Earlier this year we featured 6 triathlon bikes as Objects Of Desire, for this issue we focused on 6 very stunning road bikes. Undoubtedly there will be some heated discussions as to which bikes ought to be there and which ones shouldn't, but when it comes to beauty and aesthetics it is indeed in the eye of the beholder.

The Specialized McLaren Venge is quite a beautiful exquisite machine, and the partnership of Specialized with the McLaren Group appears to be a match made in heaven. Unlike some other bike- automobile partnerships where one often wonders why a brand associated itself with the other, that is absolutely not the case here. This McLaren Venge could certainly quickly find a space in my home, but I would also need a good supply of drool rags.

The Cervelo R5ca started its life as Project California in 2010 and has seen racing action and success all over the world. The bike featured here was built up with a lot of passion by Marty Sedluk and although the bike has been updated since this picture was taken, it still looks pretty much like it. A big wow to this 11 pound lust object.

At a very young age I already developed a passion for De Rosa bikes, and that relatively small Italian brand has managed to keep that flame burning. The De Rosa Protos is a very light clean understated racing bike and there is a good chance that you'll be the only one at your local club ride with this object of desire.

Cannondale is really a brand that has stepped it up big time. A few years ago I could not even have imagined wanting to own one of them, but that has changed big time. There are quite a few exciting bikes in their line now and the Cannondale SuperSix Evo is my absolute favorite. But not because I am a Peter Sagan groupie, this bike absolutely stands tall by itself.

The Lynskey family is hard at work again and the Lynskey Performance Helix OS is a very fine example that titanium is far from gone. The twisted tubes can be found on other Lynskey bikes too, but in my view these Helix titanium tubes make the biggest statement on this beautiful road machine. The one featured here is a limited edition.

There is absolutely nothing vanilla about the Vanilla Speedvagen exquisite steel dream. The Speedvagen is hand crafted in Portland, OR and can also be had in an equally beautiful cyclo cross version, but getting your hands on one of these very desirable steel rockets might actually be quite a challenge. But we are all about a good challenge, so that is certainly not a deterrent, that is possibly a bonus.

The next issue of Objects Of Desire will be about cross bikes.