I know the usual answer is “it’s your bike, you do you” and I fully agree. I am still curious though if there are any generally accepted or commonly followed rules when it comes to colour matching components to make a bike look cohesive.
For example, I once heard Craig from 2nd Life Bikes mention that he often matches cable housing colours to frame decal colours. I have also noticed that some builds look more intentional when parts like the seatpost and handlebars share the same finish.
On the flip side, are there components that actually look better when they contrast instead of match? Headsets come to mind, sometimes a silver or coloured headset on an otherwise muted build really works.
So for those of you who care about aesthetics:
• Do you follow any personal rules when colour matching components?
• Are there parts you always try to match?
• Are there parts you deliberately let contrast?
Not looking for right or wrong answers, just interested in how others think about this when building a bike.
by GagakRimang
20 Comments
There’s color theory, opposite and adjacent colors and all that. What goes with dark green? Well, light green, orange, purple, yellow, gold, brown. Now choose what you like.
function over form and if you like it who cares, I use what I have because I don’t care about color
my only rule is keep things in threes. So when you got pedals and cages and bar tape and cables and seat post and brake levers all hot pink your bike just looks bad, in my eyes.
Power clashing is cool.
Also, if you’re trying to match colors (green bits on a green frame), you want them to be different enough so that it doesn’t look like you just failed to match. Like I have an olive drab bike, and I’d want forest green or some other deeper green to accent.
I was originally going to build it with orange cables, but ended up going a different way, but I still think that orange cables would look pretty great.
In general don’t overdo it and don’t have your accent colors touching. Like if you have a red stem, don’t also run red bars.
If you’re willing to DIY, painted racks and fenders will take an average build to the next level.
https://preview.redd.it/f99z18413lhg1.jpeg?width=8160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=38fe8c070aed5515ea54699743e5c3806ff58e52
I’m sort of wondering the same question. I am just finishing up this gt timberline that has like a dark blue/black paint job with light orange/peach decals. I don’t know how to add color to the bike without it clashing.
I’m not great at “color theory” but find it looks good if I keep the palette simple, like: limit to 3 colors only or pick a single color and 2 or 3 hues.
I think all components (derailleurs, brakes, cranks, shifters, levers, hubs) ought to be either all silver or all black except for when using a color from the “palette” (like blue anodized brake levers or cranks).
I think the smaller details (cage bolts, cable crimps, spoke nipples, cable ferrules) offer a low-cost highlight color opportunity and are more noticeable on an otherwise neutral color build. Like, a grey or tan frame with all parts in black and highlights of orange or blue?
Of course: there’s always an opportunity to pick “rainbow” as your highlight color on a single base color build, as well! Like, a purple frame with silver components and highlights of every bold color in the rainbow!
Purple pedals go with anything
The only real rule is that you like the bike you build!
Color theory is definitely a thing, but I’ve seen some absolute skittle-vomit builds that actually work. Generally you match your saddle to your bar tape/grips. I also used to stick to the “all silver or all black components” rule, but that’s really hard to do these days. The “panda” builds are really looking good to me now anyway. I think pulling that off takes tasteful patterning the mix-match.
Yes. Only get color combinations that bring you joy. Or not.
Bar tape and saddle same color if the saddle isn’t black
Idk, I like matching stuff to an extent. Right now I have a blue Wilde with yellow cable housing and green bar tape.
Matching isn’t the right word but it’s a weird logic. My last bike was black which was boring, so I had hot pink pedals, tape, saddle to be the “opposite” philosophically
Don’t overthink it. That’s the rule
The first rule of xbiking is there are no rules
ask your art professor.
they’re just bikes dude.
Pretty much the only rules I have are not mixing brown and black for saddle and grips, and *usually* not mixing black and polished metal parts.
Less of a rule and more a pet peeve is when two things are “the same color” but don’t quite match- I’d rather a deliberate difference than falling short on matching. Anodized parts from different companies are a good example.
I haven’t built all that many bikes, but I look at a lot of bikes and think about bikes a lot.
My personal rules:
No mixing of black and silver parts, with the exceptions being hubs and rims, but only sometimes. For example, if you have a silver seatpost, you have to have silver stem, bars, cranks and brakes, but you can run black rims if it works. The opposite is also true.
Cable housing matching decals is a great baseline. You can extend that to other small bits like skewers, headset and seatpost clamp. Just little hits of color.
I think it goes overboard when people do anodized cranks, stem, post and/or bars. I think those things should always be silver or black, but of course if you’re doing an art piece that happens to look like a bicycle, go ham. I’ve seen some incredible builds where there is “too much” anodizing, and it works. One I remember really well was a white frame with lots of gold Paul components.
Pedals and grips I think are where you can get wacky, but it all has to be complimentary or contrasting like others have said.
Tires somewhat fall into the same category as cable housing or grips, but you can get fun with tires as well. I enjoy brown tires with a brown seat and brown grips. Basically stuff that your body comes into contact with can all match.
It’s also hard to go wrong with gumwalls or light neutrals for tires. If you wanna get nuts, match the tires to the frame, or do a contrasting color.
I am not any kind of authority on anything.
I mostly stick with silver components on dark frames and black components on light frames. Bronze accents are nice too (headset cap, bell, cable cherries).
Cables are a good way to add a pop of color but don’t go overboard. General convention is to compliment frame color or match logos. On my touring bike I matched the cables to the decals on my paniers (lime green) on a black LHT.
https://preview.redd.it/iawe5iueflhg1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d2bb8b91a458fd53f160c99c9e81716b771696f
No, but my taint has a rule against that saddle angle.
You do you.