Your OP has, sort of, special meaning for me. I have been thinking of painting two of the three bicycles black (the paint/art is either gone or very rough). But I was unsure of doing so because I was unaware that the Bottecchia bicycle was sold in black, in those days. The catalogs lists color choices as flamboyant. Is black flamboyant? http://www.bikeforums.net/images/smilies/lol.gifAnyway...

Black is generally not flamboyant...except when it's on an Italian bicycle.