Classic & Vintage - Hot or Clown Bike?

I've been making some headway on my Ron Kit/Speedwell project bike, and could use some opinions re aesthetics. Long story, short: I polished a set of Dura Ace cranks but the flutes have pitting which I would like cover with some paint fill. (Btw, I now know that aerosol oven cleaner removes anodizing much faster than oven cleaner from squirt bottles. :notamused: ) I originally planned to use just red highlights here & there, but then I had the idea of playing off the world champion color bands on the head badge by filling in the flutes on the crank spider arms. Now I'm second guessing myself, and need some help deciding if it's Hot or starting to look like a Clown Bike.

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab69/gaucho510/Ron%20Kit%20Titanium/IMG_5972.jpg

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab69/gaucho510/Ron%20Kit%20Titanium/IMG_5973.jpg

Another option is to fill the flutes with either all black or all red. For what it's worth, the seat post also has flutes I could fill, and I plan to use these wheels with red fill on the inside of the hub flanges.

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab69/gaucho510/Ron%20Kit%20Titanium/IMG_5662.jpg

You can't vote for both??

^Ha! I didn't consider that option, since it would only lead to further indecision. :)

I am generally up for bright colors and even can tend to gaudy.... but too much.... keep it black and red drop the green yellow blue is my detailed vote. (and this from a guy that used to used the "hot dog stand" color option in a way old version of windows)

A couple too many colors on that crank. Maybe just red. Or red and black.

ooo. Uhh. Yeah. Clown Bike. Sorry. It's just because of the crankset.

It's mostly the yellow that get a bit tricky to handle combined with other bright primary colors...I'll be dealing with the same question on my Medici build. So far my choice of color for my frame is red with yellow highlights on the lug and fork crown windows. A pretty standard finish for Medici race bikes....but then I remembered how some noticed that some Richard Sachs bikes with a similar color combinations tended to look a bit like Ronald McDonald's ride, especially if too much yellow is applied on other parts of the bike like the saddle and bar tape.......maybe I should just stay with what I'm comfortable with most.....Uhmmmm....Black and silver?? I can always make allowances towards a metallic black or really dark metallic charcoal grey to maybe jazz it up a bit??.....and just avoid the yellow all together.....

Chombi

Learn to juggle while you ride.....

At first glance I like the colors on the crank but I think sticking with one color overall may be better. On fourth or flfth glance maybe white on the flutes would sort of work off the white in the drillium holes.

I love the red trim on the hubs.

I don't mind the dots on the chainrings. Every spider on the crank arms is a different story... I'd just go black if you have to fill them. Also don't like the red on the hubs.

The frame is the star of the show and should be featured. Everything else should be clean and simple to highlight it. But it's your bike and you need to be happy with it, regardless of what anyone else thinks.

http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/abrakadabra/abrakadabra1003/abrakadabra100300023/6667948-clown-vector.jpg

I like the red trim on the hubs too. But that crank... yikes!

Somehow when I saw the thread title, I thought you were talking something like below. That seems like "bait and switch" to me!

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/may_g_little_bike.jpg

Learn to juggle while you ride.....

:lol:

Thanks for the input, guys. Clown Bike is clearly the consensus leader. I'll try again with just red and/or black on the flutes.


I don't mind the dots on the chainrings. Every spider on the crank arms is a different story... I'd just go black if you have to fill them. Also don't like the red on the hubs.

Keeping the small dots and changing the flutes may be worth a try. Personally, I like the red on the hub flanges (and it took longer than you might think). I think it's subtle enough, so that is probably staying.


The frame is the star of the show and should be featured.

Sage advice.

Lets see the finished product before you go repainting the flutes.. do the hubs in WCS colours and the flutes on the post. I for one am with holding judgement till I see the finished product, I think it could look good.