Bike porn

It is real! The floor and skirtingboard do look like photoshop.

It is real! The floor and skirtingboard do look like photoshop.

Arrrghh now it hurts my mind when I look at it

can only imagine how harsh that would be to ride

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NJeyTTmuZfU/UvFB0ynxsOI/AAAAAAAACpo/x5Z7xEiEvJI/s1600/Finished+Mercian.jpg

nudge the saddle forward and get the photographer to take a couple of steps backward.. and it's perfect.

^^ Six13s were pretty bendy by all accounts, so probably would ride a bit nicer than a similarly shod CAAD9 or SystemSix.

bendy doesn't always mean comfy..

Rear mech protrusion covers the rear skewer, handlebar width largely covers the front one.

While the wheels are in the bike...

I suppose it doesn't matter on a wall-hanger, but practical bikes have their wheels removed and left laying around, or they get packed into cars or bike boxes.

can only imagine how harsh that would be to ride

Because polishing makes it harder?

Because polishing makes it harder?

Duh, just like red paint makes you faster.

Because polishing makes it harder?

heheh.

Issue with the blackboard paint 'Dales is that they could be an entry level CAAD10, visually there really isn't enough to distinguish them from the 8K MAMIL chariot.

n/a

I think I'm in love!

Issue with the blackboard paint 'Dales is that they could be an entry level CAAD10, visually there really isn't enough to distinguish them from the 8K MAMIL chariot.

That's the entire point of that 'colourway' (coupled with black-logo Enve parts) imo.
For those wanting to 'brag', there are racks and racks of TEAM EDITION S-WORKS CERVELO MADONE EVO Full Kit Wanker bikes.

Nah, it's just a massive lack of imagination- the flat black thing was cool, briefly, when it was all about dorifuto cars that needed the cheapest paint available to cover the "no panel the same" nature of the vehicle.

Since then it's gone hugely mainstream- if a footballer is driving a flat-black Bentley then your flat-black bike is beyond played.

played, yo

I really don't think anybody buying an OTP complete Cannondale is claiming any kind of 'firsties' in the fashion stakes. I'd personally prefer the frame to be gloss black, but tbh when I saw the Black Inc models in a shop a while ago I had to concede that they looked pretty nice.
You're right that it's a lack of imagination. It's a cop-out, a non-choice. There's a valid place for that, imo.

Mr B, you have finally said something with which I agree, 'there's a valid place for that'. It is functional bikes, not bike porn, we'd probably all like to ride those bikes but probably not be particularly proud of the way they look. Bike porn is for machinery with an immediate visceral response, not a big fat 'so what, but I bet it's fast'. And I still don't like the show-pony photographers' Bishop.

'there's a valid place for that'. It is functional bikes, not bike porn

I'd go along with that. Nothing spectacular about them, so away they go.
If the relocation of said Black Incs could be arranged, that would be most satisfactory.
I currently want a CAAD 10 frameset, and I want to repaint it before building it up. Won't be flat black though.

caad10 frames are crazy expensive

Define 'crazy expensive'.
A complete new CAAD 10 105 bike is ~$1500 USD here (in NY).
New framesets are around on eBay and the like for ~$800. Doesn't strike me as a lot, personally.
To give a little perspective, I paid £699 for a new CAAD 3 MTB frameset in London 14 years ago, which in today's money would be knocking on for £1100. That's over $1800 USD, just for a production frame & fork.
Like Apple computers, CAAD frames are getting cheaper all the time.

I think the car point is a bit misleading. Douchebag cars are spraying steel panels matt black to look stealth. Carbon is a black material and most if these top end frames or parts either dust paint, lacquer or wax on the carbon to reduce frame weight. Also when considering the durability of paint and expensive frames it makes sense. They chip the same colour so wear better just like the six 13 / system six frames that expose the carbon / alu elements. It's less vanity and more honesty. Kind of a non choice so perhaps less valid in porn. Don't get a lot of criticism from brushed titanium...

The SuperSix Black Inc may be CF, but the CAAD 10 Black Inc is Aluminium.
Cannondale's first flat-black production bike was the Bad Boy (a CAAD 3 Aluminium rigid MTB frameset wearing black-on-black decals and all black components), which pretty much started the trend for SR-71-Blackbird-inspired 'stealth' urban bikes. The look (and concept) was widely imitated following its release.
Credit where it's due, if anyone 'owns' that look nowadays it's Cannondale.

SR-71-Blackbird-inspired 'stealth' urban bikes

Given the timing, I suspect the trend was F-117 inspired