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Bowden Spacelander............Can we talk?

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But, I do enjoy this monocoque-design bicycle ....
zephyr master copy.jpg

 
I feel the same indifference to the Bowden, but the example above just looks like somebody took the front door and threw some wheels on it.
At least the Bowden has some purpose of design.
Kind of like a Frank Lloyd Wright building.
I get it, but I'm glad I'm not the one that has to live there.
 
Ben Bowden was a visionary for sure.
I think it's pretty safe to say, that most if not all high end professional racing bicycles are made out of a composite type of plastic.
image.jpeg

Maybe this designer was inspired by the Spacelander?
He definitely took it to the next level.
 
Opinions are always going to be subjective. But to me, that front fender is absolutely grotesque. And the way that stupid little seat just pokes up out of the whole blob, YUCK! Form certainly doesn't follow function in this failed design experiment. The best visual design element in this bike to me is the space in the center of the bike, where there is no bike at all. Just my opinion.
That was your feelings 2 years ago.Have you had a change of heart ?
 
That was your feelings 2 years ago.Have you had a change of heart ?

Indeed I have. Under normal circumstances, I now find that all the space where there is no bike at all, to be most pleasing.

BUT!!!!!! After rereading this entire thread, I think the way @Balloonatic has his Bowden lit and displayed almost makes the bike look halfway appealing (just as long as I'm not seeing a front view of the front fender).

Bowden.jpg
 
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Indeed I have. Under normal circumstances, I now find that all the space where there is no bike at all, to be most pleasing.

BUT!!!!!! After rereading this entire thread, I think the way @Balloonatic has his Bowden lit and displayed almost makes the bike look halfway appealing (just as long as I'm not seeing a front view of the front fender).

View attachment 868059
Maybe you will have a change of heart towards the ultra rare Cheeto bike.................


cheeto 2.jpg
 
This was an interesting thread to read through and I'm always taken by how many people slam the Bowden. I understand it is a middle weight bike and quite fragile, but one thing I would really like to know is of the people who put down the Bowden, have you also ever purchased a single bike in the price range of $13k - $15k or more? Just curious if it is more of a "its not worth that kind of money" versus never could afford one, or is it a genuine dislike. I would also tend to believe that many of those that do not like bowdens also dislike the evinrudes... both of which are in the same price range. They both are really expensive and fragile bikes.
 
This was an interesting thread to read through and I'm always taken by how many people slam the Bowden. I understand it is a middle weight bike and quite fragile, but one thing I would really like to know is of the people who put down the Bowden, have you also ever purchased a single bike in the price range of $13k - $15k or more? Just curious if it is more of a "its not worth that kind of money" versus never could afford one, or is it a genuine dislike. I would also tend to believe that many of those that do not like bowdens also dislike the evinrudes... both of which are in the same price range. They both are really expensive and fragile bikes.
I saw one of these in the late 60s-early 70s @ a local privately owned museum. My brother and I laughed @ them,they were goofy looking! That and the fact most people couldnt actually buy one is the reason they're so "rare" today. I think thney're still goofy looking regardless what somebody will pay for one. My $.02
 
I think they're ugly, but that they're fragile is why I don't like them because it makes them useless as bikes, which relegates them to art and I think they're ugly, so . . .. They're interesting from a historic standpoint of experimentation in early composites, but so is the Lotus Elite—another fragile vehicle using fiberglass is an inappropriate load-bearing application—except that the Elite was gorgeous, had incredible aerodynamic efficiency for the time, and was a decent racer due to its lightweight. I don't care about what the Bowden's worth as there are a million things I can't afford—some that I think are overvalued, some that are not—that I think are great. I'll never understand that argument, especially when it's so often employed in the defense of something so obviously polarizing, but I see it all the time for some reason.
 
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