People’s Choice: The Most Beautiful Bicycles of 2025

People’s Choice: The Most Beautiful Bicycles of 2025

Written by Nick Sowards, on December 19, 2025

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

After nearly two weeks of voting, a whole lot of passionate opinions, and zero incidents requiring security to escort anyone out of the building, the results are officially in. The ballots have been counted, the spreadsheets triple-checked, and we’re ready to unveil our Three Most Beautiful Bicycles of 2025 (Road, Gravel, MTB), along with our “best in show” overall winner.

Agree? Disagree? It’s cool, we can take it.

Our only request: no Will Smith moments. No slapping, no storming the service desk, no impassioned speeches. This is 2025, people; fire up a spirited email or leave an anonymous comment like a civilized adult. 😉

Without further adieu, here are this year’s winners.


- Road -

Custom TIME Scylon

🥇 1st Place: Time Scylon

Quite possibly the most expensive and stunningly beautiful custom road bike our team has ever produced. With a timeless, classic silhouette and white gloss paint job, a “best of the best” build across every system and component, and featuring standout performers like Lightweight Fernweg EVO wheels and a CeramicSpeed Oversized Pulley Wheel and Bottom Bracket, this bike is truly a rolling work of art.

Read the Journal here.

 🥈 2nd Place: Colnago Y1RS

Read the Journal here.

Custom Colnago Y1RS
Custom Pinarello Dogma F

🥉3rd Place: Pinarello Dogma F

Read the Journal here.

 Honorable Mention: BMC Teamachine Slr01 var0

Read the Journal here.

Custom BMC Teammachine SLR01 VAR0

- Gravel -

Custom OPEN UPPER 2.0

🥇 1st Place: OPEN Upper 2.0

Simple, clean, and understated, yet confident and capable across any surface–from smooth tarmac to rolling gravel to chunky singletrack–this custom UPPER 2.0 embodies everything OPEN stands for, and exactly what the brand intended to bring to the gravel category: road bike speed, mashed up with off-road capability. Have gravel, will shred.

Read the Journal

 

🥈 2nd Place: ENVE MOG

Read the Journal here.

🥉 3rd place: santa cruz stigmata htsqd

Read the Journal here.

Custom Santa Cruz Stigmata htSQD
Custom Parlee Taos

 Honorable Mention: Parlee taos

Read the Journal here.


- Mountain -

Custom Scott Spark RC SL

🥇 1st Place: scott spark rc sl

A stone cold killer, competitively, technically and aesthetically, this top-tier SCOTT Spark jumps off the page every which way, begging to be ridden. Featuring an ice-cold, glacial blue paint job, this rig features a truly exceptional, Led Zeppelin-like ensemble–SRAM XX drivetrain, RockShox Flight Attendant, Cane Creek titanium cranks–where each player elevates the other, and the sum is greater than the whole of the parts.

Read the Journal here.

 

🥈 2nd place: orbea oiz

Read the Journal here.

Custom Orbea Oiz
Custom Specialized Epic

 

🥉3rd Place: Specialized s-works epic world cup

Read the Journal here.

hOnorable Mention: Mondraker raze

Read the Journal here.

Custom Mondraker Raze

- Best overall -

Custom TIME Scylon

🥇 1st Place: Time Scylon

Read the Journal here.

Custom OPEN UPPER 2.0

🥈 2nd Place: Open Upper 2.0

Read the Journal here.

Custom Scott Spark RC SL

🥉3rd Place: Scott Spark RC SL

Read the Journal here.


5 comments

  • Yeah, I saw it a couple of years ago. Joseph from Contender told me about it so I went in and checked it out.

    Amazing skillset on the paint job.

    Best,

    Bobby

    Bobby on

  • Seriously? There is a La Vie Claire painted bike out there and I missed it?

    PLEASE post some pictures of it.

    Thanks.

    Fast Eddy on

  • La Vie Claire custom paint job???

    That sounds amazing.

    1- How did I miss that?
    2-Can you please repost some photos of it?

    Thanks for being amazing and respecting these comments and requests.

    Eddy

    E. Merckx on

  • I remember a couple year ago when Contender had their custom paint booth and someone had an Open painted with a La Vie Claire retro paint job. What a masterpiece.

    You should feature that again with the year in review. Put some pictures of it up to remind people of what an amazing shop Contender is.

    I wonder who the lucky SOB who has that open is. What a beautiful bike for a beautiful person.

    Max Payne on

  • I think there is one bike that should be on this list as a perennial favorite, and that is the retro Open La Vie Claire custom-painted bike by Contender. What a beautiful bike and paint. Whoever owns and rides that bike is lucky.

    Tomas on

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