Bike Color SCHEME Question... excuse me ^_^




Alright... this bike is still in the shop awaiting the arrival of the final components needed in order to convert it into a fixed gear. The rims will be black instead of silver, but that is the only major color change there is, so far. Everywhere you see black and silver is, for the most part, where all of the black and silver will stay, except the rims, which, again, will now be black.

NOW... my dilemma: the color of my handle bar tape. I originally wanted a jarring orange there, but that was back when I hoped to have orange rims too, but I can't afford those at the moment. Sooo... I'm sort of iffy about having just ONE orange spot on the bike. I do love orange, and enjoy every opportunity I get to stare at it, but I want color coherency on this bike. Which is why I'm thinking I may just settle for black bar tape. To me, it is a bit boring, (I desperately crave the loudest colors possible where and whenever possible!), but again, color coherency...

At the moment, unless I call and tell them otherwise, Orange is scheduled to go on. All of this just occured to me yesterday. So... yeah.

advice?

Orange or black bar tape?

I like orange. It will totally make the bike pop and be completely unique. Yay orange!

Unnatural Element wrote:

I like orange. It will totally make the bike pop and be completely unique. Yay orange!

Excellent. I will keep this in mind...

In my opinion, ORANGE wins on 4 counts:
#1. You love orange!
#2. Orange is a good complementary color with the shade of blue on the frame.
#3. Orange is a hi-vis safety color (a non-artistic but very practical consideration on a bike).
#4. Sometimes having only one spot of a color in a color scheme is good... designers call it an 'accent' color :)

spring for the rims, if only for matchings sake. or black tape...

I am looking over the bike graveyard here. There are thousands that will never be ridden ever again. Nor stolen again.

I would go with Blue violet. Keep the scheme somewhat monochromatic. Orange tape, while a fun choice, will just bring attention to the thing. And you will lose ownership.

There is something to be said for well designed and color thought ugly. Enjoy the mechanics of your bike. Keep the colors cool but subtle and you might own it for a long time.

Go with the orange and get an orange bike seat cover or an orange helmet or orange stickers for your helmet or orange reflective stickers to put on the seat. Or, wear a lot of orange when you ride.

Seriously!

I love orange and fully support you in loud color choices!

Why not buy a couple of discount bottles of orange nail polish and paint the whole thing orange?? Then the orange tape would not look weird at all. I'm thinking along the lines, if it's too eccentric, thieves will loose intrest too.

nice ride, man!

so are you a real pro? are you nervous about riding a fixie?

i've never tried one. are you keeping the breaks i hope?


as for the orange, i'm with liddle_r, get some orange reflective tape and go crazy.

i have a black bike and i have silver reflective tape cut into stripes along the top bar, it's very.... stripey.

the other good thing about loud colors is, it's a bike. you need to be visible. orange is loud, which is very practical in this case. so i guess i'm going against Just Perfect Color--bring attention to your bike. for safety AND for personal flair.

happy cycling!!

so I have a question... I live in SF and there are a bunch of bike messengers and even more hipsters that all have fixed gear bikes. My question is why? I have never rode one (except the old school one I had when I was 7) but it seems uncomfortable, hard to steer (if you have skinny handlebars), wears out tires quick (unless you use the foot in the tire technique) hard to go up hill and start quick from a stop, and can you go as fast? Is it just that it's "cool" or is there something that I am missing? No offense intended, I am truly interested.

The Cooler wrote:

so I have a question... I live in SF and there are a bunch of bike messengers and even more hipsters that all have fixed gear bikes. My question is why? I have never rode one (except the old school one I had when I was 7) but it seems uncomfortable, hard to steer (if you have skinny handlebars), wears out tires quick (unless you use the foot in the tire technique) hard to go up hill and start quick from a stop, and can you go as fast? Is it just that it's "cool" or is there something that I am missing? No offense intended, I am truly interested.

also interested!

the recent rage makes me curious. i have never ridden one, i don't think...

im a rider too yay! and i say white handlebar tape... always hahaa its a bugger to clean if its cork but if you get that new stuff thats got like little holes in it and resembles leather then you only have to clean it half as often, if your not into cleaning at all though, go for the black - but its so done, ya know? haha, but if you dont mind going all out, go buy some enamel spray paint mask the frame of and do a white/orange pattern with black handlebar tape, that'd be sweeet, like giant have with their frames now

sorry for rambling on, good luck with the fixy!