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Whoa! What do you think of the head tube on Adam Blythe’s gold Genesis?

New bike for the racer-turned-pundit has one of the craziest front ends you'll ever see – sculpted by a former world champ

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 🔥”

2022 3T Strada ICR - 1.jpeg

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.Bike at bedtime: Take a look at Colnago's V3Rs

Colnago used to do its V3Rs in a gold finish with a similar amount of depth to it, but that wasn’t gold leaf. 

sagan_collection_tarmac2.jpg

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… 

Human Forest gold bike (Jack Mitchell / Human Forest / LinkedIn)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.

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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13 comments

Avatar
boardmanrider | 1 year ago
2 likes

Beyond awful. It looks like some Arabian prince would ride once in front of his mates then keep in gold plated toilet in a palace he never stays in. I actually find this quite offensive to the bike industry. Plus, plus that headtube/stem/fork is just, well there are no words.

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kil0ran | 1 year ago
0 likes

Given Adam's sock game none of this surprises me.

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BadgerBeaver | 1 year ago
2 likes

There's something of the ball bag about that head tube.

 

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peted76 | 1 year ago
2 likes

Apparently Rob Hayes also does lip fillers.. 

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peted76 | 1 year ago
0 likes

I have a gold bike.. it's a little bit bling but positivly understated compared to Blytheys.. which lets be honest, would have been 'pretty trick' if he'd not let a pissed up Rob Hayes loose on it.

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cyclisto | 1 year ago
0 likes

It is like folded shocks in pants regarding looks and actual usefulness

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IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
0 likes

That seat looks a tad too aero to be comfy to me.

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ErnieC | 1 year ago
0 likes

Fugly. 

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Daddy Feebs replied to ErnieC | 1 year ago
4 likes
ErnieC wrote:

Fugly. 

Fugly is doing all the heavy lifting here, but it's still not enough. Ultrafugly?

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bobrayner | 1 year ago
4 likes

Gold isn't my style, but I do love that texture. Slightly marbled! Could you achieve the same in your shed with a tin of Hammerite?

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ubercurmudgeon | 1 year ago
2 likes

Just as Joseph Merrick was known as the Elephant Man, that bike should forever be called the Blobfish Bicycle.

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mark1a | 1 year ago
0 likes

Head tube 🤢🤮

I do like what comes out of Fatcreations though. 

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Freddy56 | 1 year ago
1 like

The headtube looks like a wet bag of sugar and adam's post pro belly does not need a 14cm stem anymore

 

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