If you read this blog regularly, chances are that you won't buy the bike that is the subject of this post.
So why am I writing about it? Well, it was licensed by a band you've all heard. In fact, if you came of age when I did, you probably bought one of their albums and attended one of their concerts. You might have even gone through a stage when you dressed like them.
The band in question is KISS. They, like the Ramones, is one of the most important--and, depending on your preferences, best--bands to come out of the New York City borough of Queens, where I live.
Now, if you remember them from back in the day, you recall their makeup, costumes and their wild antics as well as their frentic music. So it's hard to imagine their name and logo on, say, a classic British builder's or French constructeur's frame. It's even difficult to picture their likeness on one of those flashy Italian bikes, let alone anything from a Japanese craftsperson or American custom builder of that era.
Really, the only kind of bicycle that could have ever been licensed to KISS is one made from carbon fiber. And that is what has just become available from a company called Sciacallo.
I have to admit that I had never heard of Sciacallo up until now. Then again, I don't pay much attention to carbon bikes. And that is all that Sciacallo offers.
And, really, if they were going to "front", if you will, for any band, what other band could it be? The Eagles? Chicago? Would you want anything licensed by those guys?
So why am I writing about it? Well, it was licensed by a band you've all heard. In fact, if you came of age when I did, you probably bought one of their albums and attended one of their concerts. You might have even gone through a stage when you dressed like them.
The band in question is KISS. They, like the Ramones, is one of the most important--and, depending on your preferences, best--bands to come out of the New York City borough of Queens, where I live.
Now, if you remember them from back in the day, you recall their makeup, costumes and their wild antics as well as their frentic music. So it's hard to imagine their name and logo on, say, a classic British builder's or French constructeur's frame. It's even difficult to picture their likeness on one of those flashy Italian bikes, let alone anything from a Japanese craftsperson or American custom builder of that era.
Really, the only kind of bicycle that could have ever been licensed to KISS is one made from carbon fiber. And that is what has just become available from a company called Sciacallo.
I have to admit that I had never heard of Sciacallo up until now. Then again, I don't pay much attention to carbon bikes. And that is all that Sciacallo offers.
And, really, if they were going to "front", if you will, for any band, what other band could it be? The Eagles? Chicago? Would you want anything licensed by those guys?
I only allowed a maker's head badge on the bike I had made way back, not even a transfer for the fancy tubes or the dealer. The hideousness of plastic bikes is beyond a joke.
ReplyDeleteColine--When I had my Mercians built for me, I allowed the transfers because I like the retro-Gothic lettering they use. Otherwise, I would've asked for no logo besides their head badge. Also, I try to remove logos from components.
ReplyDeleteThe Mercian name is classy and the transfers discrete. Mine was a Holdsworth , decent frame but not exactly classy and besides I did not want to draw any attention to it when parked up though it was black in a colourful age to match my mood, now I want colour everything has gone dull! once when I came into enough money to buy a new car, the dealer was bemused when after choosing bright red as the colour, I requested that the flashy spoiler or model badges not be fitted. Worked a treat, idiots who could not drive their slightly sportier GTis would give me withering looks and then get left behind because they could not read the road ahead like we cyclists do. Now it is all grey and black gridlock...
DeleteI have never been able to understand why people pay more not less to carry a logo which is advertising. It seems now that every component is trying to be the loudest on the bike.
Coline--I think what you describe in your second paragraph is a carryover from the fashion designer mentality: People will pay lots of money for bags, jackets and such with the designer's name or initials all over it. I never understood that mentality: If a design or fabric is interesting enough, I don't want a designer's (or anyone else's) graffiti all over it.
ReplyDelete