To help visualize shades we’re considering we order sections of frame tubes painted in various colors by our paint shop. We also get prototype frames in several likely colors. We view them in bright sunlight, in shade, in late afternoon. It’s amazing how colors can change in different light.
What color should I paint my bike?
I posted a while ago about stripping the paint off an aluminum mtb I have, but that project is on hold now. Right now I am working on a steel road bike frame that I am using in a budget/free bike for campus next year. The paint is in pretty bad condition, so I want to repaint it. Just to give you an idea of what it looks like now, it’s a black schwinn with white lettering. All the bikes I have are either black or silver, so I’d like to have an actual color.
I’m going to use spraypaint, and I think if I do it carefully enough it will turn out well, even though spraypaint is generally horrible. The colors that I have been tossing around in my head are a dark red, a dark blue, maybe a copper/orange color, or a green or some sort. If people with solid color bikes that they think look nice could post pictures, that would really help me see what colors look good on bikes, since the caps of spraypaint bottles are sort of ambiguous.
Also, since this bike is going to be a campus bike, I want to make some fenders for it. My plan is to make some wooden fenders like the ones they sell at rivercitybicycles.com. If I can get to that project I’ll keep everyone updated on how easy or hard it is, and how well it turns out. Thanks!
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77 posts · Joined 2002
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Red will make it
Remember, where ever you go, there you are.
550 posts · Joined 2002
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it’s the fastest color for a moving object because it’s reflectivity with natural sunlight is less than any other color. Hence, a blue bike will offer less light wave resistence as you pedal in daylight.
Of course, if you race at night exclusively, then that would be a different matter altogether.
Of course it should be blue .
5207 posts · Joined 2002
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Light lime green
Carleton said:
I posted a while ago about stripping the paint off an aluminum mtb I have, but that project is on hold now. Right now I am working on a steel road bike frame that I am using in a budget/free bike for campus next year. The paint is in pretty bad condition, so I want to repaint it. Just to give you an idea of what it looks like now, it’s a black schwinn with white lettering. All the bikes I have are either black or silver, so I’d like to have an actual color.
I’m going to use spraypaint, and I think if I do it carefully enough it will turn out well, even though spraypaint is generally horrible. The colors that I have been tossing around in my head are a dark red, a dark blue, maybe a copper/orange color, or a green or some sort. If people with solid color bikes that they think look nice could post pictures, that would really help me see what colors look good on bikes, since the caps of spraypaint bottles are sort of ambiguous.
Also, since this bike is going to be a campus bike, I want to make some fenders for it. My plan is to make some wooden fenders like the ones they sell at rivercitybicycles.com. If I can get to that project I’ll keep everyone updated on how easy or hard it is, and how well it turns out. Thanks!
Here is why I suggest that color. Do a google search for a 1972 Schwinn Paramount and get an idea of the color. After all, it is a Schwinn, this was an actual Schwinn color. I know, not much of a reason but a cool color. Second choice is Molteni orange.
You might be surprised at how well some of the spray paints work these days. How well it sticks to your frame is another story, that all depends on the prep work. Take your time, light coats and do it right you’l be fairly happy with the results.
What is The Best Bicycle Color? (Top 7 Colors)
If you are looking to purchase a new bicycle, there is a high chance you cannot decide which color is the best one for you.
Does the bike color even matter?
Trust me, it’s far more important than you might think.
Your bike’s color has a very important role, from safety all the way to the bike’s resale value. At first glance, it might seem extremely unimportant but every single color has its pros and cons.
After reading this article you will know exactly which bike color is right for you.
Before we started, I did a quick pull to see what other cyclists think is the best bicycle color.
Here are the results:
| Bicycle Color | Percentage |
| Black | 29% |
| Blue | 24% |
| Red | 19% |
| Yellow | 12% |
| Grey | 7% |
| White | 5% |
| Green | 4% |
Best Bike Color Poll
As you can see in the poll. Black is the most popular color among cyclists, closely followed by blue and red.
Table of Contents
Why is Bike Color So Important?
Now, let’s see why you should even care when choosing your bike color.
Safety
Being visible on your bicycle can save your life.
Many bicycle accidents are due to the fact that the driver does not see a bicycle.
You need to avoid that at all costs.
There are many ways in which you can increase your visibility. Here are the top 3 ones.
Good lightning, visible bike color, and your cycling clothing.
You need to be in contrast with your surroundings.
Here is the exact one I use (link to Amazon). It’s so reflective that there is absolutely no chance that someone can’t see me.
Let me give you an example. If you are cycling in a snowy area the most visible color you can have is black.
But most people are riding in a city so black is not the ideal color. More of that later on.
The key is to stand out.
