SpeedofLite 

What situations can result in a major brand frame with finish/color(s) not offered in the model year catalog?

For example, there's a NOS 1999 Y-Foil 77 59cm frame/fork in black with correct decals available on-line now by a very experienced and trustworthy seller.
However, the 1999 TREK catalog indicates the TREK Y-Foil 77 was available only in Metallic Blue.
And the Y-Foil frame was never offered in black in 1998 or in 1999 catalogs, so it's not simply a decal switch from a different year.
I also have a photo of another example of this frame in black with correct 1999 decals, but it's HT is too short to think it's the same frame as the 59cm frame offered now.

Another example is my personal experience with an LBS (famous in old-school triathlete circles) that bought unpainted frames and decal sets from Kestrel in the late 90s- early 2000s.
The LBS would paint these frames most any color you wanted, so it's not unusual to see a Kestrel KM40 from those years that isn't one of the catalog colors.

I wonder if this is more common among major brand bike frames than I'm aware, other than maybe what's done for the pro ranks.
For example, were other colors offered "off-catalog" by the majors?
Or maybe different colors were offered to non-US markets and these frames were destined for these markets?

Any ideas or first-hand experience?

repechage

Trek was and still is a company that for the top tier bikes did and will still do custom color. Silly pricing, but if ya GOTS to have it....
I think they now call it TrekOne.

rccardr 

There are a number of late 80’s Cannondales that were sold with non-stock frame colors. Some were replacement warranty frames (often in non-model-specific colors) that were sold a year or two later as frames or made into complete bikes by bike shops on spec. I bought a NOS rose colored 88 SR frameset from a dealer in 2009, never built up.

Schwinn sold two colors of the Super Sport and Tempo in, I think, 1987. Tempo came in the common blue and white but also a red-white-green fade. Super Sport was mostly sold in the magenta and white combination, but also red and white for customers who complained about a “pink bike”.

The Golden Boy 

What about a warranty frame repair?

I recall pix of 70s style Treks with 80s paint and decals as Trek would repair the frame- but put the closest current equivalent on the bike.

T-Mar

I know that with some companies, if the dealer was willing to place large enough order and pay a small premium, they would offer any colour from their standard colour pallette.

@JohnDThompson may be able to provide some info on Trek policy.

SpeedofLite 

repechage , rccardr The Golden Boy , and T-Mar :

Thanks for your input. I look forward to potential input from JohnDThompson , especially because the bike of current interest is the Trek Y-Foil.
I contacted the seller. He said he will see if he can learn further information about this frame's history.
I've also asked him for the SN and its location on the bike in case that might help.

non-fixie 

I have a Raleigh that ought not to exist, according to the Raleigh catalogs. Size, color and model were all common for Raleigh, but never officially in this combination. My guess it is a pre-production version that didn't make it to the catalog, but did somehow make it out of the factory. Thread is here.

JohnDThompson 

We gave repair customers the choice of any standard color; the repaired frame would just get run through the paint line when a batch of that color was being sprayed.