cudak888 

*Prays that the OP hasn't simply ignored this thread and run off to the painters*

-Kurt

canyoneagle

*Hopes OP will post pics if he did*

chadwebster

you should need a license to own high end classic road bikes, it would eliminate a lot of face palms ...and save the bikes of course

canyoneagle

People should also be prohibited from restoring classic cars with such ruinous things as paint jobs.

MikesChevelle

yeah who would do that.........

WNG

Hotness!!

cudak888 

I saw an EXTREMELY intact '56 Lincoln Premiere with original Flamingo paint not long ago. Had two small dents, and paint peeling off two aluminum scoop fittings. Otherwise, one of the best all-original, unrestored examples I've seen.

Guess where it was? In front of a body shop

-Kurt

P.S.: That Chevelle isn't a restoration. Swap the wheels? Non-original paint color? No longer a resto.

chadwebster

what i meant was "restoring" what does not need restoring....i restored my 67 el comino because it needed it, not because it had a 2 scratches on it

canyoneagle

Yep. It's no longer a resto.
I'm fine with that, as long as the original car wasn't a particularly special model. Same for bikes. Bikes such as the topic of this post should (IMO) ONLY be restored to original spec, if at all.

cudak888 

Oh, I can see where it would be nice to build it up with Campag 50th - nothing against that. Just the same, if someone wanted to put DA 7900 on it, there's nothing reversible about it. But a paint job?

-Kurt

canyoneagle

meh, to each his own, I guess. I see no foul with a proper resto paint job in the spirit of the original. But, then again, I'd be the guy to have a Rene Herse stripped and re-painted (in Boulder, of course) if I thought it needed it.

I totally hear the argument for preservation of the original to the extent possible, but at the end of the day, we are talking about a bicycle that should be enjoyed and ridden. If a fresh paint job helps ensure another 20 years of use, why not?

canyoneagle

Oh, now that's just wrong!

MikesChevelle

What would you term it then? Didnt know it had to go original to be a resto.

chadwebster

its called a resto mod.

jtgotsjets

I think the previous comments in this thread speak for themselves—there are plenty of people ready and willing to ride that bike as-is for 20 additional years.

Frankly I see only two reasons for refinishing a bike.
1) The finish is so bad that it has actually become a preservation issue. If the bike won't be around in five years due to rust issues, by all means, stop that oxidation in its tracks and repaint.
2) You're building up a practical bike. A beater, a townie, a utility bike, an expedition tourer, a grocery-getter, a foul-weather rider, a commuter. All of these likely include "abuse" in the standard job description. By all means, throw a powdercoat on it. (Just don't expect me to buy it when you want to upgrade in a year.)

Of course, there's always the third reason, which I suspect is the case here:
3) You really, really want to. Maybe you are a perfectionist and can't deal with scratches, maybe you've just always wanted to ride a day-glo orange bike. At the end of the day, nobody can stop you (and for most mid-level bikes, nobody will care!).

ph0ust

hi everyone. thanks for the comments. what you can't see in the pics is how much crappy touch up paint there is that is not even close to the original color. if there wasn't so much of that, i'd probably just try and clean it up and touch it up.

i'm not a bike collector. i bought this bike because it is a great frame, i got a great deal and it should last a lifetime. i plan to ride it like any other bike.

with that said, i want it to be clean and look nice. i'm not at all concerned with resale value as i have no desire to sell it. if i ever chose to, however, there is nothing i could do to it that would result in me not being able to sell it for more than i bought it for.

i'm going to some powdercoaters to see if they could do the job the right way- mask off the lugs, get the color right. if not, sounds like a wet paint job is the way to go.


oh yea, one more question though- are these frames entirely chromed underneath the paint? it looks like it is from some of the chipped areas (you can see chrome in places the paint chipped off). if the entire frame is chromed, it would be interesting to see if the lugs on the rest of the frame can be left chromed like the ones on the headtube. thanks.

SJX426 

I went through the same thinking process with the 83 Superissimo I purchased over a year ago. I decided, thanks to this forum, not to repaint. I did strip everything down and did the acid bath for the rust. Then just waxed and polished.

Here is what it looked like after clean up: https://s985.photobucket.com/albums/a...0Up%20Colnago/

This is close to what it looks like as a regular rider: https://s985.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20and%20Blue/

Scratches and such after clean up: https://s985.photobucket.com/albums/a...imo/Scratches/

snarkypup

Re: touch-up paint. How does one find this? What does one do with it? How does one prep for it?