Resale Value
Lots of people want to sell their bikes down the line and upgrade to a newer version.
If you’ve picked the wrong color that everybody else dislikes you are in big trouble. You will have a hard time selling that bike.
These days you can easily order a custom bike from all these big bike companies.
You want to be careful with your color choice. Make sure you don’t go too wild with crazy color designs like purple and green with a tiger print handlebar.
Maybe you like it, but down the line who the hell is going to buy that bicycle?
Also, you don’t want to choose a depressing color like brown. Maybe that’s only me but I hate it when I see someone riding a brown bike or even a brown car.
My advice is to go with a single-color bike or if you want something unique you can get away with 2 colors as well.
A custom 2-color fade can also look sick.
Top 7 Colors For Your Bicycle
Here are the best 6 colors you can pick for your bicycle.
Black
Let’s start right away with the most popular bike color in the cycling space.
You just can’t get wrong with that color. It’s the simplest color and everybody likes it or at least doesn’t hate it.
Among many cyclists black is considered a luxury color because it always looks clean, even if you go on an off-road ride it will look much better than some light-colored bikes.
Also if you try to sell it down the line you can do it without a problem.
But with all that said, black is the least safe color for cycling because when the sun is down you are invisible. In that case, you need to have good lighting and reflective clothing.
One more downside is that the black color absorbs sunlight. This means in the summertime your bike frame will be blazing hot.
White
White bicycles are beautiful. But they are not so popular, and there is a good reason behind.
They look amazing only before the ride.
White bicycles are like a magnet for dirt. After every ride, your bike will look horrific so you will need to clean it regularly, almost every day.
But when it comes to safety white bicycles are number one.
Everyone will see you, even in the dark places in the middle of nowhere.
Also, white bikes reflect the sun. So you won’t have those hot bike frame problems.
Gray
Gray (Silver) bicycles are usually the cheapest ones.
Of course, there are some exceptions but in general, that is the case.
Gray bicycles are always somewhere in the middle. They do not reflect the sun that well nor do other people see you as well as they would if you had a white bike.
In my opinion, there are many other better colors you can choose from.
But if you like gray go for it.
Red
Red is considered one of the greatest and most popular colors among cyclists.
They always say it’s the color of speed.
That’s why many professionals pick red as the main bicycle color.
There are a lot of variations of red, dark, light, burgundy, etc. Specialized bicycles especially look great in red.
Red bikes are also considered to be amongst the safest ones. It’s very visible in the dark and even has decent heat absorption.
Reed color is one of the best for mountain bikers because it stands out from nature.
Yellow
If I had to pick one bike color to use for the rest of my life, I would probably choose yellow.
And there are two main reasons for that.
The first one is because yellow is for me personally a beautiful color, especially looks pretty on a bicycle.
I can guarantee you will stand out from other bicycles.
The second reason is visibility.
It’s a great color because everybody and their mom will see you clearly. Also, many Tour de France winners use a yellow bike, so another reason why I love it so much.
If you even manage to match your jersey colors with your bike, bro you are already a world champion.
Blue
Blue is also considered one of the best colors you can have on your bike.
There are a lot of variations, light blue, dark blue, teal blue, etc.
But in my opinion, light blue looks the best on a bicycle.
It’s much more visible than a dark blue and it’s better at absorbing light.
Pinarello in my opinion has the most beautiful blue bikes on the market.
Green
The green color on the bicycle is not so popular.
Try to remember the last time you saw a green bike. I can’t.
It’s not so popular because, in my opinion, it doesn’t look so clean on a bike. There are much better colors to choose from.
But I am not gonna lie, there are some absolutely gorgeous green bikes, but that’s very rare.
One thing I like is that green bikes are much easier to clean and they easily blend in with nature.
I hope this article was helpful!
45 comments:
Anonymous said.
Red, and more red.
For bright/sporty, perhaps Pantone 368, 634, or 130.
For stealthy/classy, Pantone 331, 542, or 554.
All with metallic finishes of course!
I plan on buying a Pass Hunter when the 57cm comes back in stock. I want to make it my do-everything bike, for commuting and short camping trips. I have four suggestions for colors.
Of the bikes I own, I have two favorite paintjobs. The first is on a mid-range Motobecane Mirage. From a distance it looks mostly black, slightly brown and slightly purple. Up close, it’s a very deep purple with sparkles. I love the subtle effect – unassuming from afar but beautiful up close. I disagree that a dark paintjob hides a bike’s quality – quality stands out, always.
