[Closed] The ugly side of modern cycling

Yes, that's wrong. I have a frame with green bits yet I have an American Classic back wheel with red hub and a Hope front wheel. It is loathed; I love it.

I have, on all 3 of my bikes:

Fully matching Groupsets.
Black rims, spokes and nipples.
Matching hub colours (black or gold).
Matching tyres.
Grips match saddle colour.

Mismatching components/colours make me want to burn stuff.

tomhoward.

You are on the right lines. The Rules are there for a reason. Not those roadie rules, the real ones. The roadie ones are just wrong on so many levels.

Contact points must colour match.
Stem and seat post.
Forks and bars.
All anodised parts. One colour only.
Brake hoses and cable outers.
Cable ties must match frame colour.
Etc.

I recently replaced some perfectly good carbon steerer spacers with cosmetically different carbon steerer spacers. That in itself would be pretty tragic even if I hadn't weighed both sets side by side. And that weighing bit would have still been almost unforgivable even if I wasn't fitting them to a 32lb bike. But the fact that it was all for cosmetic reasons, on a bike that was ugly when it was new and is now ugly and ruined-looking, pretty much seals the deal.

But it does have nice spacers.

nipples should be silver. If they're any other colour it means they're not brass, and are wrong

I recently replaced some perfectly good carbon steerer spacers with cosmetically different carbon steerer spacers. That in itself would be pretty tragic even if I hadn't weighed both sets side by side. And that weighing bit would have still been almost unforgivable even if I wasn't fitting them to a 32lb bike. But the fact that it was all for cosmetic reasons, on a bike that was ugly when it was new and is now ugly and ruined-looking, pretty much seals the deal.

But it does have nice spacers.

Dear oh dear 🙂 hee hee
I have a standard Mongoose Crossway, 6 years old and its dirty. I like it that way so I save the water I would have used for cleaning!

 

I always find my self fitting at least one purple part to my bike

Just Finnished some new wheels for my enduro with purple nipples
But I do always tend to have wheels in matched pairs
Apart from my commuter bike the other are all proper pairs

Purple?
Noooooooooo.
Leave the nineties alone.

I got told off for my colour coordinated black and red Soul build. Still love it though! Red ano stem, bashguard, stinger jockey wheel, hubs, skewers, seatclamp,bottom bracket, grip locks, saddle logo and gear outers. Oh, and cable ends.

I have different brake levers, mismatched hubs, green bars, red grips, orange bike, gold jockey wheels (oh and up to recently a cheapo pink rear sram cassette)
rat bike looks rule, colour co-ordinated bikes look a bit wrong or you are trying too hard IMO

I'm in the middle of a build where the frame is green. So far, the saddle has green flashes and the grips are brown, which I think subtly compliments the frame without ruining it. Black for everything else though.

" nods to tomhoward "

He knows stuff.

And there was me worrying about having crabon bars with an Alu seatpost.

That in itself would be pretty tragic even if I hadn't weighed both sets side by side. And that weighing bit would have still been almost unforgivable even if I wasn't fitting them to a 32lb bik

That made me chuckle!!

Someone better prepare a wicker man - mine are parts bin specials, I'll be amazed if anything matches

Expensive woman tend to be colour coordinated so why not your expensive bike?

nipples should be silver. If they're any other colour it means they're not brass, and are wrong

Unless you use black brass ones, obviously.

^^ this too ^^

Though she does get ridden hard.

When I'm out riding a bike I'm too busy enjoying myself to care what bits do or don't match,which is just as well as most of them don't....

Expensive women tend to be colour coordinated? Black or silver nipples? 🙄

Everything must be black, white or grey.

Though she does get ridden hard.

As a good bike should.......

I wouldn't worry about it your little bike Fetish as long as it doesn't get out of hand. You know things have gone too far when you start matching your clothing to your bikes colour scheme.

Personally I haven't been riding for months as I've simply nothing to wear!!!!!!!!

I have the urge to put white Continentals on my fixed.

I'm a bit of a sucker for this. Things now even match from one bike to another. Saddles, stems, groups. Until recently I had matching cross and mountain bikes. Now my cross and road bikes are so similar looking my wife can't tell which is which. Mind you, she is studiously disinterested.

jmason - Member
And there was me worrying about having crabon bars with an Alu seatpost.

I've got a white saddle on a black and celeste (bianchi) road bike with black bar tape.

I am a pariah

nipples should be silver. If they're any other colour it means they're not brass, and are wrong

I am a pariah

[i]The ugly side of modern cycling[/i]

I was expecting more of this sort of thing;

[img] [/img]

WTF is that????

This, although it's not very secret[img] [/img]

Also, I own FOUR singlespeeds.

Matching tyres.

You realise they do quite different things right? This is only acceptable if one of the tyres is reversed.

Admission: I have mis-matched rims and it pains me.

Pink grips....

