As some of you
have read, I have a Mercian Strada Speciale on order, whilst I have the spec for this pretty nailed-down, I'm still agonizing somewhat over the paint colour choice and other decorative options - in particular whether or not to go for a "barber's pole". A barber's pole, whilst not unique to Mercian, does seem quite quintessentially a thing to have on a Mercian bike and I have liked the examples I've seen on other Mercians (mostly tourers or audax types), so was considering getting one put on my Strada Speciale road bike.
After looking through dozens of photos of Mercian's and other classic lightweights and having a think, I'm not so sure it's what I want for my road bike, though, partly because of the interesting lugs on the Strada e.g. the seat stay/seat tube lug, in particular, is something of a work of art and I think looks stunning when in a contrasting colour to a plain white seat tube, as here:
[click to expand]
Whereas with a barber's pole, this lug work potentially gets a bit "lost".
So I'm now thinking instead a barber's pole, just going for a full-length (pearl) white seat tube (and headtube), but with multiple coloured bands - either in the main colour or possibly red (if the main colour is not red or orange).
Something like this (I presume on this Professional, it was also to show of the lugs)
or
or
Alternatively, I'm also liking the traditional bands and panel look, especially in blue (wish I knew which Mercian blue the below was!):
BTW my bike will have a 53cm c-t frame, so the seat tube is not very long. which may also limit decorative possibilities a bit.
But would I be mad not go for a barber's pole if getting a Mercian? It seems to be the done thing...