Do you care about the paint scheme?

[TsPoet]

Yes and no... The bike is more important, but a nice paint job, that's precious.
Can you also consider saddle and HB tape and things like that which can be added to emphasize your colors?

[Crankin]

I have never, ever thought about color or design when buying a bike. The only thing I've ever thought about is the fit and the components. I wouldn't look at a girly thing with flowers, but so far, no one has shown me a bike with that!
And I would never pay for special paint, decals, etc. I know this is important for some people, but to me it's just not important.
My bike is red, black, and a little white. When I needed new shoes, I got red ones, but I was wanting them anyway. I also eventually bought a red helmet, but I have a black and yellow one, too, which I wear regularly. I hardly had any red jerseys, though. Now I have 2, bought more because they were TE designs. My hybrid is blue, and I like that color, too. No matching helmet, but my shoes with spd cleats are blue, although I had them a long time before I bought the bike.
I care more about the color/style of my jerseys. The bike is all about the fit.

[Cataboo]

Yes - I care. But I usually end up buying what's on sale (or I can get used) for the best price with the best fit. And then I learn to love what I get. Now, luckily WSD bikes don't fit me, so I've never ended up having to learn to love pink or baby blue or something. then I just accessorize the bike to the point that it seems reflective of me. This is a lot easier in commuter bikes (both of the ones I've made of those, while not quite the color I'd've picked if I had full choice of anything - have been quite fun bikes to build up), 'cause adding pretty colored things is better.

My helmets and jerseys really aren't bought with color in mind - again, whatever's on sale. Ocassionally I will look down and realize that I'm completely accessorized with my bike - and on other days I'll look down and realize that I completelyclash. Whatever. I would like a red helmet, but only blue ones go on sale.

I console myself with the idea that bikes can be powdercoated or custom painted - and maybe I'll be at the point one day where i've got the disposable income to make that a reality. Which is kind of a silly statement from someone with 5 bikes, a couple of which are by my standards, really nice - I could have 1 less bike and paint all the bikes the colors I want.

It's been the same with kayaks - for the longest time I wanted a red kayak. I ordered a red kayak with my first oen - they called and said it was out of stock. I ordered a different red kayak, they called and said there was a 4 month backorder on red, but I could have green within 2 weeks. I'm on my 10th kayak now (okay, I only own 2 now) and I finally have a red one. The other is purple with green trim which I find hysterical, but really not anything that I'd have closed my eyes and invisioned when I thought I want a kayak.

Cars - I've had a chance to get 2 new - the first one, I wanted silver, but it was sold before I got there and I got the gold. It was fine. The second one, I went to buy the silver one, but while there kinda looked at a green one and thought... I want the green one.

[ny biker]

Bike color is not the most important thing to me. I would probably not be thrilled if the bike I wanted to buy was an ugly color but I would learn to live with it.

I try to match my socks to my jersey, just for fun, but otherwise don't worry about color coordination with my bike.

[Cataboo]

I am lucky if I can find a pair of socks that match each other.

[Loraura]

Yes, it matters.

No girly, swirly, flowery, pink or teal or peach for me.

Not sure why, but it just doesn't do it for me.

I was reluctant to even test ride a pink and white pinnarello. I did test it, but thankfully it was a bit too big so I never had to worry about if I could stand the pink or not. It would have been a major hurdle to get over for me.

[moonfroggy]

one of the funnest parts of getting my luna was getting to choose the colors! and i paid extra to have her be more than 1 color.

now i have a bmx that i plan to paint because i am not happy with the color.

color is really important to me

[limewave]

Yes, but I'm an Art Director.