Originally Posted by
illdrag0n
I'm in 2 minds, and a creative cripple. What would you do with this bike?
First, "getting rid of the decals" is much more difficult than you think. The result can be uglier than what you start with after a lot of work.
I'd say to just embrace It and step it up a notch. Go full on towards the red/white/blue color scheme. Change the cable housing to either red or blue or both. Change the spacers to blingy red and blue ones. Seat collar to one of those colors as well. If you wanted an understated bike, you should have bought one. This one is bold...make it more so. Here's three examples of what I've done with colors
A plain grey titanium dressed up in the company colors
DSCN0934 by
Stuart Black, on Flickr
A plain white Cannondale made more eye catching with color
IMG_1444 (1) by
Stuart Black, on Flickr
And a garish orange Salsa Las Cruces made even more garish. It currently sports metallic orange tape and orange pedals so it's even more over the top
DSCN0164 by
Stuart Black, on Flickr
Many would say tacky (I might agree) but they are also bold and eye catching. Yours is already there, just take it further.