While not normally my 1st choice I like splash tape on some bikes and it's great for hiding dirt, I would never flame anyone for using it and as you say it is period correct for many bikes. Mine is actually Hot Pink and Black LOL. Got it off Ebay really cheap last year for a flip bike. When it came and I saw it was pink, not red, I threw it in a box and bought different tape. This was another one of my "leftovers" builds so I was digging looking for some other tape I had and came across this. I figured riding on gravel it was going to get dirty quickly and this bike is no beauty queen, it's had a hard life, so I threw it on to use it up. Now that it's on there I'm kind of liking it. The Bushwacker frame bag had been purchased for one of my wife's bikes as part of a set but her frame was too small for it, the seat bag is a Jandd purchased 20 years ago for a bike long gone. For a hodge podge of parts it actually didn't turn out so bad and it is a lot of fun to ride, more often than not "mutts" are the best ones.