A few days ago-


And now-


Of course there's a story that ties in with the subject line. This is my current paint project, a Rey 531 tube set I have had for at least 30 years finally built in a fashion that tips a hat to the early 1970s Raleigh Pro and the fish mouth lugged version specifically. Not a replica but a nephew of sorts with some updated details. This frame/fork sat for a couple of years before I took it along to my painting week with Doug Fattic last January. The main project for that visit went well and is done, this frame/fork was the "if I have any extra time, I can start it" second fiddle. I had only a basic idea of the paint scheme and as it turned out limited time. So I sprayed the basic white HoK primer and Doug kindly offered some of his old stock of activated black paint for the panels and such. Again, the f&f sat but only for a few months this time, and after finishing my unicycle paint I went back to this job.

I plugged some pits, sanded down the white primer, did the best masking I could with a mix of real painter striping tape and tooth paste and waited for the right day to spray the next coats. The day came soon enough (I paint in the driveway so weather has to be agreeable) and I mixed up the sealer in a grey color (mostly white with a small amount of black). That went of fairly well and in 15ish minutes later I applied the silver. A few nibs showed up but I continued onto the protective clear, which also went well enough and a couple more nibs. Next up was masking removal, decaling, lug lining and more clear.

This is when the whole job began to go off the rails. On removing the HT masking, which had the toothpaste edging the shoreline, I found spots of too little and also too much toothpaste along the boundary between the two colors. The lug lining started somewhat shaky and got slightly better but still looked pretty poor. Most of the decals went on Ok but one DT side was a bit off so i went to remove it with lacquer thinner. I had done this before with the same paint without issues but this time as the crooked decal was dissolving and I was wiping it off the clear started to crinkle up. Much too much "hot" chemical, later i used acetone on the other side's decal with far better removal and no need to get the paper towel really soaking. I walked away for a day at this point, a management technique I wish i had done more of in my past... All the problem points bothered me big time. I could have just sanded the DT of the crinkles and patched in sealer/paint and clear but the HT lug shore lines still were a bit ragged. The panels i did on the ST weren't too bad but one had a tape seam notch that bothered me too.

So after a day and I still felt bad about this job I decided to strip it and start again. Before I removed most all the paint I did play some with sanding the nibs and color boundaries just to see what changes I could get. On the fork some of the white primer was very easily exposed. I used two Burnzamtic torches to boil/burn off as much of the paint as I could. The activated black of Doug's was especially resistant to the heat. Now that the frame is committed to a repaint I feel better...

Mistakes- My masking of the lug edges isn't good enough to have the lugs be the second color and have nice resulting edges. I need to have better panel taping seam alignment. My use of lacquer thinner was a bad choice to remove decals. The initial application of white primer wasn't wrong but really should match the first color applied.

What I plan to change is to do the silver first with grey primer and sealer under it. Then mask the lugs (and not the HT) and the ST panels and spray the black. Hopefully cutting the mask's edge along the top edge of the lug will go better. I also will rethink the black lug lining. The Raleigh Pros had as a third color decals and lining in gold, which I have and will likely use this second time around. In addition I have purchased a better air line filter and water trap, hopefully any in the air system nibs will be less now.

Right now Rochester is in the middle of pollen season and with my paint booth being open air I will take my time prepping the f&f for primer. I'll update as I continue to progress. Andy

Wow !Fun times!!
My recent "misadventure " doesn't come close to yours. After I finished spraying the clear and letting it set for a few days I cast my eye over the frame and saw a few "starved" spots. So wet sanded and then used a different n&n 1.4. And now am quite happy!
Yesterday morning I sprayed "frame saver" into the interior. Now will wait a bit to build it up.
Time to go back to staining the exterior of our home.

Andy's post is an illustration of how challenging and difficult painting a bicycle frame can be. It takes considerable knowledge and skill to get it right. I showed Andy how to use toothpaste as a masking agent. One can't use just any toothpaste, it has to be a kind of dry non-runny (Crest is the worst). And it has to be applied super carefully with just the right amount right up to the shorelines without going over. After painting the primary color, the paint has to be cut (I use an Exacta knife). If it isn't cut, the skin of paint will continue to be pulled off where it should stay. This cutting only works if the knife is held at just the right angle - which is always changing as the knife is moved around the lug edge. This is a kind of sawing/sliding action. Of course nicks are enviable and then touch up is necessary. This is why adding a 2nd color to a frame can be as time consuming as painting a 2nd frame.

This beginning of 2025 summer I'm celebrating the 50th anniversary of when I went to Ellis Briggs in Shipley West Yorkshire (in the Bradford Leeds metropolitan area) to learn how to build frames. Fortunately for me they also did painting there too. Both the painting and framebuilding room were close together on the 2nd floor. Andy the journeyman bulder and I would take breaks and lunch together with Rod and Bill the painters in the painting room. While I didn't try my hand at painting while I was there, I learned how the whole process was done.

Mark B, one of the painters I trained in the 70's (Richard Luthas) went to paint for Davidson in the 80's. Was he there when you were there? And if so do you remember him? He graduated from the academy where I taught high school but that was a year before I got there so he wasn't one of my history students.

Yes I remember him. Cool dude, fun hang. He was more creative than the other two Davidson painters, in the sense of more willing to try new (sometimes wacky) things, like applying a second color (& third etc.) in places with a sponge, or random brush strokes here and there. We charged a lot for that treatment, a profit maker because it didn't take very long. The customer was paying for Richard's eye and good taste. Me, I didn't like those so much, I'm a classical type I guess. I made the mistake of saying "painter's choice" when I had my track frame painted, and this is what I got:



Best FREE paintjob I've ever got, so I'm not really complaining, just not my style. The guy I sold the bike to loved it, so happy ending.

Any idea what Richard is doing these days?