I need help with color combinations!

[1150A]

Probably a weird question, but oh well.

I got my girlfriend a Motobecane Fantom Cross so she could try out CX racing with me. She doesn't know yet, so it'll be a surprise when she sees it.

The thing is, she's really into the aesthetics of the bike, and well, I'm a guy, what do I know. Their was a choice of this bike in gray, blue, and yellow. Yellow seemed the most girly to me.

Her other bike that I just sold had a pink and light blue color comination going on. She really liked it a lot.

How could I make this bike look a little bit more.. "cute?"

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/images/fantomcx_yellow_600.jpg

[oxysback]

Just my opinion, but if she's looking to accessorize, then gray is the best color. She can use different bar tape, bottle cages, and tires for different looks, but with yellow, she'll be pretty limited.

[Smilie]

If it was me, I'd take offense to have something made to be 'girly' for me. You can be feminine, and still not be 'girly'. But that is just logistics:rolleyes:

I am sure some women don't mind the word 'girly', so don't mind me!

Did you already get the yellow bike and want to accessorize, or are you still deciding on colors?

[Biciclista]

my Bianchi had yellow on it and i got yellow bar tape for it.
I hope she loves the bike. Perhaps she'd have more fun accessorizing it herself?

[aicabsolut]

hmm well if she likes pink accessories, i would've gone with the blue or gray bikes.

this bike might be getting somewhere with yellow tires, white saddle, bottle cages and bartape.

[Pedal Wench]

You can completely accessorize it to whatever colors you like. Purple would be fun with the yellow. Bar tape, and go crazy at www.purelycustom.com -- screws, bolts, bottle cages, and more. Go to jagwire.com for cable crimps in colors too. What's her favorite color?

[Kimmyt]

Dang... a yellow bike would be awesome with black and white checkered accessories. They probably don't make those, but that bike is screaming to be a taxicab!! :)

[alpinerabbit]

Livestrong garb?

I'd leave the bike as-is and keep the color scheme (mine is gray and yellow accents. Yellow bar tape, and I have a couple lovely yellow jerseys.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I love that yellow on that bike!!

Take a cue from the little red logos on it and put RED bar tape and it will be totally HOT!!!!! :D

[Velobambina]

I like the yellow and black theme. Or yellow and dark blue.

You sound like a wonderful guy, getting her a bike and being thoughtful enough to want to "pimp" it out stylishly for her. Your mama raised you right!

[Miranda]

Will she be using the same gear she owns now that matched the sold bike? If so, you might want to consider that in the new bike color. If she is really into the colors, she might feel like she needs to get all new gear to match the new bike if she thinks things clash.

If the fashion of the gear is not your thing, you may be saying... umm, I dunno what she has in colors. That's ok. Can ya snoop in the closet to check out her stuff? Or ask one of her GFs that knows her stuff well. Lastly, if she has a fav lbs sales rep that she picks stuff out from, ask them what her style is.

Btw, the yellow is fun, but the gray is more neutral to bling it out as posted. My bike is white/black/brushed silver. If I get "color sick" of one thing, switching out the rest of the stuff is cheap.

Nice gift regardless:).

[Zen]

Yellow seemed the most girly to me.

I'm (mostly)stayin' outta this one.
But Bleeker St., you have a good eye. Yellow and red would be fierce!
Fire colors!!

[jillm]

Yellow and red are good, but a little too mustard and ketchupy, add some orange, make it Fiery!

[aicabsolut]

yeah i thought about red b/c of the logos...and then I thought of French's mustard...

Blue and yellow is cool. I'd say either match saddle and tape or tires and tape.

[Zen]

tires and tape.
That sounds good to me too.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I don't know. Isn't nixing yellow and red because it reminds one of mustard and ketchup a bit like nixing blue and yellow because they remind one of CookieMonster and BigBird?:
http://www.6millionsmiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/gold_coast_sea_world_sesame_street_cookie_monster_big_bird.JPG
Or like red and blue being too much like Superman?
I mean, there is no existing 2-color combination that doesn't already have multiple common visual associations.

[Zen]

Doesn't someone know color theory? Something about the blue and yellow is (I think according to color theory) right.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well red yellow and blue are the three primary colors. Thus, yellow & blue cannot be any more 'right' than blue & red or red & yellow.
You might be thinking of 'complimentary colors', but for that you need 6 colors: yellow, orange, red, violet, blue, and green....laid out in a color circle. Then you pick the colors directly opposite each other (which you can't do with a simple 3 color primary triangle), such as blue and orange, or green and red...and those are complimentary. The complimentary color to yellow would be violet.

[SadieKate]

I'd like a promissory note for a custom headset cap of my sweetie's design. I'd get to pick the color and accessorize from there.

http://www.purelycustom.com/p-168-18539-headset-cap-threadless.aspx

[Pedal Wench]

I'd like a promissory note for a custom headset cap of my sweetie's design. I'd get to pick the color and accessorize from there.

http://www.purelycustom.com/p-168-18539-headset-cap-threadless.aspx

That's what my sweetie did. He picked out a few and designed them, but then we did a few together - - our names and hearts.

[SouthernBelle]

I think you're safest using one of the accent colors already on the bike frame. Or you can wait and let her chose. BTW, I would like some natural/cork/leather colored accents on that.

