Silver

When did bicycles lose their sparkle?

There was a time when bicycles glittered like jewels -- when Campagnolo, Suntour and Shimano groupsets gleamed and glistened in the light, with lustrous chrome and polished aluminum making even the most mundane bikes shine -- literally.

They don't shine anymore. Instead, we have a veritable black sea. Black rims. Black hubs. Black handlebars. Black everything. We have shunned the light.

Where we once had brightness, we now have dark, computer-drafted parts that would be more at home in a Transformers movie. If they catch your eye, it's not to admire their sleekness, it's to gape at their gaudy graphics.

Good luck even finding decent quality new parts in a shiny finish anymore.

We could use a little more sparkle.

Photo credit: supermakuri.blogspot.com/

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• Next on Re-Cycled: The bedraggled Raleigh
• Previously on Re-Cycled: The other Bianchi