My older Shogun has some spots where the paint is completely off and the frame is rusting, or if I'm lucky, the paint doesn't exist but the frame is just bare. I want to clean up this frame before I start the rest of the rebuild. I ain't bathing anything in acid. It's just not going to happen. So, that said... how do I best clean it up? What polishes? I get the Scratch X and I remember someone mentioning lemon oil furniture polish first. But what do I do with the rust? I can clean the chrome with fine gauge steel wool and some chrome polish. No problems there. It's the paint I'm unsure about. It's pretty dang beat up in spots. How do I find a good color for a thiry year-old bike? It's dark blue and sort-of sparkly, if you know what I mean. I fear any touch-up paint would look hideous, given the amount of it necessary. Thoughts?

Thanks.

chadwebster

you are failing, sorry but that is a very nice bike you are destroying the originality of, and it will likely be stolen oh so fast when you lock it up as a commuter bike...just sayin...

ph0ust

how is painting it a classic colnago color destroying originality? i would agree with you if i painted it pink or something, but painting it with a classic colnago color hardly seems to harm it in any way.


has anyone ever heard of a powdercoater that can do saronni red? i really would like to get a high quality powdercoat, but i don't want to get some random color that ends up being not much like saronni.

also, anyone know if the whole frame is chromed underneath the paint?


btw, i bought this after my road bike was stolen. i now lock it up with a kryptonite fahgettaboutit that weighs almost half what the bike weighs. that lock sucks to carry around, but the only way someone is taking the frame of the bike is if they cut the steel tubing!

chadwebster

you are hurting the originality because you are removing the original paint, and re painting/coating a diff. color, i dont know why that does not make sense to you. Even if the color is 100% colnago red, it was not the color of the bike originally and its not the original paint obviously...and that would keep me from buying it if it were to be for sale

rhm

Hey ph0ust, I'd cast my vote with the "no paint!" party, but I recognize I'm not entitled to vote. Your bike and all. But before you powercoat, let me offer a suggestion:

I'd suggest you get a good (good color) touch up paint; take a knife to one or two of those annoying wrong-color spots, remove the wrong color touch up paint, and try out the new stuff. Do the job right; build up the new paint until it stands proud from the old; let dry for a long time (weeks); mask the old and sand the new down until it's flush; remove the mask and sand again, with ultra-fine paper, until all scratches are gone; wax and polish. You have nothing to lose, since the existing paint has no value to you. I believe you can fix every imperfection to your satisfaction; and I believe you will get more satisfaction out of fixing the original paint than you will out of a repaint. I could be wrong; but please, give it a try. If you try my suggestion, and don't like the result, you can always go powdercoat. If you go powdercoat, and don't like the result, well, then where will you be?

Most of us have had the experience of finding the perfect bike, and thinking we'll keep it for ever, only to find a more perfect bike later on. I know, you don't believe that time will come; but I believe it will. And when that time comes, you will wish you hadn't repainted.

bigbossman 

Go ahead and have a good bike painter do the finish, and you'll not lose any value and have a very pretty bike.

I've seen enough of the same bikes both in pics and then in person to know that they always look worse in person than in pics. Even beater bikes can look very good in photos, so if a lot of problems are evident in the photos, it probably looks a lot worse standing in front of you. It's not an incredibly rare, one of a kind bike, so paint it and be happy. I wouldn't powercoat, though - go through the trouble and expense to get a good wet-paint and clearcoat.

23skidoo

+1

I've had five vintage frames professionally restored--three by Joe Bell and two by Matt Assenmacher--and only one of them would be considered a 'true' restoration by folks who seem to be drawing a very tight circle around what constitutes a restoration. Three, all vintage Treks, were repainted with DuPont Imron and restored with period-correct maker and tubing decals, but the paint colors chosen were a collaborative choice between the painter and me and all, IMHO, much nicer than the original Trek color selections. Is that some heresy? Like bigbossman, I urge the OP to avoid powdercoating his Colnago and to seek out the advice of one of the many excellent restoration frame painters; it's going to cost several times what a powdercoat would, but the finished product is well worth the additional expense.

toytech

I say paint it, if it was something rare and unique- and extremely valuable I would say no, but any bike frame worth up to say arbitrarily 500 bucks while not cheap, is still worth a lot less than most similar quality new ones. Just enjoy your bike the way you see fit. You should not need our approval.