Originally Posted by
Salamandrine
I'd keep the current scheme. Add a decal to the seat tube panel. If the stark white is too much for you, knock it down to cream/ivory. It could also work with a black head tube and seat tube panel. Lastly, a darker shade of plum could work. IMHO anything else is trying too hard. Or just paint the whole thing plum.
AFA a down tube contrast panel, I vote a hard no on that. Just my opinion. It is not something that is historically done, and definitely not something I've ever seen on a Carre. I feel it will look unbalanced, especially if the head tube is contrast painted, and ruin the vintage look of this bike. The only situation I can see a DT panel is if there was a matching ST panel, both with matching decals -- no head panel. That's kind of a 60s/70s race look.
You probably know this but the traditional scheme is ST panel only, or ST and Head tube are contrast.
Here's my Mercian new bike that is painted dark plum with cream panels:
What you cannot see, or maybe you can if you look closely at the photo, is the bike already had a DT panel. Original paint on this frame was for Abel Borne, a shop brand. And I would love to replicate that but there are no markings available for Abel Borne and I cannot find a clear photo of said markings. I also own another Carré that was a bike shop brand. it has both DT and ST panels under the repaint. So the precedent is there.
Originally Posted by
RobbieTunes
Go with a color component of the main color, i.e. one of the colors mixed to make that plum. Which is why I chose a dark blue. Head tube and panel on the seat tube. The brain understands this. White lettering and don’t worry about vertical lettering, it will look fine. Polished components will set off the dark blue, or vice versa....
Trust me. Or not. Giving advice I don’t have to live with is easy.
I am leaning towards Black Cherry. And my wife bought me Simplex gold for my birthday/retirement. Yeah, I know. Another flippin' Simplex gold bike.
