General Cycling Discussion - COLOR of bike..... a big factor when purchasing a bike?

With the 2007 model year coming to an end, they are starting to discount the '07 models before the '08's come in. To me, it seems as if the "good" colors (black & silver) are gone (or getting there) but I can get a color that wouldn't be my first choice in my size. By getting a color I didn't really want/ didn't plan to get, I would get the bike for cheaper (w/discounts & price increases for '08).....but I'm not sure I want to get a color that wasn't my first choice...

what's your personal opinion?

pay less & get an "okay" color?
or
pay more & get the '08 in a color I really like?

Is the color of your bike that important to you????

If appearance is important to you, pay more if you can afford it. Unless you own many bikes, in which case this isn't as much of an issue. I got my bike for free many years back, and it's an excellent bike but a boring (to me) black color.

Bike colors

If you want to go fast buy red.
Look cool, blue.
Environment, green.
Conservative, silver, pewter or gray.
Be seen, yellow or orange.
Like Prince, purple.

To me color doesn't matter if you have the money, get what you want.

For me, it was all about tradition. When I was shopping for a road bike, I found the Bianchi was the best fit for me, but it just seemed silly to buy one in any other color but celeste. My other bike were whatever was on hand when I was buying them (Black, red, white).

I think matte colors look better too vs. the shiny paint (which is often used by x-mart bikes)

The actual base color (unless it's something extreme, like, for instance, pink) isn't very important to me. However I am "put off" by very flash decals. Before I ordered my Surly LHT I was shown a GT bike that had very garish decals - it just screamed "Wal-Mart" to me, although on the whole it appeared to be a quite decent entry level road bike in all respects.

so you guys just take whatever is available as far as color?

I'm looking at the Trek 7.2 Fx but only found RageRed (Burgundy Metallic) in my 20" size..... I've got one more shop nearby that I can call & they may have the Matte Silver. I guess the Red isn't all that bad if I had to get it...

When I bought my cyclocross bike I was looking for fit and specs more than for color choice. The only bike that really fit me well and offered great components for the money was the Kona Jake The Snake. So I got a day-glo orange bike with black stays and a black fork. At least it'll look awesome on October 31st. :)

Actually, the color is growing on me after a couple of months of use.

I think color matters otherwise there would be no selections offered. If I am going to pay a substantial amount of money for anything new and I am offered a choice of color I will pick what is appealing to me. If the item is used then there is no choice. Take it or leave it. I certainly would not settle on the color of a new car if offered choices. A used one is another story.

I think color matters otherwise there would be no selections offered. If I am going to pay a substantial amount of money for anything new and I am offered a choice of color I will pick what is appealing to me. If the item is used then there is no choice. Take it or leave it. I certainly would not settle on the color of a new car if offered choices. A used one is another story.
I'm just trying to decide if I should sacrifice # 1 color choice for a better deal... I like the red, just not as much as silver.

I almost did that. I liked the prettier color on the newer model one step down. The bike I ended up getting was a boring color but it had higher components and made it as a "top choice" in a bike review. And because it was last year's model, it was on sale. Ended up being about the same price as the newer, prettier one (with lower components and not on the top choice list)

Yeah colour (ok, color) is important. Right now I have an 06 Allez base model in silver. The 07 equivalanet comes in black. No way I would buy that bike in balck, I buy the next model up or just choose a different brand.

You wear clothes of a certain cvolour, buy cars of certain colours, paingt your house/bedrooms a certain colour, why not choose your bike of a certain colour?

If the color matters that much to you spend the extra bucks. No use in riding around on something for a couple of years thinking "I love the bike but I hate the color." I waited until I get a Lava Black Trek that I wanted instead of the red thatthey had in my LBS. Much happier as everytime I see the red I think to myself, "I am glad I waited." That being said I traded in my car (Flint Mica '06 Scion tC) because it was too hard to keep clean and showed dust too easily so obviously color is important to me.

If one has a choice, and really likes one color over another, of course it makes sense to get the one you want. In my case, once I decided on a Surly LHT, I looked on the web and found that the frames were available in a really neat looking black cherry color, as well as turquois blue. I really liked that black cherry color. However it's not available as a complete bike. Guess what? I'll learn to like that turquoise blue.

If you do not like the color, then you will not be happy and you will want another bike. But since this one is a hybrid you will want a road bike and then a faster road bike and then.....Wait, that was me:eek:

Is the color of your bike that important to you????

YES

If you plan to make a fashion statement with your bike, definately worry about the color. If you plan to simply enjoy your bike, get one in a color you like. If you plan to race your bike, get one that will look like a blur zipping by the competition.

I've been to TOO many MTB races, and I think that black MTB bikes look more like they mean business than any other color, but that doesn't hold for road bikes.

If I have a choice on a bike model (or frame) that I'm going to purchase then heck yeah I'm going to make my preference known. On the flip side I'm not going to **** that the model I want is only available in white (I hate white)

Go custom!

Not only did I get a bicycle built for me ... but I also got to chose the exact color scheme I wanted.

AHHH Man, you had to bring it up! When I bought my Cannondale, I got the color I liked at the price I liked. Was a burnt maroon color. Looked real cool with the CF fork. The newbie mechanic crushed my seat tube in the workstand. How's that for shop service. I did get a new frame but had to settle for blue with goild letters cause it was the new color scheme but wasn't the same. I got used to it!

