ST Forum Poll: Bike colors

Triathlon Forum
1

I’m interested. Give me your thoughts on bike colors. Ideally I’d like to see a list like this:

  1. Black.
  2. Pink.
  3. Violet.
  4. Green.

“Too many stickers is bad” (or) “Make it look like a race car”.

jpflores on this forum listed some specific brands/models he liked- that is an excellent idea. Let’s hear those too please.

Let’s start there and keep it simple.

2
  1. Black, with a touch of white accents or subtle decals
  2. White, with a touch of black accents or subtle decals
  3. Silver, with some black on the edges

Nothing fancy in the reply, just like my color preferences.

3
  1. white
  2. black
  3. blue
  4. red

I personally dislike yellow or orange bikes.

I don’t mind heavy use of logos, it just depends on how they are used. I also prefer more modern looking (sans serif) fonts for the logos or brand names.

Some current bikes that I really like the look of…

Cervelo R3 in white
Pinarello Prince in blue
Argon e112

4

Thank you. Good choices in my opinion.

5

Oh, thank you for your specific examples. I should have asked for that. I think there are product managers planning 2009 right now who would like to read those- and they *definately do *spend time on this forum…

Good idea to ask for specific examples…

6

Colors: I would like to see some more of the “fades” as it looks like one’s getting more custom for the money. Otherwise, simple accents, such as Guru, Trek TTX. I feel there’s WAY too much signage on the bikes as well. The Jamis is a joke…nice bike, but pay me if I’m to be a tacky billboard. That’s another reason the Guru is very classy and elegant. I am not a fan of the “engineering” graphics of Cervelo, and to use the logo in pieces as they do is a bit overdone as well. I’d like to see more “shadowing” logos, as in tone-on tone. A muted silver or matt black outline on black would be elegant and very attractive.

7

1 - Black & white
2 - Red
3 - Jewel colours as accents - bright and vibrant colours like emerald green or sapphire blue

No yellow, orange or purple.

I love the paint scheme on the Orbeas friends of mine have purchased this year - black and white or black and lavender.

That said, if everyone has the same colour bike, I’ll be itching to have something different.

8
  1. Emerald Green, in a 3:1 silver mix
  2. Dark/Smoke grey
  3. Dark purple
  4. Crimson
9
  1. Carbon fibre

I like the look of the weave of the fibres so I guess that would count as “clear” in terms of a paint scheme

  1. Tri colour

The blend of three colours is nice like a black, red and white or white, blue and orange.

  1. Titanium

My favourite for a mountain bike, brushed titanium, no paint.

10
  • "What are you thinking? Are you crazy? Black bikes have souls, lots of them, they sucked all the souls from ugly green, red, blue, and other clolr bikes. A black bike says don’t fck with this guy. It’s like having the worst of Satan and the best of Jesus in one bike. You suck the life from other rides and it goes into your legs, giving you more watts and taking watts from them. At Soma I rolled up on a guy on a blue bike that is from a highly esteemed maker. he said you are having a nice ride (I started 3 min behind him) I pointed at my Lucero - the badest badass bike out there and said “This bike gives me the power to crush you, take your energy and leave you twisting in the wind. You have nothing left for this race. BE GONE.” He finished several minutes behind me. A black bike is so bad ass that no one, not one single person tried to pass me in my last 3 races during the bike, well one tried but only b/c his bike was black and blue but he son succumbed to the rolling fury that my bike is. This is the power a black bike brings. Sure you could ride something cute and covered with flowers, maybe a bell or streamers on the handlebars, some color coordinated handlebar tape and/or a seat. You could try to ride fast, the kind of fast a yugo gets when going down a hill with the parking brake on. You could try to pass someone “excuse me, but person in my AG could you please move right just a touch so I can squeeze around you, please?” Or you could ride death, something to strike fear into the hearts and minds of those around you. 18.1 pounds of rolling fury, the sound of the disc (black of course) rotating around exuding power combined with the sound of the H3C (black again) screaming down the road. The sound of a 1000 anguished souls coupled with the roar of the mightest creator laughing at the terror before you. Where a simple phrase “on your left” and the sound of fury and hell moves people over into the gutter. Or you can ride cute and polite. You choose, badass or ass bad."
  • desert dude…Nov 1, 06
11
  1. Red
  2. Black
  3. White
  4. Orange

decals are fine as long as they are done well

12

Black staying fairly safe as a bet for most bike companies…

13

  1. White

  2. Titanium (barer the better)

  3. Undecided. Maybe black, but I’ve seen nice bikes in all other colors. I would maybe say dull orange.

Both need minimal decals.

14
  1. Naked carbon w/ matte finish
  2. Naked carbon w/ gloss finish
  3. Red
  4. Bue
  5. White

For me, a lot depends on the type of bike. I like road and mtn. bikes with some color, but I’d prefer my 'cross and tt bike more neutral. No idea why. I don’t like particularly like yellow or orange anywhere.

15

Black, White and Red are the best bike colors (for a painted bike)

–Black and White look awesome as primary frame colors (Cervelo R3 & R3 SL are good examples)

–Red is an excellent color but I think it’s better when combined with black and/or white (think Pinnarello)

I do also love a ti bike with minimal decals and primarily black components (Campy is almost a requirement on a ti bike). That is a clean look that is hard to beat in my opinion.

Decals & logos. Fine if they aren’t overdone and compliment the design. I don’t know why some companies feel the need to have their name printed on a bike 15 times - I’m a fairly smart guy and I only need to read it once or twice to know what brand a bike is. I like the logos/branding on the R3, I think they look good. On the other end of the spectrum is this bike from Jamis http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/bikes/08_bikes/08xenitht2.html (sorry Herbert). It’s a really nice bike, but I think they overdid it by putting their name on the frame 12 times.

16

Great insights. Man, as this starts to take shape it is no wonder bike companies rely so heavily on black- it seems to be the safe color bet.

17

one extreme or the other:

  1. black on BLACK (stealthy); or
  2. RED (because it’s FASTER)
18

I still don’t think I’ve seen a stock paintjob I like better than the “tequila sunrise” golden yellow-to-red fade on my Klein.
They had a greenish-to-purple fade that was sweet too.

Klein really used to kick butt on the paint schemes in the late '90’s. Looked custom.

You can’t go too far wrong w/ basic black. We all know black bikes are fastest.
(as per DD’s “black bike manifesto” :wink:

19

black with red accents/bar tape (think 2008 equinox ssl ttx 9.9)
dark grey with red accents/bar tape
white/black or black white combo (think Orbea Orca from last year)
.

20
  1. black 2.white 3. hunters orange 4. bass boat blue 5. camo