rhm

My first thread in this forum started with the assumption my bike needed to be repainted, and everyone jumped on me saying "no way, don't touch that finish!" And I think that has been good advice. I'm glad I followed it.

Still... every now and then one can't help fantasizing how nice a bike would look with new paint. So show us the ones that weaken your resolve!

No worries, I wouldn't dream of painting this one:




Oh, it's green, by the way. Original polychromatic green over black enamel primer. Lovely, eh?

20grit

There are spots like that all over the top tube and a lot of nicks and scrapes to be found elsewhere. It has been tempting from time to time to repaint it.

ColonelJLloyd 

dbakl

That's really sweet looking. Here's a repaint (the Legnano), but there was nothing left of the original. The 50s Carlton has an amateur repaint as bought on ebay, though not original it was done in the spirit of the original; I kinda like it. I've added some decals and building it up now.

ColonelJLloyd 

This Gazelle will be powdercoated. Not sure what color yet. It's on the back burner.

randyjawa 

Bottecchia Giro d'Italia. Legnano Gran Premio.

Both of these bikes are a problem for me to decide on. I think I will paint the Bottecchia and leave the Legnano as found...


The near complete absence of art makes the Bottecchia decision a bit easier...

jstewse

I've got a couple of these.


DSC_0227 by jstewse, on Flickr


DSC_0232 by jstewse, on Flickr
That's not even the worst of it.


'78 Raleigh Competition GS by jstewse, on Flickr


DSC_0171 by jstewse, on Flickr

It's called patina. You can't replicate that. Of course fresh powdercoat is always tempting, good thing it's pretty much out of my spending range on these things.

Roger M

khatfull

My 75 Fuji Professional is currently at the painter. Without the below issues I would NOT have repainted it.








Not quite as bad as the pics make it look. Not as deep anyway.

-holiday76

I think some people here (ahem) missed the point right? You want us to post pics of frames we decided NOT to paint, right?

If so I do have a few and will shortly.

-holiday76

this frejus is faded and has a really bad touchup job in some spots, but the decals are beautiful and the paint that is there is in excellent shape. It will not get repainted

-holiday76

this bridgstone has got very bad rust on the top tub from dripping sweat from being on a trainer. So bad that the cable guides are probably toast. however, the rest of the paint is in excellent shape. i don't really have a good pic to show the damage. It's been stripped down and gotten an OA bath.



Still torn on this one. It's not an uncommon bike and won't lose value by getting a powder coat, so that might be the right path. It will be up to it's new owner, a good friend of mine.

-holiday76

I overhauled my dad's best friends '72 Fuji Finest. It was in pretty bad shape when I got it and still holds onto a lot of the signs from it's past.



before:




good thing I didn paint it. The patina is really what helps define the bikes character in this case.

3alarmer 

Eventually, I'll probably mask off the decals and smooth out the
primered spots, then do as good a job of matching up the original
blue as I can and just bite the bullet and spray it.

I think this Stella is a step beyond "patina".

Velognome 

Well, I fell better about her patina now

soccerwuedo5

Completely off-topic, but what is your stem/bars combo on this bike?? I have a 25" Schwinn and the bars I have look too tiny and feel cramped both narrow and shallow. Yours look like they would be perfect for my dilemma!

ColonelJLloyd 

It's shown with a Cinelli 64-42 bar and 130mm 1R stem, I think. I sold the combo; it's not my preference.

SteveSGP

I painted my 1977 Super Grand Prix, it had a fair bit of light rust under the paint so I didn't feel bad about painting it.

Besides the fact that it's not an exotic so it'll never be worth much anyways.

dbakl

Dang, wouldn't mess with that!

20grit

I have a 130mm stem on my Gazelle and some deeper drops to go with them. They seem to fit the bill for me perfectly since I have a longer torso/arms. Give it a try if you feel cramped on yours. Can't be any worse that what you have now?

sailorbenjamin

This one needs paint someday but I'm putting it off;

I really love this one, just the way it is. Maybe I'll even varnish it to keep it that way. Would that be dumb?

No regrets here. The third paintjob was falling off in sheets. I sanded carefully to try to find traces of the original. It was all gone. It's in primer now.

olek

I have almost decided to powdercoat this one but changed my mind and instead, just extensively touched it up, followed of course by wet-sanding and polishing. There is still plenty of character left, but now it is ... mellow

Before (as it was after unpacking the box and re-assembly):











After (not quite done yet, just found semi-matching paint for light blue sections):









A little nicer, huh?

Now, not so great news - there are still about hundred of tiny rust bubbles around, mostly under top tube, but not only. I may need to attend to it later, in a year or two, and maybe will repaint just to get rid of rust. Just maybe. Do not feel the urge anymore.

khatfull

See Olek? I told you it would be worth touching up.

When you get a chance let me know what you used for the light blue touchup...got a pic of that headtube after?

Looks great man!

olek

Keith, I just started today to work on light blue section. Still 2 more layers of paint to go, 2-stage wet-sand, 2-stage polish, protectant and wax Pictures should be available in couple of days.

I am not 100% happy with the paint match, but it is close enough. Shades of light blue (unlike darker blue) are very poorly represented in Dupli-color paints.
I use Duplicolor NGFM347 (Ford Light Denim Blue), it is too 'silverish', but will do. Duplicolor Light Blue Mica (BGM0539) may match better, but is available only in spray form, and I wanted convenient paint in a bottle.
I do not understand why light blue paint is so scarce in auto stores - there are plenty of relatively new light blue cars around those days.

BTW - for darker blue paint, Chrysler Sapphire Blue Pearl paint turned out to be way too dark, I ended up using Duplicolor Twilight Blue BFM0294 - much better match.