Nail Polish
03-24-09 | 08:32 AM
#4
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 33,657
Likes: 1,119
From: Pittsburgh, PA
Bikes: '96 Litespeed Catalyst, '05 Litespeed Firenze, '06 Litespeed Tuscany, '20 Surly Midnight Special, All are 3x10. It is hilly around here!
Another source is Testors Model Paint which is available in a bewildering variety of colors at any well stocked hobby shop.
03-24-09 | 08:40 AM
#5
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 1,936
Likes: 0
I'm looking right now at some minor touch-ups I did on my bike more than 10 years ago. They still look the same now as they did then. I don't even really wax my bike, only use Pedro's Bike Lust on it. In my opinion, nail polish works fine for this, and it's easier to work with than model paint.
03-24-09 | 11:57 AM
#7
Black La Lane
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 317
Likes: 0
From: Maplewood, NJ
Bikes: EPX 303 (You probably never heard of it)
Colors vary production lot to lot color. Even with standard or branded colors, Like Bianchi's Celeste Green, the retouch paint size is so small that it would dry on the shelf up before sale, so they don't bother to make retouch available. So, I use Testor Mdole Paint too. The good news and bad news is there is a rainbow of colors to choose from so you may not get it right. My bike is bright yellow, and I find the Testor samples to be either too yellow, or too orange for an exact match. But is just a touch up, so it really does not matter. on nicked carbon clear polish works best. Just use a fine tipped brush and paint in tiny "dots" of paint until the area is filled. The light will fill in any inperfections producing the illusion of a natural finish. No, it won't look like new, but will be good enough.
03-24-09 | 12:50 PM
#8
Great State of Varmint
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 7,476
Likes: 18
From: Dante's Third Ring
And the name of the nail-polish that matches your frame will tell you what women think of your bike - and, by default, you! You THOUGHT you had a dark-blue frame? Nope - it's a Midnite Grope.
03-24-09 | 07:07 PM
#11
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 265
Likes: 1
From: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
We had a tandem that on the occasion of its first scratch turned out to be a perfect match with some nail polish from my wife's makeup kit that she used to call Come-F***-me Red. Agree it works way better and is more durable than you really think it has any right to be, considering.
A big loveable guy we know took the front end of his tandem frame (it has S&S couplers) to the cosmetics counter at the Hudson's Bay Company store. The young women behind the counter were thrilled to work on matching up a colour for him -- and they nailed it. Metallic green, no less....
A big loveable guy we know took the front end of his tandem frame (it has S&S couplers) to the cosmetics counter at the Hudson's Bay Company store. The young women behind the counter were thrilled to work on matching up a colour for him -- and they nailed it. Metallic green, no less....
03-25-09 | 08:08 AM
#12
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 33,657
Likes: 1,119
From: Pittsburgh, PA
Bikes: '96 Litespeed Catalyst, '05 Litespeed Firenze, '06 Litespeed Tuscany, '20 Surly Midnight Special, All are 3x10. It is hilly around here!
.
I was in CVS one day some years ago squinting without my
reading glasses at the tiny labels of a zillion bottles of
various shades of red when two of my daughters' high school
girlfriends nearly stumbled over me squatted down near the
botton of the display rack.
.
"Oh, hello, Mr. Wright. Doing your nails now, are you?"
.
Cheeky kids, both of them, but they sure did know their nail
polishes and with their help, I matched the red on my '88
Centurion Ironman Expert perfectly..
I was in CVS one day some years ago squinting without my
reading glasses at the tiny labels of a zillion bottles of
various shades of red when two of my daughters' high school
girlfriends nearly stumbled over me squatted down near the
botton of the display rack.
.
"Oh, hello, Mr. Wright. Doing your nails now, are you?"
.
Cheeky kids, both of them, but they sure did know their nail
polishes and with their help, I matched the red on my '88
Centurion Ironman Expert perfectly..
03-25-09 | 09:10 AM
#13
Great State of Varmint
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 7,476
Likes: 18
From: Dante's Third Ring
I wonder if they have a shade to match my weirdo Puch frame...Sounds like a fun afternoon jaunt. I'll just pour some sparkle from that old acid-party in my hair - and get my boom-box cued to play "I'm So Pretty." from West Side Story. Spare bail?
03-25-09 | 01:05 PM
#14
Ride on...
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 84
Likes: 0
From: Honey Brook, PA
Bikes: Just starting my collection.
This thread rocks! Haha! Great stories. I really wish I had a red bike now, Conspiratemus. I wonder what color my 78 Trek would be? The head tube is my avatar. Here is a better view (not mine, but same color)
Thinking about doing this on my 89 Raleigh Technium PRE. It has a few scratches on the top tube I would like to clean up. I am pretty sure my wife doesn't have black. I wonder what the pinkish-purple color for the trim would be?
Thinking about doing this on my 89 Raleigh Technium PRE. It has a few scratches on the top tube I would like to clean up. I am pretty sure my wife doesn't have black. I wonder what the pinkish-purple color for the trim would be?
Last edited by KJColumbo; 03-25-09 at 01:13 PM.
