New concept bike from Specialized. Do you like it?

[bikerjulio]

My immediate thought was that he'd gone back to the '80's and checked off everything that had been banned since then - the faired saddle, funny bike wheels, fairings etc.

there's this



or this

[Calnago]

Lol^. Yeah, seems like more of an exercise in vanity for the designer than anything else. Would have been so much more palatable without all the FU stuff.

[AJS914]

Wow, you guys are a tough crowd. It's just a stupid design exercise. Is this bike even rideable?

Flipping the bird to the UCI as well as the viewer probably does cause people to have a first reaction of "*f##k* you too" you arrogant a-hole.

First, UCI specs are meaningless unless you race.

I think a no-restrictions design exercise can be interesting.

I even think e-bikes are interesting. I've seen e-bikers on trails recently. It's an interesting concept. Go out for 3-4 hours and get 2 hours of exercise on an e-bike that has a light amount of assist and a small battery. I'd personally have to try it to see if that was something I would enjoy.

But with regards to this bike, why all the aero styling if it's an e-bike? You can easily make the battery slightly larger and forget all the aero stuff.

[CerveloBert]

I agree with AJS on this one. It is a tough crowd here on weightweenies. The automobile industry creates a lot of projects like this as concept design and enthusiast forums love bashing on those too, but a lot of adaptations year to year are possible because of those off-the-wall concepts. I don't see why we can't do it with bikes as bicycles are definitely making a comeback in regard to infrastructure, urban planning, and day-to-day use.

[wheelsONfire]

It would be super fun to test ride it!

[Fiery]

I like the sentiment and I would love to see more one-off projects like this one from the other manufacturers as well.

[Rick]

I would love to ride it around town, just for the shock factor.
But I am sure i wouldn't put out my own money for it.

On the finger: Being vulgar is "cool" these days. It is a Miley Cyrus generation.

[euph]

If it's trying to be some crazy aero bike why does it have standard drops? Surely a TT bar and position would have been far more suitable . I also agree that the whole f**k UCI thing is a bit arrogant and immature.

[toblu]

Dont like it, but would be fun to try.
Maybee its better than it looks?

[kbbpll]

I guess you really have to say Eff UCI in order to come up with every innovation from 35-100 years ago and make it sound like you did it all on your own. The Schwinn gas tank thing is on the wrong end though.
Yeah, I know, easy to be critical, but come on, is there actually one real innovation here to justify all the "screw convention" blather? Just another "performance art" bicycle-like thing to me.

[mattr]

First, UCI specs are meaningless unless you race.

Not really, they do ensure an amount of cross compatibility between brands. A small amount.............

[prendrefeu]

Meh. Nice concept... but... looking at a few of the 'other' concepts in that section of Specialized, is this designer and a few others really just interested in riding motorcycles? Seriously.

Also the whole "middle finger" schtick is tacky at best. In reality it just makes the designer, regardless of his apparent excellent skill level, seem like a total douchebag as a person.

[wheelsONfire]

I wonder when we talk of aero bikes and gains, if bikes/ frames were built without respect to UCI rules, how much better could they really be?

[BeeSeeBee]

Well, looking at things that still maintain the semblance of a "traditional" bike like the Specialized Shiv (Tri), Felt IA, Dimond, Ventum, Scott Plasma 5 (Tri), Cervelo P5-6, etc. there are some still some gains to be made, but until you start eliminating the drag of the big hunk of meat riding the bike (like what that front shield aims to do), I don't think you're going to see massive aero gains. But if you're willing to really diverge from convention, you're looking down the path of HPV's, which are obviously incredibly more aerodynamic.

[CerveloBert]

there are some still some gains to be made, but until you start eliminating the drag of the big hunk of meat riding the bike (like what that front shield aims to do), I don't think you're going to see massive aero gains.

Reminds me of something I saw once: