11 August 2009

Hammered and Painted Fenders

At Velo Orange they mention that their hammered and fluted Honjo fenders are inspired by Parisian bikes of the 40s and 50s.

What they don't mention is the personalization potential of the fluting. In the next month or so I need to find some aqua paint to match my frame. My hammered and fluted fenders will certainly be handpainted by me during my autumn tune-up.

vintage French fenders painted studded bike bicycle

I also like the contrasting color approach. On a light-colored bike this would be particularly nice, the butter yellow doesn't have enough contrast with the chrome. I have a nail polish that is just the right bright deep red this must have been originally, and the nail polish format would be very easy to apply.

original hammered fenders bike bicycle Paris

5 comments:

Velouria said...

Those are gorgeous fender close-ups. Please give updates on how the nailpolish project goes!

Charlotte said...

Oh, I'm just going to do aqua paint (to match my bike), but I think that red nailpolish would work well for another bike.

Velouria said...

Ah, I see. I put fluted Honjos on my mixte, and while I like the contrast of the aqua body and the "naked" fenders, I also love the idea of painting a thin matching stripe, like on the first photo you posted. Those are remarkable!

Cris C. said...

Charlotte, do you know a Mr. W from a local bike shop and more importantly do you know his Vanilla cross bike with the aquamarine paint job and matching Berthoud fenders? I think that they're another example of how color matched fenders can look really swell on a bike. Though, with that said, I think my own bike benefits from the contrast of shiny black and chrome.

Welcome back!

Dottie said...

Pretty! I would love to put red nail polish on mine, to match the red heart lugs on Betty Foy, but I'm pretty sure my hammered Honjo fenders are not fluted. Oh, well. I'm not very good at painting in the lines, anyway :)