What to do, when a grail bike is the (gasp) wrong color.
 

I’ve wanted the tripod of local hand crafted bikes.

Coming from Portland, that means the team behind Strawberry Cycles. Andy Newberry, Jim Merz and Mark DiNucci.

Recently I found the last leg. A stunning DiNucci with full Dura-ace.

A lil background on me; I’m colorblind.

but I see Blue.

I hate blue.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1007a0941.jpeg

You’ll never be happy with it so it should be dropped at my place to complete my Portland trifecta. 😇

Ditch the wheels and tires, seat and tape and call it a day.

You must not change this fantastic paint no matter what, period.

If this is a repaint, its a pretty good one and would be foolish to squander it for any reason IMO. :twitchy:

Andy Newlands ;)

All you need to do is find a Strawberry from when Mark was there and trade this for it which could be easy to do as this one is a gem.

If this was closer to my size, we would be scrambling to figure something out.

Funny you should mention this. I have a theory about bicycles. The theory that I have, which is mine, is mine. This is the theory that I have, the theory, by albrt, brackets misbrackets. Ahem.

All bicycles should be blue.

I like blue. However, I'm not a fan of a bicycle being entirely that shade of blue. It might be drastically better with different wheels, a different saddle and bar tape... not to mention that pump (which I wouldn't be surprised to learn was acquired before the paint color was ordered to match). Is there a pump peg on the head tube?

Still too blue? Consider getting the lugs lined.

That's a lot of blue. I don't see buying a dream bike that you don't love. It's a passion purchase and should reflect your desire.

Call me out for blasphemy.

Saddle, gone. Tires / wheels, gone. Bar wrap, gone. Pink letters graphics, gone.

Retain original -blue- paint.

Custom paint pattern or accent contrasting colors, new decals from Mark, clear urethane.

The excessive blue is one thing (and I like blue), but the setup for a rider for whom this was obviously too small is just hideous. Needs splash bar tape.

The pink was a Mark thing, part of the DNA on this and like I said may not be original but looks to be pretty dang nice, messing with it would be remiss at the very least.

Tires and wheels, tape and seat are easily jettisoned for far more proper ones.

Absolutely ditch the wheels, tires, bar tape, and saddle. Try to live with the frame for a little while and see if you can make peace with it.

If you still can't live with it, repaint it or sell it.

The all-blue look, while well executed (as that seemed to be the goal), is a bit much. Those paired-spoke wheels have never looked good on any bike, let alone a vintage steel example. I am personally not a yellow or green guy, so I get it. That blue, to me, is a really pretty hue, but that's me. Dressing the bike in a black saddle and bar tape, anodized grey or polished rims, and tan wall tires, would 'level' this bike out considerably.

My forever bike, a grail in it's own right, is a 1982 Trek 720. It came in one color: taupe (metallic) with a dark brown (metallic) head tube and seat tube decal/panel. Those are far from my favorite colors. Fortunately, the way it rides and responds to all inputs is sublime, and the metallic flake in the subdued base coat is hilariously bonkers, and well, I've outfitted it to the nines and it is worth it every time I ride it. Maybe this would be that for you, or maybe the color will always grate on you and you'll have to pony up for a different color.

Full DA?

Robvolz, so you're saying you hate the color of a certain Colnago tandem of your acquaintance?

I do like blue, and I like that particular shade of blue, but the attempt at matchy-match is a little much for me. The bar tape is just enough different from the frame color to be, shall we say, distracting. Black saddle, black or white bar tape and some normal-looking wheels and tires, and it would be good to go in my book.

You're finding a lot of grails lately.
​​​​​​https://img.gifglobe.com/grabs/monty...-subtitled.jpg

Gorgeous frame! I love blue, so I may be a bit biased. As said already, a new set of wheels with polished aluminum rims (32H DA hubs) and some gum wall tires would really tone down the blueness of it all. The same goes for the bar tape and saddle. Nothing wrong with DA 7400 but that frame would look awesome with a DA 7700 group, 25th anniversary is even better!

Just noticed the Campy control levers, interesting. I assume that is 8-speed, how does it shift? I might try this combination...

Appear to be the Sachs branded Campy levers that had a different actuation ratio. Can't quite see which model rear der. is being used due to the glare, but the general shape also resembles a sachs.

The Sachs branded ergo style levers pull the same amount of cable as the actual Campy ergo levers. Using a Campy 8spd or Sachs 8spd RD (which is what this example has), the Sachs levers will work fine with both an 8spd Campy and 8spd Shimano cluster. Something like 4.8mm vs 5mm spacing, not noticeable to most people. I think.

Some history: https://lecycleur.com/parts/history-...s-new-success/

I would tone down the blue by swapping out the tires, saddle, and tape. But please leave the paint and decals be. Please.

Silver wheels/hubs, white tape and cable housing, saddle of your choice, non-matching pump would lighten the motif and let the tubing pop.

Life has its own way of evening up the score.

Yeah, way too much blue. Wheels and tires? And a red bottle cage? WTF? Clearly this was put together by someone without much of an artist's eye. After seeing this nightmare, I wish I was colorblind--to blue. And I love blue.

The blue frame, properly accessorized, would be gorgeous. @ascherer is on the right path...

Better look at those parts a little more closely.

Yeah, that would be me.

Top

Plenty to look at in this thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ikes-blue.html

Blue frame, silver wheelset, gumwall tires, white bar tape, white cables, and white saddle.

Don't like blue ? ? Does the term SOL ring a bell ?