So a week or so ago, I acquired a mixte frameset that was a bit more beat up than I'd expected. While I started out the thread asking for advice in what to do with it (sell, touch up, repaint, how?) it turned into a thread about whether or not I should get redress through e-bay. While I appreciated that advice (and did get into contact with the seller and got half the price refunded - which to me seems fair as the ad may have been misleading, but I also didn't need to buy it with such a bad ad), things seemed to stray from how to treat the frame if I didn't take action through ebay.

I decided the partial refund was fair and still have the frame, but now I need to decide what to do with it and figured I'd start a new thread so things wouldn't be all confused. So the frame is pretty banged up and the paint is a rather scratched and there's a bit of surface rust.

I've attached pictures below. In the previous thread, a poster said he might have a bath spot coming available (which might be nice as I live in an apartment and can't make my own), but I'm not sure that's still an option. Do I need to soak my frame in something to get rid of the rust before proceeding? Is there another alternative?

Is touching up the frame the best way to proceed?

Should I just get it powdercoated? If that's the route to go, is there a place near Boston that anyone knows of that would do it affordbly? The one place I found would charge $225 for fork/frame and another $50 to sandblast it first, and I don't think I'm interested in investing another $275 in this frame as cool as I think it looks (and maybe that's just me on it's coolness factor).

Should I just sell it to someone who wants to build up a beater mixte on CL and start again because it's not worth it? Any advice would be appreciated.

more photos:

Maybe some will disagree with me this frame just isn't worth a repaint. As good as it looks I would just clean it up real good. If you must you could just buy a can of black touch up in the can and carefully spray the bad spots and some nail polish do not laugh I have and have known several professional sellers that have touch up a minor scratch with nail polish.

The powder coat price quoted you is 2-4x what it costs here.
However, there may be rules/regulations/etc there that I don't know about, so I won't comment on the price.

The #1 thing to consider is what you are going to do with it.
Building a mixte is a unique and sometimes rewarding experience, and their cool factor is a given among those in the know....

If it's a keeper that will undoubtedly get ridden, and often, it's a worthy build, even if the investment is a little stiff.
If it's not, and you need to cut your losses and move on, well, only you can judge that. It may depend on what else is out there.

Let's say it's a keeper, and you want to touch it up.
Your best bet is to mask, sand, prep, and paint the tubing that you can get to without collateral damage.
IMO, it's beyond touchup in most places. Touchup on the fork and decaled tubing is tedious but can be done.

Let's say it's a keeper, and you want to restore it as what it is, decals and all. Find decals first, or nothing else matters.
Always consider the cost of decals, and one-off reproductions can get "up there," so figure $50 min, $100 max.
Once you locate decals, you decide on the paint/powder coat options, and the powder should be a lot cheaper, $100-$125.
You can line the head lugs yourself with a $6 paint pen from a craft store. You can probably rem/reset the headbadge.

Let's say it's a keeper, and you want it to stay a Fuji, look good, but not cost an arm and a leg. That would be my choice.
I'd definitely look around at cheaper powder coat options. Heck, you can ship it here, get it coated, and send it back for $150.
The first thing to do is pick some decals. Look at what's out there, there's a ton of Fuji decals, already made, that would look good.
Then, pick a color. If you're coating or repainting, you get to pick whatever color you want. Then get it done and go from there.

I'd be more specific, but that's for PM's. Here to help, as always, and others will chime in. We all have different ideas.

Clean it and wax it with black shoe polish, it'll have a nice 'patina'. If your trying to impress the misses with a vintage bike, you might want to consider a repaint. The Color Factory in Waretown NJ advertises to paint a frame and fork for $139.

Personally I'd clean a frame like that up and consider touching up the worst spots. A few good coats of wax and I think it'd make a fine bike. Another nicer mixte will show up eventually...

I wouldn't spend money to have it powder coated. Just sand out the rusty spots,and touch it up with primer and touchup paint. Then put it in good working order, and ride it around as a beater. The beauty of a crappy looking (but mechanically sound), is that it is less likely to be stolen. So if you ride to the T, or the store you won't have to worry about it being stolen when it is locked outside.

If the DT, HT, and ST are in OK shape, maybe you can mask those off while you tend to those stays and the fork with some more involved sanding and rattlecanning.

That way you'd preserve the nice pinstriping on the lugs, the stickers, and the character of the bike, while still preserving the rest of the bike. I doubt you'll have trouble getting a reasonable color match.

strip it get to sanding away on it.......

Stuff it full of 100 dollar bills and ride it to Mardi Gras!!!

It's hard to tell for sure from the photos, but it doesn't look like the rust is very extensive. If it's just rusty because the paint was chipped off (versus aggressive rust that bubbled through the paint,) a touch up will keep it in check, but it will always look touched up.

