Roger M

What is the general code on color matching your toe straps?

Do you match the saddle? The tape? Paint? Tires?

I'm new to buying toe straps. Below is the bike I'm looking to sort out straps for. I'm inclined to go with red(mostly because I can't find light blue). As always, thanks in advance for any helpful input.

79pmooney

No help here from me. I've always looked at toestraps as tools. Very important tools. I buy the best (within the constraint of cost as a consumable). Color is what's available. When I find a strap I like, there might be a choice of two colors, usually natural or black, but for the most part, the store has one or tow similarly colored pairs. For many years I rode Binda straps. The extras while they were still making them with smooth on both sides. (The leather smooth side works better with buckles. Both sides meant the expensive laminated ones lasted most of twice as long as the cheaper un-laminated ones as you could add a 1/2 twist after the buckle cut its deep grooves and no longer held.)

Now I re-leather my good buckles so I actually do have choices. Never thought about it until your post! I dye most of my straps black and leave some natural.

Edit: you could go to a leather shop and get the dye of your choice and dye any natural strap. (Advantage - you can re-spiff them as needed.)

SJX426 

Black to compliment the rings.

nlerner

Depends on your shoe color, of course.

steelbikeguy

jeez... in the old days, I just went to the shop and bought some new white Christophe or Lapize straps and never gave it a thought.
I do have some red Binda's on my red Hetchins, and some obscure brand of yellow straps on my red w/yellow Olmo. A gratuitous photo, just for general principle....



In general, it is fun to pick straps to complement the frame color or match the accent color, but finding straps in a variety of colors is not a trivial task! ...or have I missed something?

Steve in Peoria

3alarmer 

.
...I either go with the leather ones that are natural tan/brown in color, or with the brightly colored ones (the old Pake Space Straps) I try to match saddle and tape color. Sometimes you just can't get a good match, so it's better to go with black, rather than a color that doesn't really match what you're trying to match. I have so much trouble finding decently stiff toe straps that hold a loop these days that function takes precedence over fashion.
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merziac

@Roger M

Another vote for black or red or white, never known of a code but there probably was/is.

Better check velominati.

I use zefal, great value, classic, cool, original.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...traps&_sacat=0

SurferRosa

Depends what's in the bin. If nothing appropriate, then it depends what's on eBay. If I have the choice, then it helps to match something, whether it's the tape or saddle.

Sometimes, I don't want it to match too much. Like if the tape and saddle are both honey, matching the straps as well can easily go overboard for my eye.

Oakman

Soma makes a nice light blue set.

75lechamp 

The only ones I used to use were the Binda Extras, and as far as I remember, they only came in one color. Where we did exercise creativity in colors, though, were the strap buttons. . . they might be matched to the bike color....


Alfredo Binda Extra!

Phil_gretz

Any traditional color would be fine, with the exception of red.

brown/tan - good, picks up the sidewalls and/or saddles
black - traditional, goes with everything, and there are black accents already
white - probably fine and would disappear once dirty and scuffed up a bit

70sSanO

I’ve never known of any etiquette rules.

Over the years I’ve gone different directions, but I always try to match the straps to an accent color. Maybe housing color, or logo/lettering, handlebar tape color, etc.

Since there are few riders using toe clips and straps these days, putting some thought into it is important to me.

John

DiabloScott

Great idea.
More important than color, is the twist under the cage... don't want to look like some kind of toe clip tyro.
But don't thread it backwards or thread the loose end through the second buckle loop like this guy did - he got the twist right and everything else wrong.

steelbikeguy

yeah, I suppose if you are new to toe clips, the errors aren't immediately obvious.
There was one at a bike event that caught my eye... I can only assume that this bike is for display only.



Pretty impressive bike, though!

Steve in Peoria

SJX426 

Must have done that so the pedal would be "upright" with the crank vertical.

robertj298 

You need various colors so you can match the color of what you wear that particular day.

John E

Black? Red? White? Blue?


CycleAware mirror on my Giro XEN helmet.

1959 Capo with Nervar Star crank and Campag. 980 derailleur upgrades and new Brooks Pro saddle.

ShannonM

On this bike, with what's available for sane money and doesn't suck, I'd go with black.

I'm liking the Velo Oranges I just put on. (In brown, to match the bar tape.) Laminated, with a buckle pad, 25 bucks. They're a tight fit in the slots on MKS Sylvan quill pedals, so much so that I didn't twist 'em. Also digging the Soma 2-gate double toe clips in the XL / deep size. I'm a daily short-distance commuter with a non-office job and size 13 feet, so a setup that plays nice with my work shoes is critical.

Now the question becomes, is anyone making cool-looking strap buttons?

--Shannon

thinktubes 

tgot 

Q: What about the Bow?
A: If something falls off the bow of the boat, just call 'Stern' so that folks are looking in the right direction.

tkamd73 

Not red! Try tan, white or black. Match the saddle, tape, or decals, not the frame, unless it is Celeste.
Tim

79pmooney

Way off topic but: a Colnago replica with over the BB cable guides and braze-on FD mount? Did that ever happen?

79pmooney

What's the beef with red? (I've only had one red pair, but they were Bindas and Bindas are good in any color (and the worst colored Binda strap is far better than 99% of what's out there). (Says he who pulls up hard on straps and makes even the very best "consumables". Eventually the buckle teeth dig grooves in the leather and they start slipping. Bindas went a full season in my big miles racing days. Christophes and Zephals 3 months now. I wouldn't even put them on my bike back then. I've never gotten cloth or plastic straps to not slip from the get-go.)

Roger M

Thanks for all of your input. Black it is.

Phil_gretz

I can't speak for Tim's reasons, but mine is purely an aesthetic one. Going all "matchy" is tricky, and usually not done right. My wife and I raised two daughters. Needless to say, I had to adapt to "girl things" as they grew. It was a learning experience.

In the area of fashion, I learned that matching an outfit can be done from shoes to hat, but that the one must tone down the color intensity to make this work. That's why fashionable folks who attempt monochrome use less saturated colors or a palette of creams, pale rose or peach, lighter greys, etc.

So, to the red, it's too strong of a color to go monochrome with the accents. That's why the tan sidewalls work so well on it. Anyway, this is probably more than you'd like to know, but that was my reason for voting against red in this application.