On Tuesday, November 4, 2025 at 2:01:56 PM UTC-6 [email protected] wrote:
*So my question for the wider group is: *what hard and fast rules do you have for components/bits of color when it comes to your bikes? I wouldn't describe my rules as hard and fast, but as I was designing my Breadwinner I developed this set - Styling Guidelines: Balance the elements - not too much of any of them Use colors to break up large masses - emphasize lightness This is a modern bike, not a classic, but shouldn't look like a Transformer toy Black looks good against the green of the frame In another thread we had some discussion about mixing shiny and black. My first rule applies there - balancing the elements. Too much black is definitely bad for the kinds of bikes I like to ride. Too much shiny, well, maybe it's hard to have _too_ much shiny on my bikes, but I like a balance of black and silver. As I was working on my Chapman, I spent a lot of time on Brian's photo site looking at all the bikes he has done. They are a wide range of color palettes and schemes, but something he is consistent with is that the handlebar wrap is a single color, generally matching the saddle. I went on a binge of doing harlequin wraps, and I found Brian's bikes to be a good case for putting the handlebars in the background a bit. Naturally, my Chapman has matching black saddle and bars. (Though Newbaums fades quickly and my handlebars are now a brownish gray.) As I swapped other bikes to narrower bars and shorter stems I wrapped the bars in single colors, generally matching the saddle, though my Riv Road (seen recently in the October photos thread) has a white saddle and bright blue bars. If I was really good at this, I'd have that saddle recovered in navy blue and use a darker blue on the bars. (Light silver metallic frame with cream head tube and navy blue window fill.) And get rid of the bright red little saddle bag. I'm not an expert on the color wheel and I'm not good at creating an artistic palette, but I think I know a good one when I see it. Ted Durant Milwaukee, WI USA -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/e537c3bf-d403-4ff5-b160-958adaaeaf28n%40googlegroups.com.
