Originally Posted by Mariner Fan
I thought of the very same thing!
The bike originally had red bar tape and red cables. When I was gathering parts I had a hard time finding red cables so I opted for black. I wasn't sure if the bike would look good with red bar tape so I put the black on instead. Now I'm not sure if I like the Narrow Brooks saddle yet and may change over to a standard width. If I do, I may go with a honey colored saddle and put the red bar tape on it just to add a little color.
I've really bad luck trying to be bold when the bike didn't really support it.
For example, I'm a sucker for yellow bars and tape due to a love affair I had with a bike that had yellow Benotto tape on it for many many years. I've got one bike on which it currently works but that's because it has some yellow in the decals.
http://home.comcast.net/~pinnah/Dirt...s/trek-311.JPG
I tried yellow on 2 other bikes, neither of which had yellow on the frame to begin with and yech.
I mention this because I think your black Brooks looks just perfect. Some bikes look stunning with brown but to my eyes they fall into 1 of 2 camp. Either they have that tan bars thing going (later green 520s did this or lots of Rivs) or the frame is so bold to begin with that the Brown saddle doesn't distract like this one.
http://www.cyclofiend.com/cc/2005/cc...orsky0805.html
I guess I just like black better myself.
I also think the Trek cast lugs on your bike are really cool looking. Sort of industrial feeling to me. That combined with the sportier geometry of you bike, I would tend to stay closer to a no-nonse "fast bike" feel and I associate that with the black saddle.
I like some constrast so I would keep the black and red thing going. Red bars with black saddle and cables. Red bottles in the black cages. Custom painted red frame pump? Or black. Red striped tires like the Michelin Carbons?