20 sexy bikes you can ride and use for home decorating.
Bikes are meant for riding, but there are certain storage issues to consider, too. The following was actually surveyed and cited by the Smithsonian Institution, so there’s some gravitas for you. Evidently, 73 percent Americans use a garage, and 27 percent hoard so much junk in it that they’re petrified of opening it.
That’s no kind of place to store a bicycle.
Next, consider the demographics. In Amsterdam, we know that 40% of the population rides bikes – moms, dads, kids, grandparents. It’s part of being Dutch. In the United States, it’s harder to calculate for certain.
Some estimates suggest that America’s most avid day-to-day riders are under the age of 25, buy pricier bikes than Europeans and cycle recreationally on the weekend. They bike to and from educational institutions and jobs. They probably live in places like Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, D.C. The point is they’re regular Joes and Janes living in densely populated urban areas lacking the requisite garage space to properly become hoarders in trendy boroughs teaming with would-be-bike-snatchers.
That’s no kind of place to park a bicycle.
As such, bikes tend to appendage themselves to the foyer – hopefully, one with exposed brick. If you fit the demographics jimmied above, your bike has prolly become as elemental to your décor as that aviator chair from Restoration Hardware. Speaking of prolly, the hub of bicycle porn Prolly Is Not Probably takes an optimistic view of the bicycle cum purse rack: “[there’s] nothing like pristine track bikes in pristine apartments.”
Correction: that is, if – and only if – your track bike is sexy. That goes for your dirt bike, too. Here are 20 hot wheels that could be for display only.
The limited edition Baby Ganoush with custom Walnut Studio leather sew-up grips and Brooks double straps for pedals. From Naked.
Also from Naked, the award winning Hors bike.
North of Seattle, Traitor Cycles produces steel bikes for commuting, racing, and pre and post-romantic strolls on the beach. Better than a boyfriend: the Luggernaut. (Nice saddlebags.)
Traitor is also behind the Pabst bike. Bottoms up.
What’s more bitchin’ than a handlebar mousachio? The handlebars on the Thunderdog.
Someone crank up the A/C. The Heat from Aussie bike maker Sexy Bicycles is bound to get you hot and bothered.
The Pulse will get your heart racing before you even strap on a helmet.
What are you doing outside, lovely? This beauty (a Geekhouse…modest, too) could replace a 60″ flat screen easily.
This kind of candy coated prettiness is damn near edible. Lean next to the fridge. Also Geekhouse.
An electric dandy from IDEO and Rock Lobster.
Skip the Rembrandt reproduction. Hang a Van Hulsteijn on your wall.
Ciao bella. This Italian made Cicli Maestro looks right at home.
Le Porteur, built and designed by Matthew Conway of Detail, needn’t wait in the hall.
Come on in. Note how the frame is painted in faux wood grain. By Rob Pollock.
A vintage Bianchi Corsa from 1935.
Hong Kong based designer Michael Young’s award winning City Storm Giant infuses bike design with an interior designer’s sensibility.
All of the above are gorgeous on the street and stacked in your apartment. One final detail.
If your bike’s name happens to be Andrea…
Regina…
Or Mathilde…
Parisian designer Juri Zaech will literally imbue your bicycle with its own typographical identity. Very now in interiors.
Add one final detail.
A frame for your frame, in this case The Bike Shelf from Knife & Saw, and your bike has officially graduated from utilitarian cool to sexy wall ornament chic.
Image: Prolly is Not Probably