Poll: What color to paint my ti bike's fork?

[doomridesout]

The trend of a really "lairy" fork seems to have peaked, but I still like the look of a raw titanium bike with a painted fork. I'm putting in an order for a Seven Evergreen in the next week or so, and want to paint the fork to add a little visual interest. The bike will be as minimal as possible in every other respect: titanium post and stem, no anodized blingy stuff (well, maybe the headset, but that'd be it). Groupset will be Ultegra 8020.

What color should I paint the fork? Current interesting options are some kind of mustard yellow, a metallic deep red, Porsche Rivera Blue, and grass green. The metallic red would almost certainly demand a gold headset, but everything else would be silver accents on the alloy bits.

[Peter P.]

The fork color has to tie in to other colors on the bike otherwise it'll look like you mixed plaids and stripes. Your mother would never send you to the bus stop looking like that.

So the fork needs to match uh, something like the cable housing, handlebar tape, bottle cages; it's got to coordinate otherwise it's Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack.

So what's the rest of the bike gonna be?

[Bruce K]

How about one of those metal flakes they used to put on Meyers Manx dune buggies?:eek:

But seriously, the red would be my choice of those listed but if it is an unpainted frame I would look at some of the old school deep “candy” colors. I love the way they “glow” in the sun

BK

[nalax]

Yellow for me, since I have a yellow Flite somewhere to balance it off.

[vav]

Camo.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a3/30/57/a3305745892d750fc19afb981dfad4bc.jpg

[jghall]

While not one of the 4 mentioned above, always thought white looked classy with TI.

[MattTuck]

Too bad the serotta paint tool is no longer available, you could have mocked up a bunch of colors. That thing was very useful.

I agree that you don't want it to be too loud, unless it can tie in with the rest of the bike.

I think the rapha/pink aesthetic is somewhat played out, but I think a nice dark color fork (grey, dark blue, maroon), with a few pink highlights would work.

Depending on the rest of it, I actually really like the combination of a dark maroon fork, with a few stripes of powder blue.

[joosttx]

Camo.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a3/30/57/a3305745892d750fc19afb981dfad4bc.jpg

Thats so done these days

[dustyrider]

Black. What’s old is new again...:)

[HenryA]

Will the frame have decals?

If so, pick up a color there.

[Ozz]

Fork color needs to tie in with colors on rest of bike....ti seatpost and stem are bare I assume?

What color is saddle? Bar tape? headset? cable housing?

You can't really go wrong with black...maybe a metallic with lots of metal flake? This leaves you open to changing bar tape and saddle colors down the road. However, white would look really good with white saddle and bar tape.

As mentioned earlier, if there are decals...you can pick up a color there. If not, painting the fork a color kind of locks you into a specific color scheme.

Check out my Legend in the Custom Bike Gallery....it has a ti seatpost, silver headset and silver stem (sort of like what you are going for). The fork is black and I added color with bar tape and tires: https://forums.thepaceline.net/showpost.php?p=383886&postcount=7

[tttsmm]

i recently painted my seatpost, stem & fork candy orange on my ti bike, so my vote will be to go really contrasting... YMMV though....

[Seramount]

have a white F1 fork on my Ti Paramount...

goes nicely with the white DT panel, tape, saddle, and pedals.

also gives me lots of opportunities to clean things.

[wc1934]

Will the frame have decals?

If so, pick up a color there.

^

[stackie]

Like this thread

I have ti bike in the works and am mulling over same thoughts. Not to hijack but I will spill my thoughts on what I’ve seen that looks good with Ti.

I like the moots that was posted here with blue plaid fork. I think it’s in the classifieds.

Personally, I think the medium blue ( think Chris king anodizing) looks amazing on ti. But I’m more partial to pink and purple myself, even knowing they don’t have quite the same je me sais quoi as the blue.

Hope this is useful. And I’ll follow for others thought as well.

Jon

[m_sasso]

Write in vote for black fork, splash of colour on the fork crown alla Look/Litespeed, any bright colour that matches the decals.

https://forums.thepaceline.net/picture.php?albumid=42&pictureid=353

[dbnm]

You should also paint the stem the same color as the fork.

[doomridesout]

Frame's gonna get decals removed, if I can't convince Seven not to put them on in the first place... their font is pretty 90s and I don't need to shout it out loud. Bar and stem will be bare ti (Moots Cinch Post and RSL stem) with decals removed. Saddle and tape will be black. I like polished silver headsets. I also like the matte slate CK color that just came out, but I don't plan to get the matching hubs (love the HS but hate their hubs), so maybe that's out. I'm also idly thinking the WI gold headset would look nice if the fork was a deep red.

I disagree that matching anything else on the bike is necessary- it's like wearing an interesting tie with a dark suit- yes, if you can get a perfectly matching pocket square that's good, but adding more color pops that don't match is too much. Anodized stuff, bar tape, and cable housing all have different surface finishes than a paintjob and won't be a perfect match, so I'll just hold off on that. I'm thinking WI gold CLD hubs might be nice if I go the gold headset route.

As far as the stem: I might paint to match, but I just got this RSL stem from a forumite for a sweet price and want to use it.

[cadence90]

.... ..
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[doomridesout]

More like a metallic oxblood, not cardinal. I don't mind a little shouty with a bright color on the fork- I'm not against loud as a contrast to the frame and wheels, but clashy sucks.

Also, yeah, I wouldn't do the matching pocket square with a tie even if a perfect match because it's pretty tryhard-- but faux pas or not, it's not even in the realm of acceptable to aim for matching, but fail and clash.

[teleguy57]

this one has me drooling:

https://forums.thepaceline.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1697958922&stc=1&d=1524232271

https://forums.thepaceline.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1697958922&stc=1&d=1524232271

as does Lionel's Spectrum:
(https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=150326)https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8708/16897691465_6b66c2daa0_h.jpg

As others have commented, tying in the fork color with something else (panels in these two cases) is what makes it work for me.

[vqdriver]

seems pretty sedate to me so you can't go wrong with a stock black fork. couple things that come to mind tho:

-paint it hi gloss piano black to add some flash to it without going over the top with color
-leave the outside of the fork black and paint only the inside with your color of choice. could even put the indy fab branding there as well and put a their crown logo somewhere discreetly on the outer fork legs, perhaps just over the dropouts

i would caution against simply picking your favorite color of each component. having too many different shades of grey/silver will only serve to break the aesthetic, not add to it. for instance, i'm not sure what else that matte slate ck headset would tie in to.

[SoCal Al]

Go old school and have it chromed.

[jrsbike]

Check out some of the outrageous colors Serotta used to do. I like their dayglo yellows and luminous oranges. You are riding to have fun and not joining an sedate old man's club.