My second favorite is the old Falcon racing blue. I have a San Remo Equipe with a beautiful soft eggshell blue that’s withstood the years pretty well considering its delicate color. Here is a reference: http://u1.ipernity.com/17/56/37/15595637.c3891769.640.jpg
I’d also love to have a bike that’s a traditional British racing green, as seen on some old Raleigh Internationals, although I think it would need to be a glossy finish (with sparkles! Everything should have sparkles!). Here’s a reference: https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6028/5918501267_0de468a515_z.jpg
My final suggestion is a gunmetal gray. It’s another choice that is more subtle than sporty. I think the finish on Shimano components has been really nice lately. I just got a set of Tiagra hubs and while they’re not top of the line they look really good. It’d be nice to have a bike that matched.
I really like a light blue, kind of like a sky blue, but more tint of white. That has always been my favorite bike color as it matches well with leather brooks saddles and silver components. this is the color of my next all road bike.
My second favorite is sage green. Also with more tint of white.
Lavender is also cool, but more on the lighter side. I don’t know, I am also enjoying my weird green Camargue. It is very fitting for the bike.
Orange is always good in my opinion. I also have seen some caramel colors that were very pleasing. Must be metallic though.
I’d love to see a nice yellow, a bold orange, and/or a Raleigh green.
Would love to see more dark and neutral tones, colors like the green from Raleigh’s Superbe or a darker shade of whats on the Pass Hunter now, making it a deep crimson. Maybe even a dark orange like the PX50 barn find you posted about awhile back (or darker!) would look nice
The red of the Pass Hunter really appeals to me but I also like the idea of the British racing green that several have mentioned. My current bike is grey. The thing I like the best about that is the grey can go with any color. At the momement, I have kelly green handlebar tape, bottle cages and a handlebar bag. I could switch up any of these things and change the visuals.
My favorite bike is my Surly Cross Check in “Blark Due” or “Dirty Dark Blue”. I cringed at the insipid moss green on the Camargue, but it doesn’t look bad with black fenders and fittings. The high quality of the paint job helps a lot.
If I were to build another bike, my first choice would be a deep carmine red.
1959 Oldsmobile Burgundy Mist Metallic
1957 Mercury Sherwood Green Metallic
1965 Ford Ice Blue Metallic
1956 Ford Fiesta Red
1965 Mercury Ocean Turquoise
Car colors, or guitar colors, whatever you wanna call them they look good on bikes too!
My first serious bike was a 1986 Cannondale race bike, and that year one of their top line racing bikes was offered in a color they called ice blue. I drooled over that color for a long time, and have always wanted a bike painted that shade. It was a sort of frosted metallic blue/silver. It looked so good in the catalogue, and I saw one at a shop and it looked even better to me. A long-time fantasy color I have never seen anywhere else.
Anyway, that said, the other color I’d love to see from you guys is a nice orange, like Chris’ old bike, basically a Molteni orange like Eddy M’s old race bikes. a real orange Velo Orange would be cool
I’ll never get sick of robin’s egg blue…never ever. A sincere thank you for not bringing more black or white frames into the world.
Twin-tone metallic colours like seen on early 80’s nishiki continentals. With some handpaitend double square-boxes.
I like bright colors for any bike I am riding in automobile traffic. Any bit of higher visibility is appreciated.
Mt favorite color is a sort of sage green-pea green sort of color. French and Belgian bikes of a certain age tend to be painted those colors. See my website for the color on my French inspired bike.
Also robin’s egg blue. I saw a Urago painted that color many years ago and it’s stuck with me.
and now all I want is a lavender bike.
RAL 7021 blue/grey is nice
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mralistair/6145611056/in/photostream/
actually might be 7016,
I agree with a few others the Cannondale blue of the mid80’s was a great color for a bike. My second choice would be the Schwinn Cool Lemon of the 70’s How about a sporty frame designed to use the dia-compe center pulls with a rear bridge for the cable?
I love orange but have had three orange bikes and got sick of them all. That said, am planning to paint a new frame orange.
Blue is always good, I have a light blue (ral 5012) that is just beautiful, never get tired of it.
The early blue stumpjumpers are a great color.
Yellow can be a great color. The 1993 RB-1 and the Ocean Air Rambler yellows are very nice.
I had a brown ~1984 Bianchi Limited, and when the light hit it just right a burgandy would come out. It was nice. But to answer your question “of course” Orange.
I agree with avoiding black and white colors for the aforementioned reasons (I have bikes in both colors and appreciate them both).
The bike colors I truly admire have metal flake. Not pearlescent, but a metallic paint with a more grainy flake. I find just about any metallic color appealing but hunter green, silver, and blues definitely catch my attention.
Two-tone schemes look great, like many of the old Fuji’s and Nishiki’s had. And it’s even better when combined with silver alloy components.
