looks reasonable, but digital color fidelity is Not.
also “ sea-foam green” is a marketing name
I used to work in the auto industry and from time to time invented the names.
for powder coat, the various suppliers cluster pretty well around a RAL number.
use that for identifying what you want.

Bianchi is notorious for changing the color and still calling it Celeste. Add to that, old paint often fades. If not changing in hue, changing in value.

I have in the past bought a sister bike in the color I wanted just to have something to match to. Sell it off later.

Looking from a monitor and not my phone, that looks more like Pave Mint used on my Pake.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f1d64ac492.jpg
Pake C'mute touring build, pave-mint

With much trial and error, I found a nail polish that was acceptable for minor chips. I would deem this a celeste 'cousin'. It's unmistakably blue, but really difficult to pin down because of the proximity to green.

Are those Hudz in current production? And do they fit your planned levers? Then buy 3 sets and go with the middle one.

unless you are going for this look

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7e40fd3b0f.jpg
Coppi's Bikes

Just thinking about old-school pigments. A light bluish/greenish pigment made in large quantities at the turn of the 20th century was almost certainly derived from copper. Wikipedia explains the related minerals formed and the minor differences in chemistry that shed a bit of light on why Bianchi Celeste may be very difficult to match: Basic Copper Carbonate.

In a nutshell, aqueous copper sulfate produces a blue mineral (azurite) and a green mineral (malachite) when mixed with a sodium carbonate solution, which is the common method of producing the pigment.

Sure is reassuring to see that as cyclists - we don't overthink problems that have no incorrect solution. :D

being from Portland, maybe adopt Nike's 'marketing motto' for this decision.

I mean, there's the problem right there. WTH are you listening to people on fb?

Yeah -FacePlant as an information source will have you putting a bell on an Italian race bike, after which someone will offer a plush pink panther to add to the handlebars to contrast/complement the Celeste paint.

As a disconsolate option, paint it Black with Celeste decals, less surface area to fuss over color options!

^^^^ This

Anything else is a best copy of a Bianchi green. If Bianchi can send you a can and anyone questions your choice, well ... your answer is that this is the real stuff, not an imitation. (Ignore my previous post. I wasn't enlightened.)

I agree w. 79pmooney that its worth asking. Worst that can happen is they say no.

....or offer up a shade that's not vintage-ly AndyK.


sometimes (as for me anyhooo)
Ya just gotta:
bite the bullet,
fish or cut bait,
belly up to the bar or move on,
face the music,
march to a different drummer,
etc,

admit that red bikes are fastest....:ride:

Heck - after 60 posts.......
Let me be the first to say = Patina (to a point) RULES.
for several (indecisive?) reasons.

Show us the beef!

I'd say that given all of the examples of Celeste Bianchis over a many decade span, that show patina, exhibit fade/wear (unbeknownst to us), and were simply painted different colors of said Celeste--thus opening up a range of "correct" options--pick your favorite or one that most represents it to you and put your mind at ease.

I am well aware of entertaining names given to automotive colors. My favorite was around 2006-2007, working at an Acura dealership (lot attendant/porter) and wiping down an RL in the showroom. "Lakeshore Silver." I laughed because it was just baby/light blue metallic. But hey, it's a $55,000 car that you need to make people feel good about buying. It had a black interior and polished A-Spec wheels, and it looked great. Very comfortable cars. Lexus had/has similar humorous names. Maybe marketers are all in on the joke and what really presents as too-serious paint color names are just a bunch of people behind the scenes having a ball.

no excuse needed for posting a bike, ever IMHO

Does this help?

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...30c0824f98.jpg

DD

Perhaps helpful if he's making custom-match handlebar end plugs. ;)

Are you offering the color of the house or the color of the bike?

The one thing I have decided is that regardless of what color I choose, I'm going to call it "aqua seafoam shame." That alone has me leaning towards one of the sea foam options.

