Ah, bikes. We love them, you love them. But when it comes to the bikes you love, how important are looks? And, if we’re being super-specific here, the colour. When you’re shopping for a new road or mountain bike would the shade it comes in influence how likely you are to buy it? Or are you not at all bothered by such things?
We know cyclists in both camps. Some are only interested in performance and componentry, others also want the bike they spend their hard-earned cash on to look good as well as ride well.
Have you ever spent up or down on your budget because you preferred the colours of a different model of the bike you were after?
Some brands like Trek Bicycles get around the issue by offering custom paint options — Project One in Trek's case — where you can have any colour combination you desire applied to your dream frame.
Plenty more brands get around the issue by having a colourful option and a plain option in their top selling lines. And of course, a lot of brands will offer differently spec’d models in different colourways — for example the Shimano 105 model of one bike in the range might be, say, black and orange, but the Ultegra model may be white and blue.
And for the truly dedicated, there’s also the world of custom decals, patterned frame protection and sending it to the paint shop yourself.
So over to you. Would the colour of a bike influence how likely you are to buy it? Have you ever spent up or down on your budget because you preferred the colours of a different model of the bike you were after? Have you ever splurged on Project One or got a custom paint job? And, most important, which colours do you like?
