Amongst the sea of carbon fiber and Lycra pants at last week's Cycle Show in London, two products really shone - not for any particular innovation or cutting edge technology... they just shone. Exhibit A is a very stylish custom Ben Wilson Low-rider that's been swathed in over 100,000 Swarovski crystals. Sunglasses were also required when wandering past the iLoveMyBike.co.uk stand where a Brompton S2L folding bike had been given the 24ct gold treatment.
The one-off gold bicycle (which has been stripped, plated with copper and then covered in gold) is being offered as a prize by cycle Insurance company iLoveMyBike. Other mods include a jockey shift gear change with a pool ball on top, gold braid cables and stop cock handles instead of plastic fittings. We've stopped asking why at this point.
The gold bike can be folded and stowed in a suitcase sized bag - the crystal studded Low-rider may not be as easy to hide, and we suspect "its price upon application" would be several times that of the £2,500 cost cited for the gold Brompton.
Being the Choppers of the bicycle world, Low riders exist to be blinged-up in some way or another, but does this go to far? It certainly lends weight to the argument that anything that's stationary for long enough is fair game for a coating of Swarovski crystals. Triumph or travesty? Let us know in the comments section.