Choosing frame color for vintage bicyle paint job.
 

I am building vintage looking road bicycle.

Bought white tires slim tires 700c, what frame paint will look best with them?

I am thinking:

Teal
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...46e30c5ae5.jpg

Light Green
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0f163b821c.jpg


Dark Green
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...85eb702c38.jpg

skyblue
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...41e8bf3819.jpg

I like where you’re going. 😀 I used seafoam green with white trim for my vintage tandem. It just seemed like a classic scheme to me whether or not it was actually one that was used back in the day.

I plot my bicycles out on a color wheel a try for something different than I already have.

calling @RiddleOfSteel

Given your internet handle of PimpMan

i would go purple with gold accents

Or--

Green with gold

Green is for the money and gold is for the honey

Purple.

If the style leans French, then blue! British, dark green! Italian, either celeste-ish or red!

Actually, anything you'll enjoy looking at.

Mauve.

cream with brown or copper accents

Red. Always red.

https://www.justinkownacki.com/wp-co...-So-Simple.jpg

I may not be the best person to ask about this, but I think you need more information. What brand of bike is it? Does it have lugs? If so, which ones? What color decals, saddle, bar tape, cables, and water bottle cages do you want to use? What components will you be using? So many factors to consider?

Or you could just choose black.

candy apple green (note this may be a forshadowing)


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...928d255406.png

Pink.

+1

I had to look it up.

I have a seafoam green tele that is like to see as a bike color. Are u worried about dirt on the white tires?

If you are going to stick with soft pastel-type colors, go Puce.

If you are going to stick with a color that represents your screenname, go electric purple with some shimmer.

Too much to get into but I'll give you my quick take:
American 60's to 70's candy apple like Schwinn, but there are exceptions even in the Schwinn line up.
American 50's - non metallic colors
American before the up to 50's - muted colors with accent colors Coffee and cream for example
English 60's to 70's - metallics for Raleigh and some other brands, solid non-metallics for other with contrasting head tube and down tube stripe/patch. Sometimes included box lining (pinstriping) This looks so nice on these bikes.
English 50's - darker solid colors or black, by the way black may sound boring, however, the paint was good in my opinion and black paint when it is good looks great. It reflects well.
English before the 50's - black, of course remember to paint the rear mudguard white on the lower portion.
French 60's to 70's metalics and candy apple (flamboyant) were common. They also had plenty of solid colors as well like Motobecane's black with red head tube and accents and lug lining. Some French bikes had box lining like my Astra (pretty paint too). Many bikes of this era had Foil decals.
French 50's - I don't know, but if you have a French bike from the state that and there are lots of knowledgeable members here that can help.
Italian 60's and 70"s solid color paints that were done well. Lug lined. Sometime contrasting headtube like Atalia.
Italian 50 and before - I don't know but, I know @iab does. Although, he would be a good consultant on any vintage bike paint.
Japanese 70's - solid colors with lug lining. For some reason yellow Fuji's stand out to me.
Japanese 80's - metallics
Dutch bikes - I don't know.

90's bike became international and at least for sportier bikes pastels and fad paint jobs were popular. Also some bright colors with accents.

I also have to point out that categorizing bikes by country is not quite accurate either. This is a generalization and there was lots of influence going all different directions.

Now that I wrote all this and I am thinking about all the exceptions, perhaps it would be best to get a better idea of what this bike is. Do you have a picture of the bike in question? What era are you looking to emulate? Are you going to paint it yourself? All of your color examples look good on a vintage bike.

Personally, I like the extras, like either lug lining, box lining or a contrasting head tube for a vintage look. Don't forget about the graphics. They add a lot of character to the bike. More pictures.

I may be adequately good at this, however: I am no expert. Please feel free to make corrections, additions, modifications or flame away at my arrogance.

@PimpMan if your tires are all white and not white wall with black tread, then I think a lighter, simpler color is a great idea. Light blue, light green, pastel yellow, all good. If the tires are white wall with black tread, then the world is your oyster.

Many years ago I painted my wife's bike cream with brown and gold accents. It got a lot of positive comments. I really liked it. Something to consider is the kind of paint that will be used. The bike that I took over to Ukraine, I painted a House of Kolor Khameleon that, depending on how you looked at it was either a goldish red color or green. That would be a nice accent color with a cream.

.
...your tires probably won't stay white if you ride the bike, so I'd go with what pleases you.
Personally, I like the metallics you can buy now, but the solid colors (with no metalflake) are easier to apply smoothly.

"Vintage" covers too much territory to give you much guidance, but Velo Mule is pointing you in the right direction.

Most of the really old bikes I've seen came in black, or in black.

Bike Pimping! Warning: Editorial Content!
 

Pimpmobile: a large ostentatious car, of a style associated with pimps.

A classic 1970's era Cadillac Pimpmobile....

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9432ce13e7.jpg

A Pimp DeVille

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b5f3bf62bb.jpg

A Pimp Bike

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f095a4a470.jpg

Being from a different era, when I hear the word PIMP I think of a low life abusive criminal panderer who lives off of prostitutes!

Getting back on to bikes, I see a lot of requests like this on BFs, CR and other sites: "mommy, what color socks should I wear"....

Google is your friend! Start doing some IMAGE searches for bikes like yours - You'll come up with hundreds of color photos that can give you an idea of what your bike might look like in different colors!

For starters: BLACK or RED !!!!



https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1b56679ef9.jpg

I've been accused of "matchy-matchy"..... :love:

verktyg :50:

Of the examples in the OP I like the first two best.

Something like this


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f507fd3e73.jpg

If you have nice lugs, flaunt them. :)
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fed9cec447.jpg
Head tube lug details