Best Way to Design a Custom Color Scheme?

[the_gormandizer]

I am about to embark on a custom Ti bike purchase. I would like to have the bike painted except for the rear triangle. I have some ideas for colors and themes, and would like to draw them to help make a decision. I know about the Serotta paint program, but find their themes a bit limiting. I have also tried the BikeCAD applet at BikeForest, but found that both buggy and limited. How do other people design their custom paint jobs?

[avalonracing]

Here's a thought. Leave the top tube unpainted and paint the rest (except the chainstays). It seems that 90% of the nice, painted bikes I see have a chip or scratch in the top tube.

[Ozz]

sketch out a bike frame on some paper, make a dozen photocopies and pull out the crayola 64 pack..... ;)

:beer:

[Ken Robb]

You might use right here on this site as a start and then see what you can do with pens after printing it. OTOH, I think polished ti is so pretty and practical that I wouldn't want TOO much paint on a ti frame.

[false_Aest]

Just have em send it to Joe Bell and ask him to go at it any way he wants.

[spacemen3]

I always like to look at aircraft paint schemes for inspiration.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhansari/3543907903/

[rugbysecondrow]

Just print out a few photos of naked Ti frames and color on the print out. I have done that with my house, printed off a photo and drawn a deck, porch, windows etc.

Otherwise, ask a friend who's advice you trust and go with it.

I am horrible with colors, so I always ask my wife.

[EddieBirdsell]

Every Kirk, Bedford, Zank, etc. that I see painted in a baby or powder blue, offset with a much bolder color, sometimes burnt orange, sometimes red, sometimes a deep blue, makes me want to pick up the phone and put down a deposit on a new custom frame.

Just one guy's opinion.

[Lionel]

decide on the paint scheme first. Then on the actual colors and accents.

[Charles M]

sketch out a bike frame on some paper, make a dozen photocopies and pull out the crayola 64 pack..... ;)

:beer:


That is EXACTLY what I would do (except make 30 copies and get out a pencil to line it first)...

[jamesau]

This link has a cool color wheel calculator applet that can help you choose compatible color combinations.
http://www.sessions.edu/career_center/design_tools/color_calculator/#

http://www.spectrumpowderworks.com/ has a large gallery to help stir some ideas.

I'd also engage whatever painter you'd be considering early in the process as they may provide helpful/constructive/artful ideas.

If you have specific ideas for paint, be very specific (in writing/sketches) with your requests.

My Ti custom was powdered by Spectrum Powder Works; I'm very happy with it but also note that the color palette available in powder is much more limited than what's available in wet.

Welcome to the forum, good luck with the project, and enjoy the process

[johnmdesigner]

Be sure to post your design concepts here so that we may comment on them.
(I have my basket of tomatoes ready). :bike:

[Michael Maddox]

Just have em send it to Joe Bell and ask him to go at it any way he wants.

Ha! You're poking at me, now! :)

[Peter P.]

Browse a lot of framebuilder web sites and sites such as the Serotta Galleries, roadbikereview.com, Lynskey Performance, and others. I think John Slawta at Landshark has got a real good artistic mind with the creative finishes he offers combining colors and schemes.

Then get off the beaten track. Start looking at cars-hot rod magazines, custom cars, racing, etc. Include motorcycles and choppers. Look at clothing-maybe something from L.L. Bean or Northface catches your fancy. Definitely look at non-bike items for color pairings.

A simple example to illustrate my idea that quickly comes to mind is the Apple U2 iPod:

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/be/10/1c7d9330dca0ee7c51101010.L.jpg

I see black as the predominant color and red as secondary. By keeping the red from being 50% of the total area, it becomes an "accent" or complement to the black. The more red compared to the black, the more the two colors compete for your attention and you find yourself not impressed. If your eyes are paying real attention, you'll notice just a touch of white if you include the arrows on the control wheel.

Now let's take those colors in their predominance of usage and transfer them to a bike frame. Let's say, you choose your titanium frame to be black with just a red seat tube panel that has thin white bands separating the red from the black, and the black from the bare titanium rear end.

You might match the color pairings of one item with the fade/panels/stripes of another item to complete your vision. Or you provide the general guidelines to the painter such as the colors listed above in the order of predominance I mentioned above, and let the painter dream up the scheme.

Get the idea?

[Volant]

Just plunk-down a grand for Adobe CS4, render your frame in Illustrator, or import an image into Photoshop, mask areas and play with all the colors you want. Works for me. :rolleyes:

[Acotts]

I just finished the the Slash Autobiography.

