I recently made a snap decision in shop and feel I have chosen the wrong colour of Brompton. I have ridden it a few times and still can't decide. Any advice on what my options might be? Given that its too late for an exchange. My thoughts...

- Sell on ebay and buy new taking a hit
- Swap with someone not sure how possible / advisable that is
- Paint job - i guess that will it hit the resale value?
- Is it possible to change the main frame?

It's a turquoise (I think they call it Turkish green) colour with white components. I worry it is a bit more suited to females (I've tried not to worry but I am a little paranoid).

Your advice is much appreciated.

Dan

That color/colour is known in road bike circles as "Bianchi Green". It has graced great Bianchi road bikes for at least a half century. It looks great!

Bromptons Flip for most of their New Price , if you Hold out long enough.

the Factory has Racks of the various component parts in the various colors .

It is possible to get frame sub assemblies, if you were in England and deal with one of their Big dealers Like SJS Cycles

but I Wont say it is something easily Done or Cheap, Planet Wide .

may be better to Just get over it and ride the Bike As it Is

Don't forget to post some photos of your bike We all like photos.

I think Bianchi's name for their green bikes is Celeste.

I do think the bare Bromptons are very beautiful. However, you have your bike. How much is a color change really worth? I'd just ride it as-is.

Sell fork and rear triangle, replace with titanium equivalent.
Are you happy with your other choices? Bar type(M,S, etc.), number
of gears(1, 2, etc.), fenders/ no fenders, rack/ no rack, etc.?

Where are you located?

Consider some reflective tape or having it professionally pin-striped to change the character a bit.

-HANK RYAN-
Norman, Oklahoma USA

I like that green only second to the clear laquer.
You could strip and repowdercoat it but that will probably cost $100-200.

My guess would be London England since his moniker is ldnguy1984.

OP, I agree with you, you are being paranoid. I suspect that who ever sees you riding that bike, is saying to themselves, that guy has a good sense of colour and style. Try it for a year before making any decision. You just might find the colour becomes a non-issue.

I feel your pain... I too bought a Turkish Green M6R (Titanium) for my wife - due to a distinct lack of choice and a very good limited-time offer - and ended up riding it more than her. However, IMO it was one of the worst colours and I do agree it looks kinda feminine. I would actually have preferred a Hot Pink over it.

Ultimately I switched the Ti parts over to another bike and sold it. Phew.

That said, it may be worth your while to put it up online at a small loss and start riding it normally. Give it about 6-12 months to accumulate the usual newbie Brompton-owner scratches while planning your perfect powder coating combination. You'll have a lot more choices to make your Brompton look unique and brand new.

I have the Turkish green (I think of it as Tiffany blue, as in those shopping bags). I wasn't sure about the color either, but it grew on me. I wouldn't have chosen the color, but I got the bike (barely) used from a friend for less than half retail, so I can't complain. I get that the wrong color can nag at you, but now

I have the Turkish green (I think of it as Tiffany blue, as in those shopping bags). I wasn't sure about the color either, but it grew on me. I wouldn't have chosen the color, but I got the bike (barely) used from a friend for less than half retail, so I can't complain. I get that the wrong color can nag at you, but I told myself that the function of the bike is more important than the look, and now I'm quite attached to that bike. I didn't find the color too feminine, and I'm secure in my masculinity.

More important than the color, this bike is a three speed, and I would have opted for a six speed. Three speeds are fine for my city riding, but limiting if I go further afield into hillier territory. I thought about upgrading the Brompton, which also would have given me the chance to pick a different color. In the end I opted for for a second bike, a 20 speed Tern, which gave me a wider gear range and a somewhat sportier ride. So maybe this is an opportunity for an n+1?

I like the color. I rode two bikes with a similar color. I'd recommend you take more time to try to appreciate the color you have.

Thanks,
Yan

As long as you don't put a white basket on the bike with a daisy and lay off the streamers, I don't see what the fuss is about. In time the bike will get dirty and you won't notice it.

Real Minis are cool and I always liked the mint ones.
It is a classic British color.

Ironically I was seriously thinking of buying this bike (2015 Remedy 7 $3k+) 2nd hand:




while I was itching to sell off this because I thought the colour sucked:


Maybe I'll never learn.

Nah,Bianchi's color is 'celeste'. It's more green,turkish blue is more blue,almost a robin's egg blue.

For the OP,if you want to make it manly,just rattle-can it flat black.

It's not my favorite but accessories can change the feel of a bike too. Look at what road bikes with contrasting tape colors can do to change the feel of a color.

I have a bigger problem with light colored extremities. I think the rear triangle looks dirty more readily than darker colors. When really clean they look great.

buying used I can't gripe , 1st one was in black , back in the early years the only other color was Red n Black .

My current 2nd one is BRG.

Just a little curious....In order to powder coat a Brompton would it not be necessary to take it completely apart, including the two hinges and the reat triangle pivot hinge? I wonder if you did it one piece, minus of course the brakes, crank arms, seat qr, bottom bracket and headset, would the powder coat process work properly and would baking the powder coat at 200+ be bad for those bushings in the hinges?

not only do you need to remove all parts including the pin hinges, but the parts you want powder coated need to be media blasted and completely free of any previous paint coating and, importantly, free of any oil or grease.

Dan, you are concerned about your masculinity only because of the particular color of your Brompton? I think you are vastly overestimating the man-cred you get for riding a Brompton, or any folding bike for that matter, or really riding a bike in general, or in fact using any other form of transportation but a Harley Davidson chopper with those above-your-head handlebars and straight pipes (also a gigantic pickup truck will suffice to prove you are all cojones).

However I do sympathize with your dilemma but I think for someone as insecure as you, only one bike will do the job of saying, "Hey world, I'm a MAN! And I'm full of man-stuff!"



Here we see one of Copenhagen's many vestal virgins charged with loading the precious cargo of 精液 (try and block that bikeforums censor!). You can bet she doesn't mistake the rider of this machine for some namby-pamby sissy-girl!

Wow thanks for the responses they have all mounted up since I last logged in so I haven't read them all.

I don't think the colour was the real issue if I am honest I had a real sense of guilt relating to the spend given I had a bike already that I use to get to work with everyday. I really should be saving for a deposit for a flat (no easy task in London) and £1,000 is quite a chunk. Therefore I am selling the bike (last day on ebay today).

The colour issue came up because one of my stupid friends made a drunken remark and I think it added to the spend guilt and I took that to heart and focused on the colour. I've seen some a comment or too making remark that its a masculinity issue for me but I am gay and tend not to believe in binary gender roles so I think it really is my spending guilt.

Anyway thanks for all your comments I'm going to go through them now!

Awww, don't sell it! I wanted Turkish green, but didn't want to wait and went with the ivory that was in the store. Look at your bike as your transportation and how much will you save on bus tickets. I've been on my bike pretty much every day, since I got it, it's so easy to take it everywhere. And your friend is just jealous, don't listen to him.

Your friend is a drunken idiot. I used to have a bright red Porsche Boxster with red seatbelts, and some fool said it was a "chick car". This kinda bugged me at the time, but man do I miss that thing now.

You obviously have other reasons for selling, but Turkish Green is a GREAT color.

Just sayin…. as a owner of a Turkish Green Brompton and proud of it. It never occurred to me that this would look too feminine. I guess I liked the fact that it sorta resembles the classic green Bianchi color.

Here in Ottawa, since Bromptons aren't too readily seen, I would probably get snickers when people see that I'm riding a clown bike, so the colour is the least of my worries.

I guess if anybody questions my man-cred, I can show them a picture of my matte black Trek road bike with carbon aero wheels.