Be they lock ons on my full suss and 69er frankenbike SS

Or bar tape on my oh so trying to hard to be a hipster fixie and roadbike, also means I akwas know which bike us mine when in a crowd

stevied - Member
Expensive women tend to be colour coordinated? Black or silver nipples?

Expensive matching French lace bra and knickers was what I had in mind. 😕

Wow, I couldn't even tell you what matches without going to check..

must try harder, fair play to all those with the dedication, can I have your old non matching (screws up face) bits please...

I am unable to upgrade my cranks to XTR, because the XT ones come in a colour/finish that better matches my bike.............. 😉

I like things to match, I've been running mismatched wheels for a while on the MTB and it bothers me. I've rebuilt the front one, but the decals are now different on the rim, so they're still mismatched.

Because I use a PowerTap I nearly always have mismatched wheels on the road bike, and that bothers me too!

I like tyres to be from the same brand, but can live with different models. I know of one elite racer of this parish who struggles with that and has to use matching pairs!

I put white striped Ultremos on my road bike. Then matched them with a white and black striped Arione saddle. Bought some green Ultremos very cheap and am contemplating what colour scheme this won't match.

I try to blend bike, its sub-schemes, through to my cycling clothing. God forbid anyone who might mix, say, assos with gore for example.

It's all about looking good, forget performance! Have you been living in a cave?

😛

Depends whether you are a cyclist or a person who likes bikes...

I have a SRAM front shifter and a Shimano rear shifter on one of my bikes.

Cave dwellers are people too!

I think my gf drew the line at matching the bike to the kitchen...

[IMG] [/IMG]

As someone pointed out in the for sale thread 😉

Nope has to clash, badly.

Mismatch of groupset; XT/XTR, Hope front brake, shimano rear, saw rotor on the rear but not on the front, orange bars, green grips, red frame, 4 different colours of hose/cable. Rear wheel; purple rear hub, silver spokes, white rim. Front; silver rim, black spokes and hub. Oh and the saddle is green and black.

Ming if we met on the trail that would break me out in a cold sweat. I can only just reconcile having a black GD post when I have black Easton Haven bar and stem. Just call me Rain Man.

Purple?Noooooooooo. Leave those 2 weeks in June 1994 alone

FTFY 😉

All my bikes are black. I've played around with other colours but they always end up getting sold. At one point all my road bikes were matt black and all my MTB's were white...which pleased me greatly but left me in a conundrum with the cross bike. So it got sold.

The concept of mismatched tyres is a good one. For example I'll run different models of maxxis front and back if the conditions/riding demand it. But I could NEVER mismatch different brands...why would someone do such a thing?

If you're going to do it properly, the group set has to be the same model too, not just the model range but the model year. Bottle cages obviously have to match (on the roadie) and the concept of QR rear and 20/15mm bolt through on the front unnerves me slightly. Either bolt through both ends or QR all the way....

I'm quite pleased with the effect of my ragley ti- it's a scrubbed/unpolished frame so basically scratchy and grey, so matches very well with all my smashed up scratchy faded black kit.

The GF has just bought white crud catchers, rear light and hat. The bike rims are white, as are the brakes and bits of the saddle. The rest is black with a few bits of green and yes, you've guessed it, white!.

I'm not letting her juxtapose it to the kitchen units, or the coordinated green bars stools mind! 😉

Warning - may scar you for life

Matt grey frame with red on it, therefore I have ano Red QR's and a red brake hose but for the front only. Non of the headset spacers match carbon fibre/branded/unbranded. It also has Avid elixir brakes and shimano SLX hubs (different years 2011 and 2013) F+R [u]out of choice[/u]. I wan't some yellow pedals for it too.

She's my dirty whore and I love her.

And I ride my grey/red bike in a white and green jersey 😈

edit: I was thinking of throwing in a few purple spacers in for good measure too

My most ridden bike is in someway very well matched, but in others very badly.

The saddle & grips are both SDG in cyan to match the graphics on the frame.

But the wheels while both being Crests on Pro II Evos are different age rims and silver spokes front & rear spokes black due to wheel destruction and hasty rebuilding.

Group set bar brakes is XT, brakes are Deore so at least all shimano.

Bars are Sunline, stem is Thomson and post is either Thomson or a Reverb; all black though with minor white/silver writing

Nothing really matches on my bikes. I suppose the closest i have is the same grips and pedals (ODI Ruffian/SS Nano) on three quarters of my bikes and all but one of my rims are black. As long as everything kinda works, i'm happy.

I did give a little thought when I bought a qr seat clamp recently. The frame is metallic red with dark brown forks, so naturally I went for an ano sky blue clamp 😀

Well, my grips all match... Well, when I say match, left and right match on each bike match...
Now I come to think of it, out of 3 bikes and 6 wheels only two wheels have the same colour spokes all sound. Two of the bikes do have matching wheels front and back otherwise though...
When ordering a new car and stem recently I must admit, it made me smile when the cheapest combination was glossy bars and matt stem, thought that would be suitably and subtly missmatching to complement the XT/XTR front Tektro rear brake combo.
🙂