Recently came across this post (on the Featured Row). This artist obviously seems to know what they’re doing, and they’re obviously going for a photorealism effect (perhaps a tad dreamy or with a certain vibe, but real nonetheless).
While the wall and sidewalk and plants feel reasonably photoreal, the bicycle IMHO sticks out like a sore thumb as being CG.
I just thought I’d post this as an example of something to analyze to see exactly what might be happening with Cycles? Is it a specular reflections issue? Is it a metallic material issue? Is it a texture issue?
I think it’s worth some conversation about it to try and understand what is happening.