I’d also agree that a single colour looks better. I’ve got an old 2002/3 Patriot in Black with a Grey swingarm. It’s not that great looking. My old 2006 Five (sadly broken) was ‘Laser Blue’ with a silver swingarm. A wee bit better looking than the Patriot, but be warned that what was a lovely ‘metallic’ effect, blue paint job on the main frame turned out to be the thinnest, and worst wearing of any bike I’ve owned. It just flaked off in big lumps. 🙁
My current Five is a 2009 model in Chrome Grey. As someone mentioned above, it’s very hard wearing and hides scratches well. The only downside of course is that it’s grey. Not even a colour in my opinion. 😥 At the time I was wrongly informed by the bike shop that Grey was the only colour available in the frame only option. 😕 However, just this week, I went all ‘Gok Wan’ on her and kitted her out with a whole raft of Hope kit that I’ve been collecting over the winter months. The dark Chrome Grey looks really good now with all her shiny red jewellery hanging from her. It appears to have even made me a better rider, as I cleaned a rooty step up last night that’s been irking me all winter. 8)
Oh, finally, a mate has just bought an all white (frame and fork) 2011 Orange Five. Again, I don’t count white as a colour, but the bike does look very handsome with everything matching so.
B.