Nice try, but you are the one person on this forum who I am certain can absolutely identify with why I'm spending so much time overthinking this. The frame color is the basis for the rest of the aesthetic decisions I'll make about the bike. Maybe I should start with the decals, wheels, tires, cables, bar tape, and saddle color I'm most likely to choose and then figure out which shade will work best with those.

But really, the problem is that I'm still a week or two from being ready to pull the trigger on this process and that time is a void to be filled with exploring ideas about the color. If I had to decide today, I definitely could. In fact, I've decided several times already. I just haven't made the same decision every time.

I would argue that patina only holds value if it's patina on top of the original materials. In this case the bike has been painted over -- not just repainted, painted over! So, is the after-market paint a kind of patina over the original color? At some point a bike falls into a sort of uncanny valley where it looks like a beat up bike that someone tried to make look like a new bike.

Plus, look at this:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...488ccd10_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...47fcaf47_c.jpg

See, this is clearly a celeste bike that has too much build up on the original paint. :innocent:

Honestly, though, my main complaints are that I don't like the lack of contrast between the decals and the frame color and that the metallic teal thing hasn't settled as well in my mind as I thought it might, like once the novelty wore off it just started to feel kind of kitschy. I wanted a celeste Bianchi when I bought this, but the price was good, so I thought I'd try it out and repaint if it didn't grow on me. It didn't grow on me.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b6b2762a_c.jpg

:lol: I certainly am! Don't worry, I'll be hacking through paint colors Part II on the Medici if I end up liking it a lot (which I am optimistic of). I've already run Part I on the former Specialized Expedition and a little with the Medici already.

So maybe you'll have to sneak up on the paint color. Carefully gather the Celeste elements that you want, which are a lot cheaper than powder coating, and see where they all land. Look at your swatches and go. The frame color is the biggest variable here, of course, so reducing the other, planned, Celeste-colored variables will help. We all have to start somewhere and make progress somehow--baby steps and all of that. This sort of "reverse engineering" is what helps me. It's what I'm working through on the Medici. What components exist that I don't mind paying for, and how do those components fit with my aesthetic vision possibilities?

[MENTION=111144]Andy_K[/MENTION],
You're often one to suggest a near-matching nail polish for touch-ups.
So here’s an idea (taking ROS’ idea above to the extreme): Start with a nail polish for future touch-ups, then match the “Celeste” to that! You’ll be set for a long future with this bike.

OTOH, You could select saddle, tape or whatever you’re likely to use as a matching Celeste component, then match/complement that.

Arguing with myself on that last idea, matching saddle and tape to the decal blue seems like a better way to be sure that the frame color pops.

I have a frame that when purchased, the original owner had already tried to sand the paint off for a respray.
I do Not like the original color, I have to decide on one. The bike was one where every bike could be different.
There is a "resell" color, but I have too many that color too.
It has been years under study. I think I can make a choice this year.
I keep looking for a new car color that might work.

That's a possibility. I've only got a few options from the powder supplier, and I think I've got it narrowed down to two. At this point, I've convinced myself that I'd be happy with either. I could take those two to my local Rite Aid and see if either matches a nail polish they have in stock. Hmm...


Yeah, after studying [MENTION=168558]Drillium Dude[/MENTION] 's Bianchi, I think some variation of that is the way to go. I'm going to start with ordering the decals. Then I'll see if I can match cables or bar tape to the blue in the decals. It's starting to come together, I think.

Sounds like fun. I've found that I kind of prefer vintage frames that are in rough cosmetic condition just because it opens up the possibility of things like this.

When I ordered the swatches for my project, I also had them send me a few for other colors that I liked but didn't have an immediate use for. A few of them look so nice that I'm going to be keeping an eye out for a bike to use them on. The Illusion Orange has me wishing I hadn't sold my International. It would be a great upgrade with a strong connection to one of the stock color options. And the Illusion Blueberry is just hot. I can't think of a vintage bike that had a similar color, but I'm thinking maybe a Pinarello with the right chrome details....