My wife picked up a carbon fiber Trek at a great price. She wanted the pink scheme (06)that was $2799. She settled for the blue with silver letters(05) cause it was a whole grand cheaper. AND it was FULL ULtegra while the pink had Bontrager components. Now that we see the pink roadie she wanted on the road, we're glad we got the blue. Looks better in the sun!:D

Go custom!

Not only did I get a bicycle built for me ... but I also got to chose the exact color scheme I wanted.
how do you do that? & how much more is it?

how do you do that? & how much more is it?

I looked up the websites of all the custom bicycle manufacturers I could find, and then chose the one I liked the best. Part of the reason I liked it the best was because the company was Canadian and there were dealers in my city. I went to a dealer, got measured, and ordered the bicycle. Several weeks later my bicycle was born.

Another part of the reason I went with the company I chose was because of the price. They were quite reasonably priced. But there is quite a wide price range out there.

Have a look over the sites of:

SevenCycles: http://www.sevencycles.com/
Waterford: http://www.waterfordbikes.com/
Mariposa: http://www.mariposabicycles.com/
Marinoni: http://www.marinoni.qc.ca/ (this was my choice)

Just to name a few.

AHHH Man, you had to bring it up! When I bought my Cannondale, I got the color I liked at the price I liked. Was a burnt maroon color. Looked real cool with the CF fork. The newbie mechanic crushed my seat tube in the workstand. How's that for shop service. I did get a new frame but had to settle for blue with goild letters cause it was the new color scheme but wasn't the same. I got used to it!

My wife picked up a carbon fiber Trek at a great price. She wanted the pink scheme (06)that was $2799. She settled for the blue with silver letters(05) cause it was a whole grand cheaper. AND it was FULL ULtegra while the pink had Bontrager components. Now that we see the pink roadie she wanted on the road, we're glad we got the blue. Looks better in the sun!:D
the one im looking at is a burnt red color (burgundy metallic looking)

My experience selling bikes has been that color isn't a major factor in selecting a bike but the wrong color can definitely be a deal breaker. More than once I've had customers tell me that color wasn't a factor for them but the very next words out of their mouth were "Not green."

my priorties in order of importance;

fit
tie; quality & value
look

Environment, green.

I keep hearing stuff like this and I cannot comprehend the thought process behind it.

It's paint. Paint is bad for the environment. Synthetic dyes for fabric are even worse. It doesn't matter what color it is!!

I only have used and rescued bikes, so I never got to choose the color. That said I love the deep blue on my Nishiki!

my priorties in order of importance;

fit
tie; quality & value
look


I concur.

There are some exceptions to the rule tho. There are colors that I love, colors that I like, colors I am ambivalent about, colors I don't care for, and colors that make me want to puke. When I get to the latter end of that continuum, quality and value no longer rank.

There is no way I would buy a mauve bike. It just wouldn't happen. And I really like the Team Astana colored BMC Pro Machine, partially because the colours are nontraditional. So yes, colour matters, but not so much that it is nearly the first thing I consider. The looks of a bike are the first thing you see, so they certainly help draw your attention.

I concur.

There are some exceptions to the rule tho. There are colors that I love, colors that I like, colors I am ambivalent about, colors I don't care for, and colors that make me want to puke. When I get to the latter end of that continuum, quality and value no longer rank.

i'd buy a celeste green bianchi if the price was right.

My experience selling bikes has been that color isn't a major factor in selecting a bike but the wrong color can definitely be a deal breaker. More than once I've had customers tell me that color wasn't a factor for them but the very next words out of their mouth were "Not green."

This is a pretty good reflection of my own bike purchases. Colour is generally not a big deal, but I've turned down some otherwise perfectly good frames because of (IMO) garishly loud colours (lime green and fire engine red spring to mind). My bikes have tended to be quite conservative- silver or black, though a favourite was bright yellow and purple (no accounting for taste, I guess).

I was looking at some 2007 models a few months ago for my first modern road bike... didn't like the colours, but the quality was great. Then this 2004 bianchi veloce comes rolling along on ebay... it was like love at first sight and I snapped it up quickly. Celeste with black 105, looks sweet.

I sold bikes for a few years and I can tell you that color is a huge factor. If you don't learn how to feel out a customer's feelings about a particular color, you're likely to lose the sale. 99% of the time they are too embarassed to raise the issue even though they are thinking something like "It's a $600 bike, why doesn't it come in Red?!"

I did not buy a trek wsd pilot 2.1 last year because I absolutely hated the black with pink writing. I bought another wsd that is silver - not that I liked the color - I just didn't hate it. I like colors - orange, green, blue - I don't get all of the black bikes out there. I also now have a blue bike - I ride it the most.

Color was a huge pain in the ass for my last three bikes. The painter puts down three books of color swatches with thousands of choices in each book. The color combos when considering fades spots masking and such is mind boggling.

Sheldon

Color isn't uber important to me. That said,the '07 Big Buzz's yellow was pretty nasty.

i'd buy a celeste green bianchi if the price was right.

Yeah if the price is cheap enough, you can always repaint it if the color bothers you, and still come out ahead.

For me, color was a huge factor. If I didn't like the color I wouldn't buy it. The discount would have to be really deep. But knowing me I'd have buyer's remorse right after.

If I'm gonna be buying something I plan to use a lot than I'd want to be fully happy with the purchase.

I could have gotten a used S-Works bike for close to my price range but it was zebra colored. I just couldn't get myself to like it enough to buy it. (I guess a la Cippolini?)

So do what makes you happy... which means spend a little bit more because you'll be much happier in the end.

Good luck!