Originally Posted by
bumpalong
Really fun reading your posts Tom. I was particularly interested in what you mentioned about Ben Lawee's attention to creating color schemes that would be appealing to customers and would enhance perceptions of their quality, particularly given that some of the colors used seemed not at all common, and at least today seem to evoke mixed reactions. Some of the metalic browns, bronzes, orange-golds and pinks in particular are in a palate range I've rarely if ever seen on other bikes - vintage or new. Personally I like them - largely because they are uncommon , strike me as very '70's/80's' and period defined, and are very distictive to the brand (even though I'd be hard pressed in some cases to say I think they are among the most appealing options out there). In any case you have any further insight to how some of those colors got selected, how they were well recieved at the time, etc?
Great question! Historically, certain bicycle paint schemes have always worked. For instance, black w/red accents. Motobecane and Univega always had several black w/red bikes in the lineup. To this day, you will see that combination in many bike lines. Silver with red is another classic combo. As I mentioned, Ben had a car collection. Car colors have historically influenced bike colors, especially in the popular price points. Black, silver, silver-blue, gunmetal, and white are colors that are the the most popular car colors. These are conservative colors. For the rider buying his first good bike, he might choose silver or gunmetal because he really doesn't want "flash", in fact just the opposite is true, he wants to blend in. He doesn't want to draw attention to himself. The Champagne/bronze palette was also infuenced by certain cars (Porsche for example). You may have noticed that in some of the colors there is a good dose of metallic flake. This is where the bike color would differ from the car color. On a car, you have a great deal of surface area, so you really don't need that much metallic. However, on a traditional steel frame, the tubes and area covered by paint are relatively small, so the extra dose of metallic makes the bike "pop" on the showroom floor. Let's look at white. A vintage Peugeot UO8 is "Refrigerator White" which is a flat and cold color. But when you add a bit of blue or red pearl with corresponding blue or red decals, you get a bike that looks richer and more expensive. Red pearl in particular warms up white. You asked about pink and rose colors. In Europe, especially the south, you see more pastels and brighter colors. It's that Mediterranean thing. Ben liked the concept, even though he was realistic enough to know that most American guys weren't going to get on a pink or rose bike (although the gals would). An Oakland raiders color scheme was more to their liking. So he always had some of these brighter bikes in the lineup, he just ordered smaller numbers. An especially difficult color was green. One year, Ben (who made up the names for the colors) put a color he called "Petrol" (think of the green color in a quart of oil) on his Nuovo Sport model which retailed for about $200.00. Personally, I thought it was a rich, classy color. But it didn't sell so great.
Getting back to the brighter colors, as you are no doubt aware, when you get to the enthusiast or what's known as the "frequent user" or enthusiast, the rules change. You will find lots of bright colors. This customer wants to ride what the pros ride. The big problem with flashy bike though is that other riders expect you to go fast all the time!
After Univega, I went to work for Specialized for 8 1/2 years. They have some seriously talented folks who work on colors and graphics. As well, the composite frames give you a bigger canvas to work with. More fun!