Originally Posted by
taco2ewsday
bike messengers in NYC were known for making their bikes look as plain as possible to minimize theft. frames sanded down to bare metal tape or innertubes wrapped around the downtube. Never made sense for regular riders as the groupset is the giveaway, messengers tended to be fixie or singlespeed when I lived there.
This is the very reason my Rohloff hub is not red but black instead. I prefer the red version, but I figure that I don't want to attract too much attention to the hub.