the rainbow colors on a frame

[vqdriver]

i don't follow professional racing a whole lot, but my understanding is that the winner of the world championship gets the rainbow jersey. so does that mean when a frame has the rainbow colors, that framebuilder has had one of their bikes ridden to a victory?

[cuda2k]

so does that mean when a frame has the rainbow colors, that framebuilder has had one of their bikes ridden to a victory?

That was my general understanding, though who knows how much marketing has blurred the rules. Hopefully someone with more knowledge of the subject can confirm for sure.

[christian]

That would be the gentlemanly rule, but I don't think it's closely followed any more.

[chismog]

You can earn WC stripes in many categories and levels of the sport (not just professional road)- juniors/masters/various track events/etc. I think many builders qualify this way and can then display the stripes on their frames and logo. There are probably examples where the "rule" is not followed although I can't think of any specifically.

[christian]

Yes. Just what brand of bike do Katrin Schultheis and Sandra Sprinkmeier ride, anyway?

[fiamme red]

Schwinn Paramounts (at least in the 1960's and 1970's) used to come standard with an "Olympic rings" seat tube decal.

[wallymann]

You can earn WC stripes in many categories and levels of the sport (not just professional road)- juniors/masters/various track events/etc. I think many builders qualify this way and can then display the stripes on their frames and logo. There are probably examples where the "rule" is not followed although I can't think of any specifically.

that is the rule-of-thumb.

also, many bikes have been ridden to world titles wearing the one brand/builder's colors, but having actually been built by another.

hampsten's giro-winning bike is a prime example: the team was nominally sponsored to ride huffy-branded frames built by serotta, but hamsten's bike was actually built by slawta/landshark.

Though it wore the red, green and white livery and labels of official team sponsors Huffy, Hampsten's bike was actually a custom made rig crafted to his specifications by famed US builder John Slawta of Land Shark after a team-issued frame broke beneath him earlier that spring at Fleche-Wallone. That failure was eventually sourced back to an errant shipment by the builder's tubing supplier but still, Hampsten says his confidence was shaken and he wanted to go with something tried and true.

"I felt bad about not using a Serotta [the company that actually built the team 'Huffys'] and sticking with the team suppliers," Hampsten told us. "It wasn't Serotta's fault. But I was in a period of my life when I didn't like crashing due to mystery bike failures, so I went with the sure ride I knew Land Shark would build for me."

"John gave me a deal on it and the 7-Eleven team were nice enough to let me buy a frame for myself," Hampsten continued. "He made bikes earlier for my Levi's Raleigh team and I knew he would do a great job."

http://cdn.mos.bikeradar.com/images/news/2010/05/17/1274093653191-5w7zar59xqz6-280-75.jpg

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/historic-pro-bike-andy-hampstens-1988-7-eleven-huffy-giro-ditalia-26181/

also i believe serottas, for example, have been ridden to world titles in a similar manner: never officially, but under someone else's paint.

[a4racer]

I had a Raleigh SSXCWC frame (the "never get stolen brown" edition) and it had a very nice painted rainbow scheme from the EC90 front fork, onto the downtube, then seattube, then seatstays. I'll try to find pictures, it was HAWT...

[christian]

"But I was in a period of my life when I didn't like crashing due to mystery bike failures"Apparently, I have something in common with Andy Hampsten. I'm currently in that period of my life!

[chismog]

Yes. Just what brand of bike do Katrin Schultheis and Sandra Sprinkmeier ride, anyway?

:p Huh, I would have guessed Walther earned rainbow stripes in a TT discipline. :p

edit: confused their frame with Walser, the TT maker. Oops. My next trick bike is definitely gonna be a WC Walther.

http://www.radballer.info/Ergebnisse/Weltmeisterschaft/schultheis_sprinkmeier.jpg

[ultraman6970]

The only reason I doubt a bike could be painted "full rainbow colors" is because could be confused with the colors of the LGBT flag.

[oldpotatoe]

i don't follow professional racing a whole lot, but my understanding is that the winner of the world championship gets the rainbow jersey. so does that mean when a frame has the rainbow colors, that framebuilder has had one of their bikes ridden to a victory?


Richard at Waterford.

"We earned ours from 1995 Masters World Champion Richard Widmark on the track in England."

Supposed to be 'earned'.

[beeatnik]

Two of my road bikes wear the WC Stripes, my first and latest, a KHS Classic and an SL3, respectively. I wonder which frame is more deserving :p