In recent weeks the team has been faced with one of the most difficult decisions it is forced to make: what custom paint scheme to use on our Garneau framesets that get magnificently painted in the Garneau Dream Factory. It is a topic that provokes intense discussion within the team every single year. And yet every single year the Dream Factory manages to nail our vision, delivering framesets that we're proud to race. Before the big reveal of our fifth generation paint scheme (which for the first time will be applied to a disc road bike) we decided to take a look back at all four generations of paint scheme the team has ridden, going way back to our first year riding Garneau bikes in 2014. 

The ClassicS: First Generation Dream Factory Paint Schemes

In many ways our first generation of Garneau Dream Factory frames, designed and ordered in 2014, remain our favorites. As bike aesthetics have evolved the paint layouts are perhaps a bit aged but we believe those original paint schemes largely stand the test of time - the matte baby blue, cream and navy just worked. Indeed through all of the epic mid-race crashes and intra-team bike trading there are still a number of these bikes trolling the rough New York City streets several years later. 

Adding Some GLoss to the Mix with the Second Generation

For our second generation of Garneau Dream Factory frames the team was still racing the Garneau R1 but this time we went with a blockier paint layout developed by the Dream Factory. The colorway did not change much compared to our first generation as we stuck with a blend that matched our kit design at that time - baby blue, cream and a deep rich navy - though we did introduce a high gloss finish to several of the paint schemes. Both of the bikes pictured here are still trolling the city streets albeit it under new riders for the 2018 season.

Getting muddy by adding the Garneau Steeple-X to the mix

Shortly after shifting to our generation two paint job the team demoed and ultimately added Garneau's Steeple-XC cyclocross bike to our collection of race machines. Thankfully with the Dream Factory paint scheme already in place for that generation of bikes it was easy to take the layout used in our Garneau R1's and apply it to the Steeple-XC. Through endless hours on singletrack, a few road conversions for winter riding and of course some long and hard cyclocross seasons these bikes have continued to perform. And we never get tired of the absolutely massive tire clearance they provide.

Getting Aero with the introduction of the Garneau A1 (THird Generation)

Our third generation of Dream Factory frames is when things got really exciting as we made the switch from the Garneau R1 to the aerodynamically focused Garneau A1. With a completely new frame shape we went back to the drawing board entirely when developing our third generation paint scheme. In the end we abandoned the classic baby blue and cream and instead went with a darker shade of navy and a tone on tone matte/glossy scheme that we found particularly understated and elegant. There are a limited number of bikes of this generation floating around but you will certainly see a few of them during the 2018 road campaign. 

Going Vibrant with the Color shifting A1 and Steeple-XC (Fourth Generation)

After going with an understated look for our third generation Dream Factory paint scheme we decided to go in the complete opposite direction for our fourth generation design. Thus for the 2017 season we introduced the loudest and most vibrant colorway we have ever used. In the end the final product, particularly when applied to the Garneau A1, is perhaps the scheme we love more than any other if we were forced to choose. Especially in the late afternoon New York City light the variety of blues and purples is just stunning:

Of course when you have a paint scheme that comes out this brilliantly we couldn't help but spray up the Garneau Steeple-XC in a similar colorway. It came out beautifully - so much so that we almost hesitated to get it muddy (but not for long - we shredded trails with the bike the morning after these photos were taken).

We are only a few weeks out from receiving our next generation Garneau bikes. Stay tuned for the big reveal of our 2018 paint schemes on the To Be Determined Journal soon(ish).