I redid my Schwinn Resto-mod project in RAL 1018 Yellow http://www.prismaticpowders.com/colors/RAL-1018/ral1018/ with a “Biggs Silver” http://www.prismaticpowders.com/colors/UPB-6018/biggs-silver/ top coat. It’s by a good measure my favorite color on a bike so far. The subtle top coat is what really makes the paint job, just enough pop to go with the strong color It started out as a “Kool Lemon” but by the time I got it looked like a “Bruised Banana”
There is no accounting for taste. All opinions are equally valid (unless the opinion is wrong, but that’s a different issue). Some like metallics or pearlescents. Others prefer glossy enamels. Yet others like matte finishes. Shiny and sparkly, or subdued and muted. Colors go in and out of fashion, whether in cars, guitars, clothing, appliances, or houses. Nobody has suggested a color like the 1970’s Harvest Gold found on refrigerators and ovens, nor has anybody suggested a 1950’s bright turquoise or a salmon. How about 80’s pink to go with those Kelly green accessories? That’s what I ran back in the late 80’s—I figured if I were ever involved in an accident nobody could argue they did not see me. Your products are “traditional” only in the sense that they emulate products from a certain time era. There is no such thing as a ‘timeless’ color choice. Some will love your decisions and others will hate them. I love the way my Velo Orange rando frameset looks, but it could have looked great in almost any other finish chosen.
Merckx Orange.
And I know white white is boring but I’ve really come around on creams, reconsider, they are slick.
I like a more gold yellow, like PANTONE Spectra Yellow 14-0957 TCX for the sporty one. For the more subdued/stealth I’d go with PANTONE Smoke Blue 17-4412 TPX which is a soft blue/gray.
vote for yellow.
That orange is perfect for a sporty bike. For the other, my suggestions are Pantone 331, 344, 3375, 352, 559, 547, 572.
Metallic Ice Blue/Silver
Metallic Light Blue/Silver
Pearlescent Sky Blue/Cream
All the above with silver/polished components.
I would pony up to build an orange CX Pass Hunter to go with my red Rando Pass Hunter. Great do everything bike but tired of swapping out tires and bags.
Olive green with peach accents
How about 2 colours like this.
A light,neutral gray with brown lettering, pinstriping?
Go with the favorite, traditional colors of the past master framebuilders.
Metallic teal would be a really nice color.
Any chance the new sporty frame will be a 650b with a lightish tub set? I love the green on my Polyvalent, but I’m also a fan of sunflower yellow.
I love dark neutral colors: charcoal metallic, dark silver metallic, very dark green, very dark blue, very dark gold. To me, these can be beautiful in themselves, and are more likely to go well with and complement flashes of subtle color elsewhere, like bar tape, worn brown leather saddles, or dark green or dark tan canvas bike bags. My minority opinion is that bike colors are too often clownishly bright, combined with large, flashy and discordant decals of brand names and logos that would be suitable for circus use.
FWIW, neutral colors have topped choices in motor vehicles for years: white, (Currently #1), black (both understandably ruled out for VO), silver and dark gray. If I am riding someplace where I think I should be especially visible, I wear a brightly colored helmet, jersey, or jacket. But of course, to each: his or her own .
With only one choice of color per bike model, perhaps it might be worthwhile to avoid unusual colors, unless the goal is to be distinctive, and to stand out. Perhaps counter-intuitively, I have found that sedate and understated bike frame colors, unadorned with large, look-at-me logos, are fairly uncommon, and they are what attract my attention.
Thanks for asking.
Pale blue, as many others have mentioned; something between robin’s egg and turquoise. A little “warmer” than Bianchi washed-out blue.
Black. I like the look and it is the easiest colour to touch up.
Grey metallic, please.
When will the new frame colors be available? I am excited for building my new bicycle!
Pumpkin with cream details.
Metallic copper with cream details to go with cream SKS mudguards (fenders)or the VO Honjo type 🙂 Yum!
Still really fond of the bleu fonce with orange lettering of my Rando. A dark green would be nice, not so dark as BRG, perhaps a darkish pea-soup green (maybe with lighter, leaf-grean lettering? Good choice for a camper. )
Metallic copper-bronze would be good, maybe red decals?
So many great choices!!
look at the JP Weigles, old Raleighs or Colnagos and Cinellis – you are not a frame builder until you make a light blueish frame. Classic. Iconic. And you’d make them affordable. You’ll sell a ton. I have two and yet I’d buy another one.
I’ve always liked the look of the lugged frame with the contrasting head tube, especially in red and cream, Is there a way to pull that off on a non-lugged frame?
Several people have suggested British racing green, but for some reason I think French racing blue would better suit what I see as the V.O. personality.
I’m currently saving up for a PassHunter, or maybe a Camargue. I’m not sure yet. So, I’m torn between “can’t wait to see what the new frames will bey” and “don’t make my choice harder!”
