At 9:25 AM +0000 10/17/09, rbw-owners-bunch group wrote:
>   I've applied a few coats of Bullseye amber shellac over yellow
>   Tressostar cloth tape but the look is considerably darker than my
>   almost brand new honey Brooks b17.  In fact, the bars more closely
>   resemble the Brooks antique brown color. Will the shellacked bars
>   fade?  Will the seat darken?

Matching handlebar tape and saddle on a bike that gets ridden is a 
futile undertaking. The shellac on the bar tape will not change 
color, but the saddle will. All my (Brooks) saddles eventually turn a 
very dark brown, almost black, no matter whether they started out 
black or honey.

I prefer to use the frame or decal color as a guide for the bar 
color, often using a complimentary color rather than matching it. (I 
once had a celeste Bianchis, but I steered clear of the celeste bar 
coverings, celeste brake cable housing, celeste saddles, celeste toe 
straps and celeste pump. Oh, I forgot the celeste water bottle.)

For example, a deep sky blue bike with red decals looks great with 
brick-colored shellac (yellow tape and ruby shellac). I accept that 
the saddle, like the tire treads, will be close to black. Plus, when 
you ride the bike, nobody sees the saddle anyhow, whereas the bars 
are a prominent feature.

Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
2116 Western Ave.
Seattle WA 98121
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com


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