I happen to like patina, so I'd vote for that approach. The local powdercoater that I've dealt with charges $125 for a frame & fork including stripping.

Sorry, yeah, the idea was to make it a keeper for the wife. The decals aren't a huge deal and given that it's a semi-glossy black, color match shouldn't be an issue. It's definitely not worth the cost of sandblasting/powdercoating that I was quoted. For those who say sand it, do you mean just hit it with fine grit paper and rub the heck out of it, or am I going to need a powersander? I have no problem going with nail polish if that'll stick or if someone thinks I should go to an auto store and see if they have autobody touch up paint.

Again, though, I don't have a problem trying to sell it as is on CL (any estimates of what I should ask if I go that route? - sorry, I know there's a forum for that), as I'm not really all that invested in it. I like the lugs and I did like the crankset engraving, but the rings are 52-42 and that's just going to be too high for my wife, so it looks like I'll have to replace those and that's one more thing against keeping it. I really could go either way.

I know a lot of people say rattlecanning is very fragile and will constantly need to be redone as it flakes off. Would other types of paint have the same issue? Would I need to prime first?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm obviously a newb at this.

Yeah, I think it's just surface rust due to chipped paint. (I think PO had his wife ride it year round in NYC, so lots of bangs, coupled with some snow/salt).

I don't think my wife would mind the look of touch up and a bit of patina, but in its current form, it looks too much for me and looks like it'll keep getting worse.

In that case, powder coat it in a color of her choosing, build it up to her requirements, and bask in marital bliss for a little while.

If you're gonna sell it, toss it up on eBay as-is with good pictures and a good description. It is a bit on the rough side, but mixte frames sell pretty well there.

/thread.

It's good to hear you're satisfied with the seller. That's a difficult balance to find and you show a lot of maturity in being able to get there.

I started sanding on my rusty fuji today....good luck!!!

quoted for truth!

I just wish powdercoating were cheaper around here. Maybe I need to search a bit harder, because $275 for a sandblast and powdercoat just isn't happening on this frame. At that point, I'd just sell this for what I can get and get a brand new Soma Buena Vista for like $420 or whatever.

Sand the rough rusty stuff and brush paint it with gloss black oil based enamel. Work around the decals.
Take a 3/4" flat synthetic art brush and take your time. I hang the bike up by the seat. I dont bother with removing the fork or headset. Paint around the decals. Its a lot easier than you might think. Oil based paint flows out and levels when it drys. The orange gitane was my first attempt at painting. That was three years ago and the bike still looks like it was just painted. I didn't even prep it. I painted over some dirt and grease and it adhered extremely well. Nnow I sand and clean the frame a bit. But really just make sure there is no wax on the bike and you can paint over the original finish, no problem. I go direct to paint right over bare metal also. Takes a couple coats over bare metal, but adhesion is fine.
I went from this-

To this-

This

To this

^ nice job!

nlerner, a C&V Forum regular, but I haven't seen him post lately, is from Brookline, and he had several frames powdercoated by a fellow in Plymouth, MA for about $75 per frame. The results were good.

Alternatively, hand sand the frame, remove the rust, and rattle-can spray it yourself. The tougher stuff recommended here has been engine block paints, brake caliper paints, and appliance epoxy paints. The latter seems to be favored here recently. Mask off the decals, gloss black is easy to find.

I think that you should give it diy sand and home spray. Everyone needs to do it once. After your first time, your either gonna be really pleased with the job you do and proud of yourself, or your gonna realize that you should never waste your time painting a bike. If it is the latter, you can always get it powder coated, if you can find a cheaper place. But if your not happy with the rusty preloved condition it is in now, I doubt you will be happy about a touch up job.

You can tell by the bare spots that, even though she has been treated badly, there’s some good quality metal there. Many lower end steel bikes rust like heck when the paint is chipped-off and exposed to the elements. I think the Japanese threw some extra-good elements into their metal mix. I’m going through the same thing with an old Miyata that has obviously been neglected for years. I’ve come to the conclusion that a bike is much more than its outer covering.

I think she is worth restoring. Powder coating would seem to be the best option if you want it to look good. It is normally a 100 buck job with old paint removal on the Left Coast. However, I might consider doing nothing more than a thorough cleaning and making the drivetrain and everything else as spiffy as I possibly could and throw my middle finger in the air at all who didn’t get it.

Deciding to paint or not to paint is always a question, however; it is a good idea to understand the pros and cons of doing so. Have a look at Should I Paint My Bicycle? and apply some of what you learn there.

As for a specific answer. For me, generally, if the art is good, I choose to touch up. If the art and paint is poor, I consider a repaint and new decals. It the frame sports a non-original paint job, the sky is the limit and paint away.