A Little Touch Up
I did a little touch up painting on the Hillborne the other day. I fall somewhere in the middle between those who perfectly match the paint and carefully apply multiple coats (perhaps even sanding between coats), and those who just let the inevitable chips multiply until the rust gets out of hand.
The paint formula came from the RBW Owners Bunch and it calls for 3 drops of Boyd “Orange Pearl” and 1 drop of Testors 1114 Yellow modeler’s enamel. I ended up needing more yellow, and even at 50/50 the touch-up mix was a little too orange (see photo), but it was close enough for me. The main thing is to keep the frame from rusting, and from more than a couple of feet away, the touch up spots pretty much disappear.
How about you? Do you touch up every little chip shortly after it appears, or do you let them accumulate until the rust sets in?
20 Responses to “A Little Touch Up”
Next time, try adding a little white. It’s hard to tell on my uncalibrated monitor, but I think you have almost the right color, but the wrong tint.
i use clear nail polish to protect the frame. the chips add character to mudflap, my atlantis.
Like Todd, I enjoy the rugged character of a bike with a few chips. To hold back the rust, I dab a little grease on any exposed steel every once in a while. Though I think I might switch to the clear nail polish.
I also wrapped my top tube in bar tape (because that is where the Toronto bike lock-ups rub up against the frame) to avoid further chips in the most common spot.
I bet you’re right, Jeff. I’ll have to pick up some white.
Thanks,
Alan
My frame is chromed underneath the paint, so I just let the chips accumulate. Adds character.
Depends. Mostly I just let it chip and leave it.
My bike is starting to accumulate some dings. While I don’t mind the ding I’d like to avoid the rusting. Is clear nail polish heavy enough? Is there something that is a little heavier, more permanent than that?
To maintain sanity, I let go of a lot. If I tried to rectify all the imperfections on my bike, I would get too anxious to enjoy myself. I think we all have an inner threshhold on such things. My car and house are in similar states of “good enough.”
My aluminum bike manages to subdue concerns about corrosion and rust. My steel frame has always been neglected, so at 20 years of age, there could be all kinds of rust inside, I don’t know. If my next bike ends up being steel, I will be more proactive, I can tell you that.
David,
Back in my fly fishing days we used Sally Hansen’s “Hard as Nails” for repairing chips in carbon fly rods as well as on heads of steelhead flies. It’s tough stuff that should be fine for touching up a bike.
Alan
With my old bikes I’m more concerned with keeping surface rust at bay than perfection. If they look good for 6′ away is good enough for me. I’ve touched up many old bikes and often carry the fork into the hobby shop to match paint. Schwinn used a reddish brown under-coat, so lighter colors (yellow Collegiate) require an undercoat primer touch up (I use white). Needless to say my favorite bike color is black: Testors Gloss Black or Flat Black.
A trick that I find helps with touch up is instead on using a brush to apply touch up paint, is to use the torn off end of a match from a match book. Dab the torn off end in tha paint and dab into the scratch or chip. For metallics and pearlescent paints this method allows the paint to flow out more naturally, not leaving the streaks of brushing.
I’ve never touched up any of my bikes. My bikes are pretty much all beaters, though, and if I had a Rivendell I’m sure I’d feel differently.
I used to touch up with clear nailpolish on my old steel bikes. That way the rust is stopped, and there is no worry about mathcing colours.
I have been riding an aluminum Cannodale for the lat 10 years, so no rust, adn I let the chips and scratehs fall as they may.
i am now on a beef gravy brown Cross-check, which is too new for sratches – but if they happen, i think it’ll just be nailpolish.
Barry
I touch up my bike after every winter ride, sometimes in the late spring when the tempiture stays constantly warm. My bike is black and you would think that it would be easier to touch up, but that has not been the case. I have used enamel paint and spray paint. Mostly spray paint for large removable parts, then I clear coat twice. But last year I wrote to the manufacture of my bike and asked them if they would send me a bottle of the paint they used to paint my bike. To my surprise they did. So this year I am going to use this and see what the difference is. A friend of mine strips his down once a year, takes it to a auto body shop and has it powder coat painted. That’s over the top. :-)
The first bike that I ver bought for myself had a stainless steel frame with powdercoating on top. Zero maintenance necessary. :-)
My current bikes have aluminium frames, which are also powdercoated. Again zero maintenance so far.
My impression is that powdercoating is a bit thicker but _much_ less vulnerable than paint. Sure, it accumulates some scratches over the years but it doesn’t chip and it takes years of constant rubbing to wear through.
I think that powdercoating makes a lot of sense for utility bikes. I gave a Rivendell Sam Hillborne and while the paint is gorgeous, it is very thin and fragile. I don’t use my Riv as a utility bike per se, but even the weekend rides leave their share of chips.
I love the ride of steel bikes, so if I were looking for a new commuter or cargo hauler I’d look at powder coated steel before aluminum, but would stay away from painted steel.
Hi Pete,
I too like the toughness of powdercoating. I love the way paint looks, but it is certainly more fragile. It seems it’s better than powdercoating for showing off lugs because it lays down thinner.
Alan
I’m always puzzled when people talk about frame rust as a danger to the metal. Rust on the frame is a cosmetic issue, not a structural issue, in my experience.
I was so happy to see this post. Somehow it never occurred to me to mix my own paint. For a couple of years now, I”ve wanted to touch up the many scratches, scrapes, and chips on my ancient steel bike (well, I’ve it’s 17 years old, and it has been my everyday ride for about four).
It wouldn’t have occurred to me to use model paint, either. I was thinking of looking for an exterior paint for metals at a paint store. A tiny bottle of model paint would make a lot more sense. How well do the model paints hold up?
Hi Larry,
I’ve been using modeler’s enamel (mostly Testors) for touching up bikes going all the way back to the 1970′s. I’ve found it holds up quite well.
Alan
Alan,
I do touch-ups on my custom Rodriguez (rodcycle.com). Luckily, R & E Cycles is about three miles from my home so it’s easy to get some of the paint actually used on my bike from them. So far, my LHT paint has been holding up remarkably well, but if it does chip, I may just let it be a rugged utility bike. That me be easier said than done for fussy me…we shall see when the time comes.