Bike of the Month - change needed?

Even in' all,

I have cast my vote for bike of the month and I had great difficulty making a decision. Would it be possible to split the bikes into categories? It is hard to vote for one bike out of the following three, and this is just an example,
First - perfect restoration of a vintage bike
Second - immaculate newer bike restored with money no object
Three - mid range priced bike restored with care

Hard to make a decision as these bikes are so diverse in nature and owners ability to pay for the resto. This forum seems to be almost equally about he bikes and the riders/ owners and, personally, I think that he contributors are the best bit. The help I have been given could never be paid for and the RBers I am in contact with are great people. This affects the vote too.

Could someone with a bigger brain than mine come up with a solution, it may be possible to vote for different aspects of a bike which would give a cumulative score but I do not know enough about the software to know if this is an option.

Thanks all for reading.... Who did I vote for?

I think it would help if it was a requirement that one of the two photos should show that the bike gets ridden in a serious way.

There have been some RBOTMs that are quite clearly still ridden, and people seem to respond well to these - people on here clearly prefer bikes that get used.

Pushing this a bit, maybe the themes could be connected to this - themes could be related to particular riding conditions, e.g. alpine bikes, UK touring bikes, track bikes, cyclocross.

Fair comment, unfortunately I would not do well with that criteria but my bike has been ridden a lot in the past. The far distant past!

To take this a step further, if there was a way to assess the bikes, usage could be one of the criteria.

Why?

I must say IMHO its fine as it is.
Why complicate it, just vote for what you think is the nicest bike submited this month. Everybody probably judges it by their own individual criteria anyway. Its been discussed before but I think it means different things to different people. It might be nice to have 'special' months ie: marquee months, bike on a mountain month, cyclocross month etc, that type of thing.
Lets see what everyone else says, majority rule etc.
Jamie

There was a discussion along these lines in the pre 97 mtb section which got pretty heated. All sorts of sub categories were discussed and these can all be incorporated into the theme for the month, whether that be 'Italian vs French' 'bikes from the 50's and 60's' or any number of other variation to try and make the job of picking a bike easier.

I think there are many different people who are members here, but I feel there is an preference with some for absolutely period correct bikes, while others prefer more practical builds. My personal preference is for a well put together and 'complete' bike, and as I have no expertise in road bikes, then a mix of Shimano and Campag, or a period incorrect saddle have no bearing on my choice if I think the bike works as a whole.


EDIT: I had to add a comment based on the post below; I never ride in a 'serious fashion', I'm always having way too much fun.

Johnsqual":3dk76nfc said:

I think it would help if it was a requirement that one of the two photos should show that the bike gets ridden in a serious way.

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Don't assume a bike that looks pristine doesn't get ridden a lot, just means the owner looks after their kit. Lasts a lot longer that way.

How could a photo ever show a bike gets ridden in a serious way? Perhaps we should upload our Garmin data too, checked mine for the year yesterday and I'm just over 10,000 miles.

I think just keep it simple, vote for the one you like the most.

Montello":2f1w40cb said:

I think just keep it simple, vote for the one you like the most.

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Yepp.

Why not, get and build a bike yourself for each month and enter it. Then Vote for your own bike. simple
Costly and the shed may need extending though.

TGR":zkrw7lsm said:

This forum seems to be almost equally about he bikes and the riders/ owners and, personally, I think that he contributors are the best bit. [...]

Could someone with a bigger brain than mine come up with a solution [...]

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You're kiddin? Seriously? Fortunately, there's no need for darkened room immersion tactics. Any leanings towards a trait of 'forum acceptability' or 'PC-correctness', or whatever possibly induced bias, necessarily skues judgement. Obviously. RB's about individual appreciation of intrinsic values - the good, the bad and downright 'cough' plastic. Doesn't matter. Not many folks look back too dismissively at the 'Tomahawk', 'Grifter', 'Chop' or 'Elswick Turbo Twelve' (great mosheens); they worked, were cool and got bahookies on saddles and backies!!

Wherein it should come to personal choice if feeling compelled to vote in a problematic pseudo-competition, I'd advise a dose of reality. Thankfully, we have that here (cheers Ed/John and cheques still acceptable at 15% prem). Let's not go down the trans-atlantic route spiel scraping the depths of (no doubt for instance), "Does my pink handlebar wrap clash too violently with the DeRosa's headtoob - Thoughts, please.", or "Hell, it's a '73 'nago Super! Which of the Cinelli's should I think of swapping out? One's only got Sugino Max", or whatever. Or "Is this Fruit of The Loom saddlebag not sitting too low when full? I've weighted it with thirty pounds of wild-picked bloominberrys but no matter which way I ride, it looks imbalanced. Is his wrong?"

Aye. On all accounts.

The TVT's a cracker. The Bottech got the vote. CdM typically brilliant. All great bikes tho and hats off to all. Late 70's - 80's stuff. Chorus over Record. Better aesthetics. Esoterics rool! And they wir harder bitd. Kelly's miraculous (as I might be later) eddifying descent in *Milan-San Remo 92. Or Cav's blisterring anhilation, and the Champses?? Flippin brilliant. Bike handling at best.

Ah, pub....

*Legendary cr*p commentary - turn it off! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL3jQmkj3uI :shock: :shock:

[And if we have to read, again, that "I once worked in a 2** dealership back in the 40's - all Mavic and red", well it'll just needs no more :shock:

[Smileys not working here throughout. ? Linked tho to some of IanRaleigh's recents _ trying here .

For what it is worth (probably not much!), I reckon keep it simple as mentioned by several above.

That said, the idea of an occasional Special month sounds good, perhaps including a Riders Special (not exactly sure what that would mean in practice, I guess one regular photo of the bike and one in action or out in the countryside?).