[uforgot]

Well red yellow and blue are the three primary colors. Thus, yellow & blue cannot be any more 'right' than blue & red or red & yellow.
You might be thinking of 'complimentary colors', but for that you need 6 colors: yellow, orange, red, violet, blue, and green....laid out in a color circle. Then you pick the colors directly opposite each other (which you can't do with a simple 3 color primary triangle), such as blue and orange, or green and red...and those are complimentary. The complimentary color to yellow would be violet.

Interesting. When we do light in physics, I sometimes compare (contrast?) the three primary light colors (red,green and blue) to the primary colors of paint that they learned in school because they are different. I didn't know about the complimentary colors and the circle that you mentioned, or maybe I forgot? I know you have mentioned being a graphic artist, so I'll use this info and make even MORE comparisons to the colors of light and credit you as "I once bought a saddle from a graphic artist and she said..." . More experimentation, more hands on means more learning. Thanks.

I also like the red idea because of the lettering. I like things to match to a point, and I think that would pull the whole bike together. Be careful of too much red though, (tires,bottlecage,saddle,bartape all at once) because the reds probably won't match or it will look like you tried too hard. Not that YOU tried too hard to please her, but when she takes it out. Although maybe that's just me...

[Zen]

The complimentary color to yellow would be violet.

I guess I like insulting colors ;)

[Transmutable]

Interesting. When we do light in physics, I sometimes compare (contrast?) the three primary light colors (red,green and blue) to the primary colors of paint that they learned in school because they are different. I didn't know about the complimentary colors and the circle that you mentioned, or maybe I forgot? I know you have mentioned being a graphic artist, so I'll use this info and make even MORE comparisons to the colors of light and credit you as "I once bought a saddle from a graphic artist and she said..." . More experimentation, more hands on means more learning. Thanks.

It has to do with how the color is being made, additive (light) or subtractive (pigment). The primary colors of LIGHT are red, blue, and green, which is why web colors are given in RGB code. So #005599 uses no red, 33 units (I forget how it's measured) of green, and 99 units of blue to create that light, slightly greenish blue. The primary colors of PIGMENT are red, yellow, and blue, which is why restaurants give out those three crayons to make kids reasonably happy with their color dining experience. Combining the three primary colors of light gives you white, and combining the primary colors of pigment gives you black or brown.

[Zen]

It has to do with how the color is being made. The primary colors of LIGHT are red, blue, and green, which is why web colors are given in RGB code. So #005599 uses no red, 33 units (I forget how it's measured) of green, and 99 units of blue to create that light, slightly greenish blue. .

I learned about colors in photography. The visible spectrum of light is made up of all colors, going from longest to shortest is ROYGBIV(red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigo,violet). This would be the same as Uforgot's experience in physics.
I think you use the additive principle when you use RGB

Now when it comes to printing photographs your assertion is correct, we learned it as a subtractive principle using cyan, yellow, and magenta filters.You see the same principle in adjusting color balance in Photoshop.

Therefore Mr.1150A,the best accent colors to use are up to the bike owner :D

Maybe you should get some swatches from the paint store.

[uforgot]

It has to do with how the color is being made, additive (light) or subtractive (pigment). The primary colors of LIGHT are red, blue, and green, which is why web colors are given in RGB code. So #005599 uses no red, 33 units (I forget how it's measured) of green, and 99 units of blue to create that light, slightly greenish blue. The primary colors of PIGMENT are red, yellow, and blue, which is why restaurants give out those three crayons to make kids reasonably happy with their color dining experience. Combining the three primary colors of light gives you white, and combining the primary colors of pigment gives you black or brown.

Combining paint, I never could quite get the black, but three flashlights and filters in a dark room is cool. White every time and the kids ooh and ah. Actually, it's the circle thing with the compliments I thought was interesting. I think it would be fun to see how aesthetically pleasing the light circle would be (adding yellow magenta and cyan) with the color opposite. Seeing it from an artist's view rather than science. I'm thinking that if I can put it in this perspective, and talk about accessorizing with the opposites, those kids are gonna remember them. Didn't know about the restaurant crayons either. More cool fun stuff to impart.

Now, has anyone ever heard that you can put any color with green? My mom used to tell me that everything matches green because green grass is the basic color in nature, therefore that makes it compatible with all colors. I should also say that my mother was never, ever wrong, so it's taken me a long time to question some of her "wisdoms". If this is true, then kelly green bar tape would work!

[Transmutable]

Now, has anyone ever heard that you can put any color with green? My mom used to tell me that everything matches green because green grass is the basic color in nature, therefore that makes it compatible with all colors. I should also say that my mother was never, ever wrong, so it's taken me a long time to question some of her "wisdoms". If this is true, then kelly green bar tape would work!

I'd say it's fairly true. I've heard that since green is the most common color in nature, the human eye has evolved to be very sensitive to it, so we see a wide range of greens and are pretty good at telling subtle differences. On the other hand, there's a limit to how well green can complement other colors. For example, you can't really have a reddish green or a greenish red, because they're opposite each other on the color wheel.

However, getting back to bikes, a kelly green would look killer. It makes me think of mountain dew cans and lots of energy and going fast! Mmmm, bikes, color theory, and science!

[fidlfreek]

Yes, tires and tape. Tell your friend to go check out Color Theory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementary_color#Color_theory

It says purple is the way to go. I have a purple bianchi w/ yellow tires. SWEET.