OMG, don't laugh, I have a Disney Princess style bike

[lavendersun]

A cautionary tale ..... never choose your paint colour from a monitor in the shop.

Bloody hell, so, the frame maker doesn't issue swatches so I chose my colour from the screen in the shop.

I am gutted, mortified, etc., etc.. I am sure there must be a sickly green Disney Princess but I don't know the name.

I had a car that I loved the colour of a few years ago and the colour on the screen looked just like it .... not so much in the flesh. Car - vs bike photos attached for your amusement!

DH has already asked me when I am going to have it resprayed.

I can't wait to get it dirty!

Well, I am still obsessing about my frame (as you do). Looks different in daylight but I still think it is wrong.

Am about to email the shop first. Have measured the top tube and it is an inch shorter than my current bike which was the model for the fit. My current bike fits me perfectly. The head tube was made bigger but not the top tube!

I wish I had just splurged on a Mercian frame tbh right now. We have bought a few new bikes this year - the used ones are the only ones that haven't given us any grief.

Such a shame it's not right Lavender. Have you emailed them yet? Will be interested to see what they say!

I wimped out and let DH do it (he knows them better than me and is much more direct than I would be).

I think the top tube issue might have been resolved. DH said that the frame maker talked about the frame needing a longer stem to 'balance the bike' rather than the top tube being extended - all beyond me tbh, the fit of my existing bike was considered pretty good/couldn't really be bettered so I expected the same.

I just ride and let him do everything else, I am not massively interested in the detail!

We have had a response - they are sending a swatch and reckon that the colour difference is within the 'normal' range. Said that on their screen it looks more like 'celeste' which is your Bianchi colour isn't it Bea.

Have pointed out that they will not do it FOC if the swatch matches already so I guess I will end up living with it if that is the case.

How I wish I had known that I could have requested a swatch beforehand. DH had a bike from the same shop/maker earlier in the year and was told that they didn't issue them and to look online.

I suppose it might grow on me, now that I have got over the shock of the difference between the frame and my expectation I am getting used to it.

Apparently the top tube has been extended, just not as much as on my other bike due to geometry restraints (I am advised ).

I hate complaining, find it really awkward in a very British way.

Shouldn't they have told you that the top tube couldn't be extended that far though?

Did you go out yesterday? Dh got absolutely soaked, but it was too windy for me and ds anyway so we just got muddy trail running!

I don't know CMOT, if the colour is wrong I will get them to respray it and carry on. If not I will get DH to build it and ride it. Hopefully it works.

The LBS guy is really knowledgeable and got DH's bike spot on, I couldn't have a bigger frame because of standover height and it seems that the alterations were pushed to the max geometry wise.

I hope it is right, if not I will flog the frame next year and go to Mercian. Just the wait time that puts me off (9 months), they are not that much more cash really in the scheme of things.

No riding for me, home alone with DD and my other bike is in bits after a respray. We went to a very windy forest for a long walk.

OK, still no swatch in today's post. We are visiting family this weekend and planned on a long Sunday morning ride to escape the boredom.

The frame maker's response was that they were pretty certain that the bike was the right colour and 'that this is why people shouldn't rely on on screen images' (we were told that they didn't do swatches in case I didn't say that before).

So I think I am going to ask DH to build it on Friday if the swatch hasn't arrived, in the assumption I will be stuck with it. He could build my old one post respray I suppose but I would rather ride my new bike!

If the swatch arrived later on and it had been painted wrong do you think I would be able to return it for a respray still even though it had been built/ridden? I think I do, just canvassing opinions here.

Yes, just as if you built it and then realised they hadn't followed the sizing.

I was thinking of you yesterday as I trailed to Newmarket and back. Its such a rubbish journey from here there was plenty of time to think about bikes!

Thank you - build it is then!

Our drive is quite long - Norfolk side of Newmarket to North Yorkshire, we find it hard to do nothing and have planned a bike route for Sunday morning, arriving back in time for a shower and lunch .

The swatch arrived earlier, it is a match for the frame, perfect match. Who would have thought it. This was meant to be something I liked the look of rather than a spa steel tourer.

Never, ever trust a screen for colour, even their swatches are not tagged for colour matching, we just thought it would be OK because DH's was.