paint prep question.
 

I am thinking about painting my Lemond. It really isn't in bad shape at all, but I have nothing to do and have always lusted after how the clear coat just flows over the decals. The joints on the Lemond is not really clean. How many of you have taken a file or sand paper to the joints. I have seen some frames over the years where the joints are absolutely clean and smooth. Do you think that weakens the joint? BTW, it a 853 frame.

Jeff

Are you talking about welded frames and not lugged frames? if so I back in the day we used bondo on the joints when customizing motorcycle frames, you can make them look flawless, looks just like fillet brazed joints when finished, and very lightweight. Just be sure the the area you want smoothed is bare metal so the plastic bonds well, and build up several thin layers of sandable primer to fill the sandpaper scratches in the bondo before a final sanding.

With all the twisting, pulling, and hitting big pot holes, do you think the bondo will stay?