has anyone seen a more beautiful bike than this?

[zmudshark]

Originally Posted by kiwisimon

this thread drifted quick.

Quickly.

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

I was at Thomson when the designs were being done. They absolutely did not just go to Asia and rebranded some bars.

The first bars were designed and made in house. But it was too expensive and too time consuming. Mark Lynskey was doing some custom frames for Thomson and David asked him about the bar. Mark said sure, I can do it but the failure rate was higher, the cost was not as high but still high and he couldn't get things quite right.

David went to Asia and sourced the bar from someone who was able to consistently make the bar to spec and to testing standards. It's a design he came up with and pushed for. Not a rebranded piece.

Thanks for correcting and setting the record straight. And apologies for repeating a wholly incorrect rumor.

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by zmudshark

Quickly.

It made it to post #38 and then it went off the rails.

[slowpoke]

re: thread drift.. bike industry history is more interesting than an ostentatious magenta bike.

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

Thanks for correcting and setting the record straight. And apologies for spreading a wholly incorrect rumor.

No worries. I hadn't heard the rumor before. I get people thinking things just get rebranded from someone else. It happens all the time. Their parts, it's all their designs.

The Thomson ti bars are oddly heavier than every other ti bar out there. But David pushed for it to be above testing standards. He didn't want to worry about returns or failures. They are heavier but crazy solid. I've ridden the ti straight bar, it's really nice.

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

re: thread drift.. bike industry history is more interesting than an ostentatious magenta bike.

I like the bike industry history stuff. In it way too long over here. But I do like that bike. I like that Battaglin more though. I would buy that one over the Bishop if they were sitting in a store next to each other.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

I like that Battaglin more though. I would buy that one over the Bishop if they were sitting in a store next to each other.

As would I.

[ERK55]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

re: thread drift.. bike industry history is more interesting than an ostentatious magenta bike.

Huh?? “Ostentatious??”

If so, sign me me up for “ostentatious”.
And maybe magenta too.

PS if you ever met Chris you’d know he would be so very disappointed to hear his work described that way.

[kiwisimon]

Originally Posted by zmudshark

Quickly.

View Post
Thanks for correcting and setting the record straight. And apologies for spreading wholly incorrect grammar.

[jchasse]

Originally Posted by zmudshark

Quickly.

Not according to NASCAR. There's the guy on pole, then there's the guy who's "second quick". Empirical evidence that there's no sense using unnecessary words like quickly, quicker, or quickest.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by nmrt

But looking at this bike has made me looking at Bishop website for prices for the past 20 min. Want to get one so bad. Rim brakes though.

^^^

I was going to say: Yes, that definitely is a beautiful bike...but I guess I'm not yet ready to concede that The Most Beautiful Bike Ever has disc brakes.

Perhaps some day...

[jchasse]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Don't care. Their bike parts are junk.

Holy crap, that's good to know. I've been riding their posts and stems for like 20 years, and have never had a single issue. Thanks for bringing me up to speed.

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by ERK55

Huh?? “Ostentatious??”

If so, sign me me up for “ostentatious”.
And maybe magenta too.

PS if you ever met Chris you’d know he would be so very disappointed to hear his work described that way.

I don't consider it ostentatious at all. I think it's pretty normal. I would say the Battaglin with the chrome everywhere is more ostentatious. But I like the chrome. It's so purty.

[tylercheung]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

I was at Thomson when the designs were being done. They absolutely did not just go to Asia and rebranded some bars.

The first bars were designed and made in house. But it was too expensive and too time consuming. Mark Lynskey was doing some custom frames for Thomson and David asked him about the bar. Mark said sure, I can do it but the failure rate was higher, the cost was not as high but still high and he couldn't get things quite right.

David went to Asia and sourced the bar from someone who was able to consistently make the bar to spec and to testing standards. It's a design he came up with and pushed for. Not a rebranded piece.

As for the stems, lots of people bought them cause they had more sizes and options than anyone else. They were a go to like Salsa was in the 90's for fitting. And most people want things to match. Another reason why people buy them. I like the looks of the stems though.

I actually like them a lot. granted, whatever my dimensions are, I ride the 0 mm setback post. My only beef is to adjust the seat post, I probably need to invest in some ball-head hex bits because I can't fit my torque wrench exactly perpendicular to the bolts. (albeit I am tempted by the 1 bolt adjustments from some competitors).

I have their carbon road bar and it's fine, albeit if I were to do it again, I'd go for maybe a shallower drop.

I did crack a 2 bolt stem faceplate although Helen's in Santa Monica had replacements on hand - I didn't install the original though so hard to say.

I have their 4 bolt stem which hasn't given me any problems

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by jchasse

Holy crap, that's good to know. I've been riding their posts and stems for like 20 years, and have never had a single issue. Thanks for bringing me up to speed.

Any time. Even if the parts haven't failed they look like they were CNC'd by the blind for someone with the kind of aesthetic sense that they look at a Brutalist building and go "can we somehow do that but less ostentatious?"


So they've got that going for them.