Bicycle Aesthetics and Photography - How to take photos of your bike

When setting up a bike what anal detail do you do? And when photgraphing is there anything you insist has to be in a certain place?

Aesthetic examples:

• Tyre labels in line with tyre innertube valves.
  
• Quick releases both on non drive side.
  
• Saddle horizontal to the ground
  
• bottom of drops horizontal to the ground
  
• One neat strip of tape around the bar tape to finish of
  
• hub logo on front hub should face the same as rear
  etc, etc
  
  
  

Photographing

• Valves both at the lowest point
  
• logo on crankset should be upright
  etc, etc
  Not interested in colour schemes etc as they're very much personal taste anyway.
  

Photographing, has to be drive side, and on a geared bike, in the large chainring and middle/bottom of cassette.
Or something.

Tel ask the question in bike porn and all the anal details will be explained...

An attractive woman sat on the saddle

I read bicycle atheism :(

The position of tyre labels should also match. 10 or 11 o'clock always looks good imo.

CUNT v beat me to it.

Cranks rotated so either a) the drive side it aligned up the downtube OR b) the non-driveside is aligned up the seat tube.

Pedals should be tightened to allow the pedal to sit upright, and pedals should be horizontal to the ground.

Buttons or pulls on the toe-straps.

The ends of brake cables should be proper crimped and stoppered.

I've always held this picture to be a pretty solid example of good bicycle presentation.

Aesthetics is all in the detail, I'm really glad you're asking these questions.

Also, if you want to PERPLEX and ASTONISH the viewer, hide the valves behind the stays and forks!

Shock and incredulity are sure to follow!

^^ +1

Altho, on some bikes I quite like the crank in line with the chain stay. Unconventional I know.

[*]bottom of drops horizontal to the ground

Or drops pointing at rear brake bridge. (?)

i love seeing pictures that are taken from exactly the side, far away enough, so that you dont see the non drive side of the bars, forks, and stays, as if it was a diagram

like this one!

Cranks rotated so either a) the drive side it aligned up the downtube OR b) the non-driveside is aligned up the seat tube.

^^ +1
Altho, on some bikes I quite like the crank in line with the chain stay. Unconventional I know.

Thats interesting. I've always set the crank arms according to the logo on the arm i.e Shimano generally is written so I'd set the crank arm horizontal so the writing is round the right way, Old Campag had the shield logo so I set the crank with the shield vertical so the shield was right way up...I will change my ways.

Or drops pointing at rear brake bridge. (?)

No I don't think so that could lead to all sorts of strange angles. Or should they?

Hub logos aligned so visible through valve hole in rim. Hard to spot in photos but considered 'correct' by wheelbuilders I think...

Hub logos aligned so visible through valve hole in rim. Hard to spot in photos but considered 'correct' by wheelbuilders I think...

Blimey! Yeah noce one. What does annoy me is when I fit the front wheel the right way round but the sticker on the rim is the opposite way round to the rear wheel!

Blimey! Yeah noce one. What does annoy me is when I fit the front wheel the right way round but the sticker on the rim is the opposite way round to the rear wheel!

Then your tyre's mounted the wrong way round, and that's not allowed.

Wheel people seem to be very weird. Yes, logos through the valve hole, logo on hub to read from the right, rim labels to be on the right, tyre labels on the right, but when you read about the rim tape reading from the right you know it's got silly.

Then your tyre's mounted the wrong way round, and that's not allowed.

Ah yes but the Campag logo is facing the same as the rear....

Hub logos aligned so visible through valve hole in rim. Hard to spot in photos but considered 'correct' by wheelbuilders I think...

I had this perfectly lined up on the, very tricky, rear wheel I finished last week. Along with the valve hole being placed at point in the lacing pattern, that gave maximimum spoke clearance.

But when I started to tension the wheel I noticed that all the DS trailing spokes needed to be moved one hole around. This mis-aligned the the hub logo. But worse, put the valve in the worst possible place in the spoke pattern.

Neither of these things make a practical difference. But they are annoying.

Fecked if I'm re-lacing it though.

Fecked if I'm re-lacing it though.

That's what you say now, but that little annoyance will grow over the weeks and then in a fit of madness you will be dismantling the wheel to put it right.

Or am I the only one who lets pretty insignificant things get out of hand? :-)

this thread is nuts - you guys are all crazy!

I have just moved my rear tyre round 3 or 4 inches to get some new skid patches and it feels wrong to have it un-aligned with the valve.

However tightness > aesthetics in this case.

Lolz!! :-)

this thread is nuts - you guys are all crazy!

That's what you say now, but that little annoyance will grow over the weeks and then in a fit of madness you will be dismantling the wheel to put it right.

Or am I the only one who lets pretty insignificant things get out of hand? :-)

The valve thing really bugs me. Its a 24 spoke wheel so theres plenty of room to get a pump head in there. But instead of being in a very open area the valve is now has two spokes crossing above it (admittedly quite far away).

If it were a normal wheel I would have corrected it straight away. But...
A) Threading internal washers and nipples onto spokes sitting in a 48mm deep, dark, hole, was a PITA.
B) Threading 2.5mm bladded spokes, through 2.5mm hub drillings, with the slightest bit of 'dremeling',was also a PITA.

I will look at apon it as theorpy for my OCDs.

An attractive woman sat on the saddle

any bike really!!!

I like to have valves 90 degrees to label on tyres, but only if there are two labels per tyre; http://www.lfgss.com/album.php?albumid=1634&pictureid=9348