tbessie

You mean in my profile? That's not entirely accurate; my first road bike was a late 90s Eros, and it WAS in Celeste.

It's now on an early 2000s Brava frame, however, as the Eros frame cracked. The Brava is not Celeste. Over the years, I've replaced parts on it. Recently, I had it partly rebuilt with mostly parts from the same era (late 90s Campagnolo Mirage, with some late 90s Campangolo Veloce). I'm going to have all the parts on that bike transferred to the new frame I'm talking about in this thread, as well as some Veloce brifters I found. All the replacement parts have been New-Old-Stock ones I found on eBay and on places likes "Steel Vintage". Eventually, when it becomes cost-prohibitive, I'll upgrade to a newer gruppo, but for now I'm trying to keep it as close to the original parts as possible.

The Jamis Quest I mention are just the parts. They've all been put on a Surly Pacer frame (I didn't like the sloping top-tube of the Jamis). THAT bike will also be replaced eventually with another custom bike, which will be a light-touring/gravel-grinder/alternative-city-bike combo.

- Tim

Lascauxcaveman 

On my computer screen that looks pretty "not Celeste" to me too. Baby Blue or Sky Blue. Needs just a touch more green and a touch more cream.

Uyle

This is the celeste color for a Giro I tried to match with the 78 Rekord using colorimeter app. A bit greener but very close.

HPL

From a photographer's standpoint, I would never judge a color seen on a computer as being the real color that you would see in real life. That color becomes a digital code and depending on what occurs between the original photo from the particular photographic device used (actual "film" camera [then "scanned" image], a real digital camera, or a "phone" camera) the image can be and/or is processed/developed differently. The ambient light(s), flash method(s)/type(s) [if used] will certainly affect the final color you see; also depends on the "accuracy" of your brain to "interpret" that color. We can be standing side-by-side and see the "same" color differently. Fluorescent lighting is a horrible environment to get a realistic representation of colors.

As to the actual Bianchi "Celeste Green", I would only go by what was the earliest color that took on that original moniker, since then things have certainly changed, and the actual color descriptor no longer aptly applies to the "dominantly" "green" frames of the more modern era. Even that 50's frame, which appears blue (to me), could be substantially different to the original color of "celeste" used by Bianchi back in the day.

My favorite color is orange, but I would not leave that choice up to a painter unless given a fully "cured" example of the chosen paint already used on something with the same surface texture; remember color is a representation of the reflected light when seen by the eyes. Thankfully, I like all oranges; edible or not!

Almost, forgot about color fade; yet another thing to take into consideration when using a frame's present color (unless new) for an accurate example. I would not use My '75 Colnago Super's present color as an accurate description of the original color from the factory, just take off the clamp-on parts to see what the original color was, I'm always surprised at the initial hue!

These forums keep reminding me that I actually used to do a lot of different things in my past life that are now quite dormant; but not forgotten. I love it!

As a side note; I've never owned a Bianchi of any color and was never a fan of the "celeste" BLUE anyways, but of course to each his, hers, or other's own. I'll be onboard when Bianchi comes out with a "CELESTE ORANGE" frame (insert a "yellow" spherical designator of my linguistic intent here).

tbessie

In case anyone's interested, the re-painting is finished; Here was the original, that didn't look what I think of when I think of "Celeste"...

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cB...rL8XRtS4ruJHga

Here's the re-painted frame - much closer to what I was hoping for:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xAC...ew?usp=sharing

- Tim

malcala622

@tbessie If the repaint came out to what you envisioned then we are happy for you

Very nice work by the painter.

tbessie

Yeah, it is pretty much what I wanted; if I could get EXACTLY what I wanted, I'd want a duplicate of what I've seen on current Eroica models, but this paint job is pretty close. I'm planning one more bike, and when I do that, I'll see if I can get a hard sample of that paint color to the painter.

But he does great work, indeed. Here's the rest of the pictures he sent me - I chose some text taken from a story by Harlan Ellison called " 'Repent, Harlequin!' said the Ticktockman", one of my favorites.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1688...ew?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19eh...ew?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wWm...ew?usp=sharing

- Tim

stardognine

That repaint came out nice. 👍 I think we should always refer to that minty toothpaste green color as "Bianchi Celeste", and the actual '50s & earlier bluish Celeste as Classic Celeste. That way, we know we're talking about Bianchi's distorted shade of bluish-green, that we all love. 🤔😁

BTW, I'm positive I had a Bianchi Celeste Bianchi, in the mid-70s, but it was stolen after only about a month. 😭 I was only 14, so don't remember which model it was (probably mid-range at best).

tbessie

The bike was done by Steve Rex - he got it back from the painter, and I picked it up from Steve yesterday.

Here's the pix he posted of it on Instagram. I'll post the built-up bike when it's done.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3N1c7el...d=3ncs1ybmf7mo

tiger1964 

So it's not a brand of Italian toothpaste?

If I close my eyes and think of Celeste Bianchi, it's a bit greenish. Not a lot, though.