He says that heroine really helps the creative process. I think that pretty much every great musician of the 70's would concur as well.

If that is not an option. Try mixing opium and dramamine and absynthe. Pretty old school.

If you want something more natural (and more old school), find a waterfall, take some mushrooms or payote and play the bongos for 4 hours.

However, you want to chase the dragon is totally up to you. But they all have one common theme, its...

Relax dude.

No bike will be perfect. (although that Pacenti in the classifieds is pretty damn close.) Even if you do nail it, there will always the "The Next One" that will be better.

[the_gormandizer]

I just finished the the Slash Autobiography.
Relax dude.

No bike will be perfect. (although that Pacenti in the classifieds is pretty damn close.) Even if you do nail it, there will always the "The Next One" that will be better.

But, this has to be perfect because it is the last bike I will ever buy. :D

[Acotts]

^^ Well then, i guess you are going to have to embark on a drug fueled vision quest.

[johnnymossville]

adobe illustrator and photoshop.

[Elefantino]

But, this has to be perfect because it is the last bike I will ever buy. :D
In that case, leave it bare ti.

Never have to repaint it, then. :rolleyes:

[the_gormandizer]

Be sure to post your design concepts here so that we may comment on them.
(I have my basket of tomatoes ready). :bike:
After looking at much bike porn at the sites recommended herein, and others, here is my first design concept. I created it from the Serotta paint program, then modified it using the GIMP, which is freeware. My air-brushing is still a little shaky, so please don't egg me for my workmanship.

I like orange. (I also like yellow, but I just could not find a way of making it work as an accent -- have you tried to buy a yellow saddle lately?) So I opted for a creamsicle fade. I prefer the contrast between white and Ti to orange and Ti.

I also wanted to leave some bare titanium, especially on the BB and chain stays. But somehow, the typical approach of leaving the rear triangle unpainted just looked a bit unfinished. I found a couple of examples where people left the "joints" unpainted and painted the tubes, creating a "pseudo-lugged" look.

I haven't decided on the exact shape of the panels, whether to make them straight or shape them like lugs. Also not decided on how the name should look. I suspect TK will have some input.

O.K. toss those tomatoes....

[bagochips3]

I like it.

Here's another thing I would do: make the underside of the down tube bare. I think I saw an IF painted this way once. The drive side chain stay, underside of bb, and underside of down tube are all places I would do in bare Ti to avoid chips.

[thugly]

just make sure the carpet matches the drapes

[Karin Kirk]

I like the creamsicle colors!
I'd vote no for shaping the edge of the panels to mimic lug lines. I don't think you really want to come that close to imitating something that's not really there.

Another thing I do is look at paint chips. It's a fun way to put colors up next to each other and play with combinations. Once you find the chips you like you can send them to the painter, which is a very direct way of communicating exactly what shade you have in mind.

Also, this is just purely my personal pref, but I'm not too keen on the fade inside the panels. I'd go with taped, crisp transitions. But that's just me.

Selecting and dreaming about paint is one of the funnest parts of getting a custom bike - enjoy! :)

[1centaur]

I like the creamsicle fade because it's different yet cohesive. However, I don't like the unpainted Ti vs. the creamsicle. I think you need to be clear in your mind whether you love gray/silver as part of a paint scheme or if you want to show Ti to prove it's Ti to yourself or others. Throwing gray into a mix when it does not belong there taints the whole.

If you must show some Ti for whatever reason, I would consider part of the tube circumference rather than just assume it has to be Ti all the way around. Bottom of the DT and TT, front of the ST, bottom of the CS and/or top of the SS could all work, as might a 2mm line along one or more of the tubes. More money, but think outside the box.

Meanwhile, use your paint program to go creamiscle fade to white, with the white everywhere the Ti now shows, and ask yourself whether that looks better than what you have now. That's the first step to understanding why Ti should show at all.

[johnmdesigner]

Here is my worthless opinion. :eek: :eek:

I don't think the two colors are going to make a really nice fade. Not enough contrast.

I agree with Karen - square off the ends of the paint areas.

I think you are worrying WAAY too much about scratching the paint. I have an all ti with 3 colors and have ridden the hell out of it and it still looks great.

I'm not certain, but stopping the paint like that will require you either to tape the paint edge (to stop chipping) or to clearcoat the entire frame.

I think you should paint the entire thing orange (with bare chainstays) and cream panels with the logos.

