Old 10-19-14 | 06:57 AM
  #19  
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DOS
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Joined: Feb 2008
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From: Arlington, VA USA
Originally Posted by Dreww10

This bike is the "BBQ" scheme, and the paint is more fragile than cheap toilet paper. Unfortunately my first big mistake was using a top-tube bike rack, and not realizing what such a rack can do to the paint. The entire length of the top tube looks like a peeled potato where the clear coat has been shredded away...it's soul-crushing..
I am surprised to hear that the paint has been so fragile. The paint on my CAAD7 has been very durable and my TT bike rack hasn't left a mark. After 10 years, I of course have scratch here and there, particularly the usual scars on the drive side chain stay. And I made the mistake of using a frame pump that mounted on top tube for along time. The mounting bracket for that wore the paint away clear down to the bare metal (I touched that up inexpertly with nail polish that closely matched the frame color, it looks ok and on the underside so not so visible.

Anyway, the bike industry is great at convincing consumers we need new for functional reasons when this year's technology offers, if any improvement in performance, only marginal improvement over last year's. But if your bike is dinged up and you just want a prettier version of what you have, that is a perfectly valid reason in my mind for buying a new bike. But if the expense is more than you can justify in your mind...

You could also look around ebay and Craigslist for lightly used CAAD10 frames. I know several people who ended up with like new frames by buying from people who had dropped a bunch of cash on bikes they ended up never riding. I mean in multiple cases these look like bikes right off the shop floor that had never been ridden. Buy just a frame and swap your current components over.

Or, again, have the bike powder coated. There are some guys who do amazing work so for not a lot of money you could have unique frame that you think is beautiful; and powder is very durable. Having it done might hurt future resale value but from what you describe, seems like the frame in current condition won't fetch much anyway.

Post a pic, I would be interested in seeing the damage from the bike rack.
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