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Wow! Former professional road and track rider Adam Blythe has a new Genesis road bike and it’s certainly provoking comment, not just because of the gold leaf finish but also thanks to the bulbous head tube.
Adam Blythe rode for the likes of BMC Racing Team, Orica-GreenEdge, Tinkoff and Lotto-Soudal in his cycling career before retiring from racing in 2019. He has since worked as a pundit on TV.
Unwrapping his new bike to the tune of Spandau Ballet’s Gold, he Tweeted “SPEECHLESS!!! @fatcreations have absolutely gone above what I expected this to look like!! 24k gold leaf bike baby!!! I can’t wait to get it up and running!!
“Thank you @genesisbikesuk for letting me go wild with this bike!! And if any of you were wondering what the extra part on the head tube is… the genius @robhayles1 added a little bit of carbon to hide my cables.
“LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!”
Rob Hayles is another former racer, of course – a double world champion and three-time Olympic medallist on the track, and a national champion on the road. These days he works with carbon, hence his involvement with this bike.
The frame appears to be a Genesis Zero Disc – a model that’s no longer in the range – that has had an extension up front. Although Blythe says that he loves the look, people on social media have been less complimentary.
“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should,” said davidjanes_spcoaching on Instagram.
“That’s horrific tbf😮😮😮😮” said humphreyseddie.
A couple of people compared the appearance to that of a beluga whale. Harsh.
Others liked the result. For example,ryan.sharpe.9828 said “Work of art 🔥”
We showed you 3T’s Strada ICR a couple of weeks ago, with a ‘nose’ extending forwards at the front of the head tube. 3T’s goal was to hide the cables internally while keeping the head tube narrow and aerodynamically efficient rather than wide and bulky.
We’ve got to say, though, that we’ve never seen anything like the head tube on Adam Blythe’s bike. It’s certainly distinctive.
Putting the head tube to one side, the other thing you can’t fail to notice about this bike is its goldness, and that extends to the frame, fork, stem, seat post and seat post clamp.
As mentioned in the Tweet, the 24-carat gold leaf finish has been created by Fatcreations, a Sussex-based company that has been responsible for countless stunning paintjobs over the years. The texture looks amazing close-up.
Colnago used to do its V3Rs in a gold finish with a similar amount of depth to it, but that wasn’t gold leaf.
Specialized also launched a Peter Sagan collection with a largely gold frameset a few years ago. That was a pretty cool finish too.
Greg Van Avermaet rode a gold BMC after winning the Olympic road race in 2016, and was riding this gold Giant TCR Advanced SL for CCC Team in 2019…
And then there was this spectacular golden hire bike back in August of this year…
What do you reckon to a gold finish? Suitable for all or just those with a big win to their name? We’re talking about an Olympic or world title, here. And let us know what you think about the overall look of Adam Blythe’s Genesis.
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