Bike of The Year 2009 - THE BIG VOTE

boty

wow,like picking the best player from the brazilian national footy team!
yeti seem popular.all the best to all entrants!!! lovely bikes.

Time involved to research the bike and put the frame assembly together and then get the website up deserves the nod. Congrats Mike and kudos again to all you monthly winners. What lies ahead in 2010...we can only wonder.

what a line up.

all worthy for sure.

1. c26
2. manitou
3. mantis
4. epic

Grove for me - Box fresh! Original, and the bike I'd most like to own. on this list and probably away from this list too.

Anthony":27vlos5a said:

To be blunt, some of the builds look a bit gay to me.

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Anthony":27vlos5a said:

... and there's just something about that Miyata that makes it look totally right.

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Is the irony here intentional? The gold accented Miyata would surely be Liberace's bike of choice.

John":2okoelwu said:

Anthony":2okoelwu said:

To be blunt, some of the builds look a bit gay to me.

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Anthony":2okoelwu said:

... and there's just something about that Miyata that makes it look totally right.

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Is the irony here intentional? The gold accented Miyata would surely be Liberace's bike of choice.

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There's no irony. The Miyata isn't my type of bike and may not satisfy my definition of a mountain bike, but it is well designed and I believe it is presented here precisely as the designer intended. Some of the builds in my view present the bikes as slightly camped-up versions which give an overall impression that seems quite different from what the designer would have had in mind, and may even get in the way of the intended function.

To me, a mountain bike should look as though it's meant to be on a mountain. Once you have a build that looks as though it isn't intended to leave the owner's garden, or as if he wouldn't want to risk getting mud and shit on it, it ceases to be a mountain bike. That isn't to decry the excellent work that people have done, but everybody has their own view and that is mine.

And although I'm no expert in Liberace, I doubt whether he would like the Miyata the best. True it is ornate and I see why you say that, but I think it has substance. To the best of my limited knowledge, Liberace was all about ostentation and the key to ostentation is a lack of substance.

that and there's no candlabra on it

Anthony":8owhxoqt said:

And although I'm no expert in Liberace...

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I'm sure you do yourself a disservice Anthony! it certainly seems like your bicycle gay-dar is fully operational.

orange71":8owhxoqt said:

that and there's no candlabra on it

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Good point well made Ed.

Hmm...

One one hand, there's the paradox of choosing one 'Ultimate' over another.

On the other hand, there are some great build stories with some great histories and personalities involved.

Difficult decisions. Then Anthony chipped in. Can't cast a camp vote...

John":1wkn8t1f said:

Anthony":1wkn8t1f said:

And although I'm no expert in Liberace...

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I'm sure you do yourself a disservice Anthony! it certainly seems like your bicycle gay-dar is fully operational.

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I was using the word gay in the adjectival sense that my children use it, which is a different thing altogether and has little or nothing to do with Liberace as far as I'm aware.

To be honest I was surprised, but I found that they used the word for a spectrum of meanings around 'silly' or 'ridiculous'. I had assumed they would be more liberal-minded than me.