Andy_K 

I did that with fenders on my Motobecane Grand Record. SKS gave me the RAL code and it was available in powder coat. I love the result.

bOsscO

GM had a colour called Light Antelope Firemist

gugie 

I'll spend maybe 45 minutes with a potential 650b conversion customer discussing all of the physical changes with the frame.

The next 3 weeks will be discussing the powder coat color.

I'm thinking of charging by the hour for color selection.

squirtdad

more fun pics to looks at. this bike is in the window of a "lifestyle" store at valley fair mall in san jose. (there is also a kestrel and a red columbus framed bike with campy)

this bike was clearly ridden, you can see strap rash and seat rash. It kills me because it is my size and it just sits

at least 5 different celeste here. Frame which has a light pearlescent paint, the saddle, the cable, the pump, and the cool checkerboard handle bar tape. Pic your favorite color and no one can say you did wrong

Drillium Dude 

You need to go back there and tell them the correct display orientation is drive side out

DD

P!N20

Just can’t handle that cable overlapping the stem face.

cjenrick

i like the old 60's specialisimo celeste, back around the mid 80's there was a bianchi celeste explosion, everybody had one, kind of like a model t, i thought there was something missing on the paint blend , they were trying for the 60's look but went a little too light. maybe they fade darker after time i do not know.

why not go way back and get that awful lime green with the molded chrome headset that keeps coming undone like the mis-threaded bottom bracket?

ferry99

I think the pearl turquoise is the closest match to what Celeste is or should be. I sometimes think that when you die and go to Heaven, you will find that Heaven is a white sky with little puffy celeste clouds floating in it. And sitting on each cloud will be a Bond girl from your favorite James Bond movie. And God will look like Sean Connery and will be serving martinis, shaken not stirred.

AJI125 

Don't know how I missed this until now. Andy_K did you make a decision? I am also trying to pick a Bianchi powdercoat color... Celeste is probably my goal but still undecided. I've got many of those same pictures you've shared saved for comparison.

Just to confuse you more, mine was originally black (https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...nt-advice.html). This is the black I found closest match after ordering swatches, called matte black (as was the 1990 Giro) but more of a satin. https://www.prismaticpowders.com/sho...55/matte-black

Some of those white Bianchis of the era with the same style decals as the black, also just look extra sharp to me, don't know why. But the SLX models didn't come in white I don't think.

I have those same celeste swatches sitting in the garage. I stare at them time to time to no avail! I still am leaning towards RAL-6027, should it come to celeste.

Edit: thought I would add some photos from an old Pros Closet listing, as they were taken in good photography lighting I think.

xiaoman1 

Andy,
I feel your pain because this thread keeps providing you with more options (Here's another)....You have already posted a few good colors I would choose the more classic green and not the blue-green....I have not run across any PC's that can custom mix with any guarantee of the final color after baking.
After it's painted the slight variations that we are all picking at will most likely go unnoticed.
It's down to a personal preference so only you should/ can decide what color you prefer.

I personally like this color but I am prejudiced because I own it.
Best, Ben

Andy_K 

I know a lot of people say RAL-6027 is the way to go, and in some pictures it looks perfect, but I've looked at too many pictures where it just looks blue. The same is true of a couple of the colors I'm considering here, but at least I have swatches. I think I'm going to go with the Sea Foam Green. I'll update this thread when it's done.

xiaoman1 

my first choice!

AJI125 

Well it appears sea foam green (top is regular, bottom is pearl) is a good match for my Selle Italia Bianchi saddle celeste. Not so for the pump which is a greener shade (bottle cage and cheap Bontrager cork tape for more color reference).




Also interesting is the comparison to the original decals on my black Giro that were celeste-esque. The decals are WAY greener than sea foam green. I didn’t snap one with the pump in it but pump seems way more pastel than the decals. Sorry for the shadowy pic but the wrinkly decals were throwing glare all over. Pearl swatch on the left.

Choke 

Maybe this will help....

AJI125 

I'm well aware I'm posting way too much in this thread. Here's a picture I downloaded from a guitar site I bookmarked a while back about seafoam green and surf green (https://www.strat-talk.com/threads/s...-green.173482/). Based on the photo below, I'd love something that matched that seafoam green, which I think is similar to what you're saying Andy. The surf green looks more like the older Bianchis I've seen (again, assuming the lighting, camera, screen etc. is correctly showing colors).

The surf green at Prismatic Powders looks nothing of the type and has a weird texture. So I ordered sea foam green and surf green swatches from Columbia Coatings for more comparing on my end. I'll line them up with the seafoam green from Prismatic and snap a picture or two. On the screen they look a bit different than anything else so we'll see how they look in person.

xiaoman1 

Great info....

Andy_K 

At least I'm not alone in this quest!

I did this a couple of weeks ago and have had it sitting on my desk, The first day I did this, I carried it around a bit to see how it would look in various lighting. No, really, I'm fine.



That's the Sea Foam Green and Sea Foam Pearl swatches bent into a curve and taped together. The Pearl is the one on the left, but honestly I can hardly tell them apart without a magnifying glass (or looking at the label). They look less green on my monitor than they do in person.

AJI125 

I fully endorse bending them. It does actually change the reflection a bit. I bent the matte black swatch (and 3 others) and held it around the fork steerer where I had some of the original paint. I also looked at them compared to the fork inside, under different lights, and outside in the sun and in the shade. So yeah - you have company.

AJI125 

Received sea foam green and surf green samples from Columbia coating. I think surf green is too green for my purposes. It’s a lot lighter than my pump color. Top to bottom swatches in this picture are: sea foam pearl (Prismatic), sea foam green (Prismatic), sea foam green (Columbia), surf green (Columbia).

The Columbia coatings sea foam matches Prismatic pretty well, but while Prismatic is a smooth gloss, it’s more a satin wrinkle look. I’m not sure if it’s due to the powder, the substrate, or how they coated it.

xiaoman1 

I see only 2 "greens" on my screen, the Pump and the swatch on the bottom....the rest to my eye(monitor) are a more "blue". Names are meaningless.....
Try this: go to the greens and find the color that you prefer....number/match/go.
https://www.pantone.com/color-finder
Best, Ben
PS Paint it already!

xiaoman1 

Adding a bit more information (confusion) to the color.
Best, Ben
https://veloaficionado.com/blog/when...old-dog-part-4
Andy_K

joesch

This thread has got me obsessing about a Bianchi Specialissima that is currently available and quite nice

N+1 ?

AJI125 

That's one of the resources I've used to land on RAL-6027. But I do like the sea foam green Andy has leaned towards (and the swatches I have match my saddle).
Honestly I'm still waffling between celeste (and which one!), original satin black (got a good match I think), and white like the Campione D'Italia Sport SX and Strada LX models had in 89/90 (and Campione for some late 80s early 90s period) for my Giro. Not sure I'm any closer to deciding, but still on the backburner for now priority-wise. I was able to order swatches for several RAL colors from Columbia coatings. I don't know if they'll actually ship (not an option to order RAL samples from Prismatic).

xiaoman1 

AJI125,
Yes, I prefer Sea Foam too....when it boils down to it, color is a personal choice and one that the person making the selection has to be happy with regardless of the "name" or what others may think.
Best, Ben

Andy_K 

I've officially put my chips on Prismatic Powders' Sea Foam Green. Both powder and frame are en route to Groody Bros. This was my final confirmation:



I think I'll be happy. Hopefully I won't regret not having had the decaled swatch sent out for clear coating.