Bike Aesthetics

[don1]

Here's my own burnt orange and black, my Genesis Croix de Fer.

[BE1]

I am guess you have ordered Shimano A530s as the pedals, if so are they the silver or black ones? If silver and given a silver seatpost and chainset I would go for silver racks.

Thereafter accent colour: black or blue.On the subject of which http://www.wiggle.com/token-bling-box-for-road-tk691tk692/

[Tangled Metal]

Silver A530s are on now and seem pretty good pedals to me. Was trying to get the old shimano toe clip pedals off my old road bike at one point. They are really nice looking pedals but being 25 years stuck on the old bike they were not keen to come off.

I'm going to go with the silver rack but considering getting some Tortec mudguards in black with reflective strips on the side of the guards. I think that might look awful but my theory is since I need them for commuting comfort I will try to link the black in to the silver with the reflective sides and making myself potentially safer in winter commutes.

The trouble I have is this is a one bike does all thing so there is only so much you can do to try and make it look good. Afterall it is a workhorse with a rack, guards, panniers, etc. Plus I'm riding it so that look doesn't work neither (not a model cyclist shall we say). I will of course try to bling it up where possible. Keeping an eye out for a light blue caps for the handlebars or perhaps a sort of orange red to match the BB7 disc brake adjustment dial (which is the colour of the valve caps too).

[ferdinand]

Form without function has no integrity. Only consider the form once the function is adequate.

I was looking at Yakkay helmets earlier. The hat-look covers are lovely, but no bowler, but then it turns out that the helmets underneath are dogs, so no point.

Pet hates? White handlebar grips and saddles as used by some models of by Boardman bike. Will become grimly mucky,shout "I wear white stilettoes in the evening" and are as naff as every white product ever made by Apple.

I like the philosophy for cycling of the racer who never painted his cars because it would add a few kilograms. It may have been Bugatti.

Ferdinand

[reohn2]

Form without function has no integrity. Only consider the form once the function is adequate.

I was looking at Yakkay helmets earlier. The hat-look covers are lovely, but no bowler, but then it turns out that the helmets underneath are dogs, so no point.

Pet hates?

Ferdinand

There's a choice here,it's either Yakkay helmets or Lurchers

[simon1]

...Pet hates? White handlebar grips and saddles as used by some models of by Boardman bike. Will become grimly mucky,shout "I wear white stilettoes in the evening" and are as naff as every white product ever made by Apple.

Ah but once they are a decade or two old, well maintained but never cleaned, a white frame with white saddle and white bar tape can have that true "aged classic" look.

It's when you have to replace them that the anguish starts. Perhaps there is a market for fake bar tape ageing spray-cans.

[TimP]

Decades ago when I went to Uni I left my nice smart bike at home in favour of an old scruffy thing I had. I made sure it all worked extremely well and even swapped some stuff over. The rationale? Simple. I didn't want to lose my pride and joy but I wanted a bike that rode well. My ride for my uni years was purposely scruffy yet great to ride. I could leave it anywhere and it was safe (I did lock it). Other new bikes would regularly get stolen, even cheap ones from the supermarket with cheap to useless gears and brakes. They were shiny and not scratched, they could be sold. Mine was dirty and scratched and so to sell it would take work.

I few years after uni while working abroad someone doing some repairs to my dad's house saw my favourite bike and after saying how much he liked it my dad gave it to him. I still ride the old one I rode in Uni. It is only a 19.5" frame and I am a bit over 6 feet tall. The bars are low, the seat is high. The gears still work well. The wheels are still the ones I made as a teen. It has a very long stem to make the reach work on such a small frame. It isn't really a looker but hey, when I'm riding it I can't see that much of it.

To me what matters is that it is all in great working order - smooth and comfy to ride. Reliable. Durable. Do I care about looks? Only after all other criteria have been fulfilled, so not really. It even has odd tyres on it at the moment. One is all black, the other has a green stripe round the tyre wall. They are what were available at the different times I needed a tyre. It doesn't change how the bike rides and may help make it less of a target to thieves. Riding it I am clearly not a poser and racing lads don't feel the need to challenge me - it all works in my favour.

In the auto world it would be called a sleeper - a car that looks humdrum but goes like a stabbed rat when needed. Well, the bike functions like that. The engine (me) isn't up to so much these days - age!

Always go for function over form unless you only want to hang it on your living room wall.