thedon

I have a burnt orange Trek Portland, I have multiple chips in the paint that bug me, is there any way to touch them up?

It would have to be a perfect paint match or it will just annoy me more, I am no optimistic about finding a solution to this problem.

diesel_dad

Some have suggested nail polish. For my Bridgestone, Tremclad all the way.

tsl

I wouldn't be optimistic either, considering the paint is metallic. There's no way to match upmteen different shades that vary depending on the angle of the light. On the other hand, any shade applied could be close enough.

AEO

I don't know the American equivalent to Canadian Tire... But automotive/body shops will usually carry a nice variety of spray paint or touch up pens for cars. There's a ton of shades to choose from, and they also come in metallic.

If your portland is similar in colour with tsl's portland...
You can try some brake caliper/high heat paint. It's looks pretty close to copper metallic. Which is pretty close to copper grease colour.

Seamless

Check with your dealer. When I bought each of my bikes (and cars, BTW), I placed an order for touch-up paint because chips are inevitable, and much later the paint is hard to locate. Even though the match may not blend perfectly, it's better than an off-color or leaving the metal unprotected. Depending on the finish, you may also need a topcoat.

bhchdh 

Auto-prts store. You should be able to find something close.

darrencope

An option is to use clear nailpolish. As you say, it's impossible to match perfectly, so at least protect it with something!

ginsoakedboy

I'm watching this post closely for some useful information. I picked up a near-perfect 1984 Raleigh Portage touring bike. This is one that someone bought and just sat it in their garage for 20 years. The only problem is a couple of tiny paint chips in the frame that I'm trying to figure out how to fix.

I think I'm going to visit a body shop to see what they would do if someone brought in a car with some nicks. There has to be a way to match paint - hopefully the solution is affordable.

One of the shop guys at the LBS suggested the little bottles of model paint from the hobby store -- apparently these are available in a pretty good range of colors.

Beyond finding a color matched paint, how do you accomplish the repair? Do you just fill in the chip, or do you need to do some sanding of the area and feather/blend the new paint?

AEO

I've painted quite a few things before...
for paint chips... just put some similar paint on it. Trust me, it's way easier.

If you want to do a really thorough job. Use bondo filler for chips or dents.
Bondo is VERY messy and SMELLS really horrid.
You don't need to put primer on bondo, because it acts as one.
Sand away the surrounding area a bit with 320grit. apply some bondo, sand with 400grit. repeat until it's flat. paint it with multiple layers of thin coats, keep coating until you can't see any bondo/primer. If you screw up the paint job, wait for it to dry first, then sand down with 600grit or better to remove the blemish. Put multiple layers of clear coat on top. Clear coat takes about 1week to fully cure.
It's very time consuming to do this process, since paint usually takes a few hours to days to dry properly.

Aluminum doesn't really corrode away like steel does. Steel will rust and stick to aluminum though.
If you want to use model paint, be sure it's at least water proof. Enamel or water base is good. Oil base can react in strange ways with clear coat, which is usually oil based.

MnIceBiker

Hobby shops sell every variety of color in small quantities. The one I went to was nice enough to let me bring my bike inside to match the color.