The icon of an iconic color gives a lesson in Casually Deliberate. 1
In grade school, a teacher once asked me to name my favorite color, a query to which I responded with the only logical answer for any prepubescent boy surrounded by scary girls in a small classroom: “Celeste.”
“No, you have to pick a real color.”
While the rest of the world believes the most iconic color in Cycling is made-up, our little world is fascinated by it’s legend. Bianchi once proposed to do away with the color and replace it with another more usual hue and the public overwhelmingly rejected the notion, permanently cementing that particular shade of hangover-green as the official color of the brand.
No one knows the origin of the color, but there are two prevailing theories on the matter. The first is that Eduardo Bianchi matched the color to the Queen of Italy’s eyes, whom he was teaching to ride a bicycle. I don’t buy this theory, personally. I mean, this was before color photography or the internet and no one has a good enough memory to match a color to anything without having a photo to work from. It’s too far-fetched.
The other theory is that Eduardo needed paint and was feeling a bit pinchy with the pennies when he came across an enormous quantity of gray and blue paint at a price – possibly from the Italian Navy which was trying to unload an inventory of paint after it realized that fighting a war on the seas is the worst kind of war you can fight because you have to ration the vino rosso. Eduardo mixed the two colors and out came this iconic shade.
My beloved Bianchi TSX is red, a fact which has me constantly wondering whether I should have it repainted in celeste. A red Bianchi? I love that bike, but who let that sneak out of the factory? My other beloved Bianchi, my XLEv2, is black and yellow with celeste lettering. When I ordered it, the owner of the bike shop – Grand Performance in Saint Paul, Minnesota – pressed me on the fact that only the black frames were available as all the celeste ones had been sold. He wound up giving me a discount out of pity.
I love the fact that no one I interact with outside the Cycling world has any idea that this color exists, or that legends have formed around its existence. These are the sorts of things that separate us from the masses. Vive la Vie Velominatus.
1 Fausto is not, in fact, riding a Bianchi in this photo. The photo is simply too rad not to use, and its black and white.
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I find myself loving the colour one day and hating it on others. My local shop near my work is a Bianchi dealer and I will likely be buying a new bike about this time next year. The question for me is can I handle riding a celeste bike every day? Am I better off getting a black Oltre with celeste highlights? Given my opinion of the colour changes with my mood at the time this makes it a tough question. That and I do like the look of the Propels...
@wiscot
Or, worse, Trek Factory Racing 2013:
Yes, it's a shade more blue than true celeste, but sweet Merckx, Coppi, and Gimondi -- have some respect.
A vintage steel Bianchi can only be one colour - Celeste, but a modern carbon
... you have options there. Eg;
Have 4 Bianchi, Steel celeste, Carbon Celeste, Carbon black with Celeste markings and Aluminum with no celeste but at least has classic panels. In a world that was Titanium grey for years and now is Black or Flat Black it still stands out even when unpopular. Ferarri Red, Mercedes Silver, Belgian Blue, Merckx Orange, Wilier Copper, etc. Who will remember Specialized black, BMC Black w/red, Trek USPS Blue?
Think Ulrich in that classic Bianchi retro jersey. Maybe not the best, cutting edge bike, but they handle great and everyone who buys a non-celeste always regrets it.
@wilburrox
My name just happens to be Celeste. Really. So I can only love the color. And my bike is a Colnago, and it is pink. Tragic, no?
@frank
Ah but the Italians call it melanzane (mel-uhn-ZAR-nay) and it just sounds delicious. Properly prepared they have a beautiful creamy texture and can soak up flavours.
Aubergine is the essential ingredient of moussaka, which is an authentic classic so if you think you have more culinary nous than two thousand years of Greek and Italian grandmothers then you go right ahead and tell them.
As for being bitten by snakes, in Australia you can suffer multiple deadly injuries from snakes, spiders and crazy birds just walking to the bus stop. Fucking attention-seeker.
@Teocalli
that´s exactly what I thought. i had a nice steel lugged one from probably the 70-es, but was way to young to appreciate it. then swapped it for another steel one in celeste but with the yellow fading paint scheme like il pirata had on his one after he won the giro and the tour.
i´ll have to give the new owner a call these days...
Here are my Bianchis, both built with identical 1997 Columbus TSX-UL frames.
That's one lovely bike, but I'm also hugely impressed by the massive cactus in next-door's garden!
@Oli
pardon my Shamal-bone. More awesome steeds!