I have a Zeus which is babboon-ass orange! I usually go for more toned down colors like greens and celestes (Yes, I have about 4 celestes at home) but I just couldn't pass on the zues or the orange! My other spanish Razesa is a really attractive burgundy type color. Very subtle yet stands out...not quite like the orange though!
Walt celeste, Pa
Herb Langston <langston@interaccess.com> wrote:
> >kstagg@harbornet.com writes:
>Which brings up a question that has probably been answered before here, but I
>didn't see it: what companies have a particular color closely associated with
>their bikes (and what's the color)?
>
>Bianchi has celeste, Gios blue, Richard Sachs would appear to favor red, I
>always think of Benottos in a sort of silvery beige (which I'm sure that they
>had a name for.)
>
>What other companies have such recognizable colors?
Benotto called their color "Champagne". Looks pretty, but chips real easy. I called the importer (about 15 years ago) to see if they had any touch-up paint. The official answer was to buy Testor's model paint and mix gold and silver 50/50. It didn't match at all...
Other classic colors?
The first Eddy Merckx bike, with his name, built by De Rosa... silver
Team bikes, from the few color photos in my 1972-74 TdF and Giro books: Eddy Merckx/Molteni... orange Motobecane/Bic... orange Peugeot/BP... white Mercier/Gan... pinkish magenta Pinarello/Jolly... blue Colnago/SCIC... gold Frejus/Filotex... silver Chiorda/Salvarani... metallic blue Flandria/Beaulieu... red Bianchi/Campagnolo... celeste, of course Gios/Brooklyn... Gios blue
From color photos in TdF and Giro books of the late 1970s-early 1980s: Cycles Gitane/Renault Elf... metallic blue Bianchi/Piaggio... celeste Atala/Campagnolo... silver De Rosa/Sammontana... blue Benotto/Sammontana... champagne Benotto/Ariostea... blue Moser/Famcucine... white Moser/Gis... blue Colnago/Del Tongo... metallic dark red Colnago/Sunair... blue Bottecchia/Hoonved... black, white seat tube Eddy Merckx/Kelme... pale turquoise Eddy Merckx/Capri Sonne... silver Pinarello/Matauromobili... blue Olmo/Gis Gelati... metallic dark red Mercier/Coop... pinkish lavander Raleigh/TI... red Peugeot/Shell... pearl white Cilo/Aufina... metallic dark grey Splendor/Wickes... bright blue Motobecane/La Redoute... metallic dark blue France-Loire/SEM... silver (Vitus) Alan/Teka... silver (naked aluminum) Gios/Vermeer... Gios blue
Color photos from the Vuelta, early 1980s: Pinarello/Reynolds... red Peugeot/Shell... flat black (carbon fiber) Zeus/Fagor... white Raliegh/Panasonic... blue Colnago/USSR... dark metallic grey Benotto/Xerox... champagne Eddy Merckx/Kelme... metallic green De Gribaldy/Kas... pale blue (Vitus)
Other bikes in what I consider classic colors: DeRosa... red Cinelli... red or silver Legnano... metallic yellowish green Gianni Motta... red/white/green Zeus...basic yellow or blue or red
Remember the Raleigh/Levis team bikes, which appeared in countless criteriums around the USA?... red with a black head tube.
And whatever color your bike is, it's always a classic color if you shoot it on black and white film.
I realize this was probably more than you asked for...
Herb Langston
Evanston, IL