Find a yellow to match the straps for bar wrap and housing Tom! Nothing looks better than yellow/gold w/ the blues.
Dan Artley in Parkton, MD
Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/
Dear list: I need some sage counsel and advice.
I'm slowly working to get a new bike ready for Cirque. I know, I know, it's much too soon to be ready for Cirque, but I'm only working on it: intend to procrastinate, delay and stall so that I get my full measure of last minute frenzy, desperately bolting parts on and taking em back off, changing, gluing and panicking right up to the last second so that I'll be perfectly primed for Leesburg.
Anyway, the new bike is a 70's era Follis, wearing the pale blue/grey main tubes with the royal blue head tube paint scheme. The faux team jersey is Kelly green. The buildup is featuring gold French parts. No tasteful restraint here! Note to friends: never, never, never buy one gold doo-dad and think you can walk away from it. You will slowly be driven to try to acquire a full group. A Simplex rear mech was my gateway component. You can't help yourself. Resistance is futile. I now have gold pedals, gold Mafacs, gold Edco headset, gold Ambrosio rims (I'm too heavy for the Mavic ORO rims), gold Nitto bars, yellow Binda straps----.
I think my downfall was that great Peugeot poster of Thevent winning the
'75(?) tour on the golden Pugeot PY10. Ah, what a lovely pic.
http://us.st12.yimg.com/
(BTW, anyone got a gold Simplex front derailleur and some (Ha Ha!) 175mm Stronglight Gold ano arms and rings? Oh, and I want a unicorn, a centaur and an honest politician to go with em, too.)
So anyway, the question is what bar wrap treatment to use. The options are wide open. I've used everything on other bikes from Tom Sanders excellent Amish leather wrap to shellac'd cotton: screamin Benotto Celo to Cinelli cork fruit salad, Cateye black cotton to Stella Azzura faux stiched, perf-ed leather. Ol Bernie looks like he sported the traditional team leader brand new white cotton in all the pics. That's not really suitable for me, as it wouldn't stay white long enough to make it up the stairs from the basement.
So help me out, folks. This isn't a period correct concours build. What tape is the most fittin in this context, which will maximize my vintage feng shui, which will make my bike desired by all women and envied by all men, what is the "best"? Philosophical digressions welcome. Whaddya think?
Tom Adams
Manhattan, KS