Never Thought This Day Would Come

Over the last year or so, I have waxed philosophical to all of you about the hottest design I had seen in 23 years, which was the Pee-Wee Herman. I love it for many reasons, not the least of which is it speaks to me. Knowing that and according to an earlier post on this blog titled “My Design Funk Hall of Fame”, the Pee-Wee Herman is my favorite design of all time, at least until today. As you remember, I came up with my hall of fame after looking at over 1,300 designs from the last 15 years. It is a very difficult thing for any design to break into my Top 5, let alone take the #1 spot from Pee-Wee. Today readers, that feat has been accomplished! I like to think of myself as the Billboard Hot 100 (Music) when it comes to bicycle design.
The pictured Design is called “The Nuvinci ”. Not only is this design HOOOTT but the name just flows of your tongue, does it not? Sounds like a classic painting or something. I found out about this design from an email sent to me by one of the designers. Excluding the Pee-Wee Herman, something I have always valued in bicycle design is simplicity. This design is very clean, simple yet decorative in a way that defies my tiny vocabulary.


I emailed someone I respect very much in the industry trying to get their thoughts on the Nuvinci. This person owns a bicycle company and I was surprised by their reaction to this funk ball. They said “It’s an Ellsworth, nobody will buy it”. Ellsworth is a bicycle company with a web address of http://www.ellsworthbikes.com/. Are you kidding me? Admittedly, no other current Ellsworth bicycles will make it onto this blog because, well, the rest of their designs are uninspiring and resemble the 1000’s of other designs I have seen. But dang man, GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE! My friend has some ‘Haterism’ in his game. The designer of this bike was telling me about some sort of special ‘Hub Drive’ this design has but as you all know, I am an ‘Aesthetic’ sort of guy and gadgets are irrelevant to my thought process. One design, breaks into my HOT 5 at #1- Today, is a good day.

 
 
 
 

Post a Comment 5 comments:

Anonymous said...

thiz d-sign is ok D but is it really all that

March 29, 2008 at 11:28 AM

Anonymous said...

man (or lady) quit playing! If you can't see- I can't make you- open your eyes

Brian D

March 29, 2008 at 11:29 AM

Anonymous said...

BSmith, I think you have found your calling.... Nice blog. Need a better,bigger photo of that bike
B Lien

March 31, 2008 at 7:38 PM

LoneStarNot said...

I am an ‘Aesthetic’ sort of guy and gadgets are irrelevant to my thought process.
Count me in the "form follows function" crowd. Still, it seems we need each other to win in the market.
Can we do both together?

April 8, 2008 at 9:21 AM

jacs said...

The hub design is based on a concept by Davinci, hence the name alluding to him. Someone on the internet I'm sure you could find more info on it (if you are interested) as the design streamlines how gears are shifted.

April 9, 2008 at 8:02 PM

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