Here is my Concours (4 years old) with "faux" lugs. Notice the paint is taped where it ends and the bare ti begins. The exposed carbon on the seat stays is clear coated (thus no tape).

Cheers,
John

[malcolm]

Tom kellog doesn't tape the edges of the paint at least he hasn't on the ones I've seen including mine, he clear coats the ti.. Tom is one of the best painters I've seen on a par with Joe Bell.

[johnmdesigner]

Real lugs with paint in between.
But I still believe you would have to clearcoat the entire frame.

[WadePatton]

i see "scheme" as separate from "color". pick out _what_ you want to do then fuss 'bout the colors.

get a good idea of the colors you want--before looking at chips. there are 1400 variations of every hue. or more, it can be overwhelming.

i used some influences from bikecad, a fruit label, and king anodization to achieve scheme and color on my recent steel project. which was white main, blue panels, orange highlights. pics to come.

i'm for _some_ paint on ti, but not full coverage. that'd just be wrong.

[johnmdesigner]

Lately I'm channeling my toothbrush.

[the_gormandizer]

I'll try out the suggestions, all useful.

I found the Co-Motion site useful for comparing the effect of fades:
http://www.co-motion.com/colors/color_gallery.html

The attached DeSalvo was my inspiration for the bare (or clear-coated) Ti.

[ben_san]

I always felt Jack Taylor cycles always had striking paintschemes that seem unconventional but work well. I read somewhere in an interview that the Taylor brothers would often use candy bar wrappers as inspiration. I guess just about every great colour combination is already out there somewhere.

[tylercheung]

I probably have a different opinion that most people here, but I feel like every bike I see has a horrible paint scheme, in that they are too "busy" - there is only so much space/surface area on a bike and putting all those complex designs - fades, lug accents, swoops, zigzags and whatnot always affected visual strength, line and presence negatively.

Hence, I like good solid color bikes, and my opinion as to the prettiest bikes out there has to be what Natalie makes with her Sweetpeas.

[the_gormandizer]

So here's my latest attempt at the creamsicle theme. It was inspired by both the goldfish-sherbet Seven and the Kestrel RT-700. I imagine the darker color to be metallic apricot gold and the lighter color to be a metallic orange sherbet. I'm not exactly sure the lines I have proposed are "right", but I can't put my finger on what's wrong with them either.

Also, someone correctly stated that Tom Kellog clear coats "bare" titanium. I'd always thought I'd like to leave the BB and chainstay unpainted because of chain drop. Obviously, a clear coat over titanium would still get damaged, but am I right in thinking that the damage would be less obvious than on a painted surface?

[Karin Kirk]

Well done! I like it a lot, and I prefer it over either of the bikes you used for inspiration.

[BumbleBeeDave]

So here's my latest attempt at the creamsicle theme. It was inspired by both the goldfish-sherbet Seven and the Kestrel RT-700. I imagine the darker color to be metallic apricot gold and the lighter color to be a metallic orange sherbet. I'm not exactly sure the lines I have proposed are "right", but I can't put my finger on what's wrong with them either.

Also, someone correctly stated that Tom Kellog clear coats "bare" titanium. I'd always thought I'd like to leave the BB and chainstay unpainted because of chain drop. Obviously, a clear coat over titanium would still get damaged, but am I right in thinking that the damage would be less obvious than on a painted surface?

I saw CSB's new Spectrum at Smiley's several years ago and the whole thing was clearcoated bare Ti and all. It was spiffy--had many coats on it and you could not feel the seam where tghe paint ended and the bare Ti began.

BBD

[Lionel]

I like it too. BTW it is not going to be cheap! I would leave the Ti brushed. Less maintenance.

[weisan]

I know this is an old thread but I find it therapeutic as I agonize over my paint color decision over the last few days....I have to come to a final decision this weekend. For now, these two colors win the day...

https://forums.thepaceline.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1698000629&stc=1&d=1590633257

[godfrey1112000]

Be sure to post your design concepts here so that we may comment on them.
(I have my basket of tomatoes ready). :bike:

Before he even started 🍅🍅🍅🍅

[ltwtsculler91]

I know this is an old thread but I find it therapeutic as I agonize over my paint color decision over the last few days....I have to come to a final decision this weekend. For now, these two colors win the day...

https://forums.thepaceline.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1698000629&stc=1&d=1590633257

Can't wait to see the outcome. I agonized over the scheme on my Bedford knowing it would be red/yellow, but these are two gorgeous colors.