Frivolous question - Bike Colour

[jotjepoes]

Hi Ladies - I'm pretty excited because last week I took the plunge and ordered a custom bike (I had all kinds of trouble fitting with an off the shelf bike). Now I have the luxury of choosing a colour.

My bike jacket (which I just about live in unless it is really hot) is a tomato red, but I've seen tomato red bikes and don't like the look of them. I saw a metallic dark red bike which looks great. Do you think it matters that different shades of red clash - or should I just go with it? (never have this problem with blues).

I thought of getting something neutral like a silver and black bike - but that looked too boring. The other alternative is to get a silver and black bike with some red...but that seems a bit complicated.

Because I'm splurging I'd like to get it "right" first time off.

A bit of a frivolous question but it'd be great to get some thoughts on this.

Thanks
Josephine

[Jiffer]

Oh this is SO not a frivoulous question! I'm all about the colors. And I feel if you're going to invest a decent amount of money into a bike you plan to ride a lot, you may as well get serious about picking a color you think you're going to be very happy with.

We have a lipstick red tandem with black and white. I don't know if it's what you would call tomato red. Probably. It's just basic, standard red. No metallic. We, of course, think it looks really nice and have gotten comments on it. The basic red does make it easy to match things to. We have red, black & white jerseys, red jackets, etc. Not everyone even cares about matching what you wear to your bike, but I do!

I have a black single with silver and white. It does sound a bit boring to get a "nuetral" color, but I like that I can add any accent color I want to it (and change it in the future if I want). I, of course, do PINK! Pink handlebars, pink saddle, pink bottle cages, pink jersey. I absolutely love it and feel it has just the right amount of pink without going too overboard. (Though I'm sure some don't feel you CAN go overboard and I'm so cool with that too!)

I have posted some pictures for your viewing pleasure, in case you missed them when I posted them and more a couple of weeks ago.











I think a metallic dark red bike would be cool. I think that was our other choice we were considering (we had a lot of choices as well). I, too, am not sure how I feel about a regular red coordinating with a dark metallic red. I guess I'd be looking for a deeper red jacket, if it's even possible, or going with black or something else that coordinates with the dark red instead of trying to match it.

Hope this helps. Congrats on the new bike. Be sure to post pictures when you get her.

[pooks]

Lucky you! I think getting to choose your own custom color is the ultimate fun!

I have previously said I would love a glittery red bike, like Dorothy's ruby slippers. If you figure out a way to pull that off, please let me know.

I do think a dark metallic red sounds great.

And Jiffer, great pics. I'd seen your Cannondale but not the Burley. Pretty!

[jotjepoes]

well I think they can paint it this colour.




The problem is my jacket (which cost me fortune and I don't want to have to replace is more like a tomato sauce (ketchup) red.

Do you think it would look bad/ clash to get the bike this red and wear a jacket (jaggad) which is tomato sauce (ketchup) red?

[SouthernBelle]

Don't forget. Jackets will come and go. Hopefully this bike will last a very long time.

[Thorn]

Ah, a topic near and dear to my heart...and one that strikes fear into DH (who has been hearing about purrrr-ty bike colors now for several weekends )

Contrary to DH's opinion, color choice for the bike is not a trivial decision nor one to be taken lightly. If we're spending this much money on a bike, we want that color to be right, right? We want that color to be awesome, right? Not to mention unique, telling something about us, and, of course, something we'll love 10 years down the road, no?

Shades of red just don't seem super popular right (...sigh...) now so it is hard to find good examples to get ideas from. I've surfed the web looking at the galleries of custom frame builders; two of Serrotta's forums is devoted to nothing but pictures of bicycles. I've found photos where people have had their bike painted to match their favorite clothing.

Gunnar posts frame colors of the month (http://www.waterfordbikes.com/gunnar...up.php?id=127). Check out their frame of the year and then picture it with a deep wine or cranberry color instead of the blue....wait, please don't like it--that's my latest color choice

[luv'nAustin]

What kind of bike did you order?

If you ride fast enough the colors will blur and no one will notice that you don't have an exact match between bike and jacket.

[Aggie_Ama]

Why not just pick a color and then get a new jacket to match?

Color is not frivalous. I bought my bike because of the color, changed bar tape to spice it up, have blue shoes and a blue helmet! Mine is not one color like Jiffer's, instead I used the fade of blue on the frame to inspire many shades of blue. Oh yeah, and since this photo I found blue tires.

Blurry shot of my bike....

Bottle cages in blue, too!

Shoes, although I wanted these before the bike. They don't match but this year's Sidis are dark red.

Helmet, also had long before the bike. I have the dark blue one, it was the only color they had!

[mimitabby]

For some color is unimportant, but for others of us, it is VERY important.
I think your bike is even more of a personal statement than a car!
and if you're the type of person who thinks a beige car is something you would complain about if they handed you the keys to it as a rental, then you definitely want the RIGHT color for your bike.
I think the red jacket would look awesome on a metallic red bike.
I can't tell you how many hours I have agonized over my custom bike's colors..
And i will until i finally see it!

[Zen]

I'm just happy to have a bike.

[nicole309]

I think if you have a choice, you should get the color that you will love for a very long time.
I agree, the bike will last much longer than the jacket.
Also, my bike is copper and cream. You really don't find bike clothes to match that. However I did find one beautiful wool jersey for the fall!!

[Torrilin]

There are a lot of good ways to build a color scheme. If you love red but don't want a red bike, you can have the main color on the bike be a neutral (navy blue, grey, black, chocolate brown...) accented with red and perhaps a second color.

If you want something a bit wilder, you can go with a complementary color scheme based around red and green. Don't do this if you'd feel like a Christmas tree.

If you want to go *really* wild and have a good frame painter, you could do something like yellow blending into red blending into purple, with black or chocolate brown for the dark color.

I'd go for the red bike, but I think everything should be red. Red sheets, red curtains, red sofa, red water bottle cages... I love all shades of red .

[Jiffer]

well I think they can paint it this colour.

The problem is my jacket (which cost me fortune and I don't want to have to replace is more like a tomato sauce (ketchup) red.

Do you think it would look bad/ clash to get the bike this red and wear a jacket (jaggad) which is tomato sauce (ketchup) red?

I think that bike color rocks! I love red, and I love metallic red. I even think your jacket may go well with it, but can't say for sure without seeing the jacket. To me, tomato sauce or ketchup red is a bit of a deeper red than our red tandem, which I would call standard red. Therefore, it seems the jacket would go better with your bike than what I was envisioning before. And even if it doesn't, if you really like this bike color, I say go for it. I know you don't want to replace your expensive jacket, but if you find the color really bothers you, give it a year or two and THEN replace it maybe?

I agree you should concentrate more on what color you would really love your bike to be than trying to match something you have.

[Surlygirl]

I think you should pick the color or colors you want. Hopefully a bike will last longer than a jacket. Do a search on custom bicycle painters. Here is the link to Peter Mooney's site. Make sure you look through all the galleries. The sky is the limit, or your wallet.
www.peter-mooney.com

[emily_in_nc]

How about a beautiful silver bike (or a red/silver fade) with red handlebar tape, hubs, headset and tires? I once knew a Seven like that - clearcoated ti with red accents, and she was a beaut!

Let us know what you decide on!

Emily