canvas only to spoil it?
THe companies put logos everywhere on their frames in the Tour and Giro so it can be seen no matter what the camera is zoomed in on. Companies then put logos everywhere on their regular bikes so they *look *like the race bikes. Which everyone knows makes them a lot faster.
If you want that then look away from the big brands. There are a ton of smaller builders that make works of art without a ton of branding. My Klein mountain bike has a finish worthy of a sports car, and the only branding is the name running up the down tube and a head badge.
THe companies put logos everywhere on their frames in the Tour and Giro so it can be seen no matter what the camera is zoomed in on. Companies then put logos everywhere on their regular bikes so they *look *like the race bikes. Which everyone knows makes them a lot faster.
I would have to agree with this one. One bike on the TdF as I recall had 4 logos on the downtube. For this particular photo shot of a TdF rider, the only logo that was visible was the logo on the bottom side of the downtube.
Car manufacturer’s do it differently. For example, have you ever seen the inside of a Porsche, the crest can be everywhere. Its on the steering wheel, can be on the armrest, on both headrest, the floor mats. On the outside, the crest is visible on five different places.
THe companies put logos everywhere on their frames in the Tour and Giro so it can be seen no matter what the camera is zoomed in on. Companies then put logos everywhere on their regular bikes so they *look *like the race bikes. Which everyone knows makes them a lot faster.
I think you’re exactly right. Mercedes owners would never buy such a monstrosity because they’re not looking to buy something that looks like a race car. Now, I’ve seen some pretty cheesy Saleen Mustangs, for example, that would put my bikes to shame with the writing all over them.
If it really bothers the OP that much, it doesn’t cost that much more to have the frame sent out and repainted, relative to the cost of the overall bike. In fact, I think that both my Cervelo P3 and Trek OCLV will be going out for paint jobs this winter. I’m also getting pretty tired of all the logos.
Did you ever see a Porsche or a Ferrari or Lamborghini that had stickers all over? The couple people I knew that had stickers all over their Mustangs and supercharged Asian cars all did so on their own because they wanted the graphics and/or they were sponsored and got tuning parts for free or at a great discount.
“If it really bothers the OP that much, it doesn’t cost that much more to have the frame sent out and repainted”
My frame is custom painted. But why would you have to do that when you buy a new $3k frame? (Not that mine was that much, got is used). You would never buy a car just to have it repainted to your liking, would you? I think we should expect not only a stiff aerodynamic frames, but also decent stock paint jobs that come with them.
I think that in the coming years graphics on the frames will become more important as many bike companies are now producing very similar frames. Maybe not in terms of geometry and stiffness (which of course are very important variables), but in terms of design features, e.g. wheel cutout. Graphics could and hopefully will be something that companies will take more serious in the future to help themselves differentiate from the competition in the future.
I think that in the coming years graphics on the frames will become more important as many bike companies are now producing very similar frames. Maybe not in terms of geometry and stiffness (which of course are very important variables), but in terms of design features, e.g. wheel cutout. Graphics could and hopefully will be something that companies will take more serious in the future to help themselves differentiate from the competition in the future.
I think you answered your own question on why they’re badged the way they are with this statement. A Mercedes will never be confused with a Corolla just because it doesn’t have huge letters all over it. Bikes, on the other hand, all look similar from more than a few feet away to all but the most astute. If a manufacturer hopes to have their bike noticed in the peloton at the Tour they’ve got to badge it the way they do. In fact, someone in another thread joked (but I believe it’s at least partly true) that the aero-section downtubes on the C road bikes serve mostly as real estate to place larger logos.
