A new host of sparkling gold shared bikes that began appearing on the streets in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing, Shenzhen and Xi'an on Thursday has triggered heated online discussion.

Unlike the colors of publicly shared bikes from other major players in the fiercely competitive industry, the bikes from Coolqi are completely gold with navy blue on the handles, seat and wheels.

Coolqi, a Beijing-based technology company that produced the bikes, said the color was intended to catch the eyes of the public.

"The combination of the two colors is fashionable but not boastful. It represents our company's ambition to offer shared bikes with dynamic feeling and a sense of innovative technology," the company said.

Around 200 such bikes have been put on the streets of each of the five cities. The company previously had introduced 1 million green shared bikes in more than 50 cities.

Some netizens said people riding such bikes need to wear gold armor to fit in.

"To some extent, gold signifies Chinese people's worship of fortune. Three years ago, Shanghai introduced a batch of gold taxis and they were chased after," said Hu Yijun, a 45-year-old junior high school teacher in Shanghai.

But others said they disliked the color.

"If my boyfriend rode such a bike to meet me, I'd refuse to hang out with him," an internet user with the name "Being together" wrote on her microblog.

Many bike users and netizens said that the color is too dazzling, especially in sunlight, and may threaten traffic safety.

A first for the industry, the bikes provide solar-powered chargers for mobile phones on the handlebars.

"It also gives people a place to put their phones while riding if they need to use the phones for navigation, for example," the company said.

Some netizens joked that new entrepreneurs joining the fierce bike market will run out of colors.

China's bike-sharing sector has experienced rapid expansion since early last year, with roughly 10 million such bikes scattered across the country's cities. The major players include Mobike, represented by orange bikes, and Ofo, which has yellow bikes.

Shi Xiaofeng contributed to this story.

zhouwenting@chinadaily.com.cn