Slightspeed

True story. I built my first bike from scratch (no pun) a couple years ago. I posted a picture on BF from a vintage Pasadena ride. When I checked the photo I saw a scratch on the outside of the chainstay, just past the chain ring. I ran out to the garage at 10 o'clock that night and touched up the scratch. I'm pretty well over it now. I picked up a few more scratches on last year's Eroica. Scratches happen.

jgwilliams

As Indiana Jones famously said 'It's not the years, honey. It's the mileage.'

dennis336

I probably care more about dings in my bikes than I do about dings in my cars. Having said that, they're not a big deal to me either. I just had to overcome the awkwardness of going to the make-up section of a store to buy nail polish to cover over the scratches

As an aside, when my kids were growing up and bought baseball cards, they tended to keep them protected, in plastic, to look at. When I was a kid, growing up in the 50's and 60's, I was an avid baseball card collector. But we actually played with them ... games like farsies, topsies, knocksies ... or clothes-pinned them to our bike to hear the flapping sound when we cycled. I probably had complete sets of a few baseball seasons but they would all be pretty worn-looking from playing with them. Of course, if I kept them in pristine condition (and my mother didn't throw them all away when I moved out!!!!!), they'd probably be worth quite a bit now. But, I did have fun with them at the time!

NomarsGirl

I got mine dirty on the test ride. Not scratched, but dirty. Haven't taken delivery of her yet. She's a beauty, but I'm going to ride the wheels of off her.

MikeyMK

You could almost see the scratches on mine in the thumbnail profile picture.. over there.. on the left.

It gets locked up to posts/railings/racks/etc every day. The chrome Wald fenders have got dents in. All my bikes get the same treatment. It's a tool, and they age like a fine wine as they get marked up. It makes the parts less attractive to thieves, too.

u235

So you never get off your bike during a ride?

Rides4Beer

I have about 4k miles in her first five months and she still looks great. But it's a road bike, and I'm a lil OCD about keeping her clean. Barring a serious crash, I don't see any reason why she won't look pretty much the same for years. Just like a car, if you clean it and take care of it, it'll look good.

prj71

OCD. And why would one care if it has scratches?

Bikes depreciate. They aren't an investment.

Skipjacks

I like a clean bike. So unlike some people who love their bike having that layer of road grit on it so show it's been used (which I appreciate...it's just not my style) I clean my bike thoroughly so it always looks as nice as it can.

But it's scratched to hell and back after 3 years since I bought it new.

It's just not dirty.

(Props to dirty bikes though. I get it. Respect.)

Doug64

My bike is the maroon bike with the yellow pannier on it, and my wife's custom built Co-Motion touring bike is the blue one just above it. The deckhands loaded the bikes on the ferry. When I asked her about her first scratch on her bike she said, it is just a tool". It still looks reasonably well after over 20,000 miles of loaded touring

fietsbob

San Juan Islands?

I've loaded my bike on the car deck of drive on drive off ferries , few bikes.. then ..

I tied up to a hand rail , open ocean ships do roll a bit,

so abundant hand rails to hold onto are part of the architecture ..






...

ExpatPeru

I wish modern paint jobs held up a little better. Most of the noticeable scratches on most my bikes are just from transportin/storing them. I accept the damage I get from a crash, but getting noticeable damage from minor bike rack rub or leaning one bike on another is incredibly annoying.

BlazingPedals

None of my pedals have paint on the ends.

starvinmarvin

seems impossible

MikeyMK

My tandem is a daily, gets locked up against railings and posts etc all the time, needless to say it has marks.

It's original enamel would've stood up better, but it's rattle-can paint never stood a chance.

I don't care, though. When it's tatty enough I'll go for a different colour..

jadocs

Almost a year to the day. Kicked up a rock yesterday and scratched my chain stay. Got to love Titanium and ultra-fine Scotch-Brite pads.

Wilfred Laurier

A few years ago in the Spring I built up a new aluminum touring frame to be my all-around bike. There was an early season gravel event a couple towns over and I used it as a christening for my new bike.. It was cool and rainy, and by the end of the ride the dirt in the fabric of my pants had completely worn the paint off large patches of the top tube

DaveSSS 

My 2004 LOOK KG 461 has no scratches, but it did sit unused for almost 8 of those 15 years.

base2 

Although I'm sure that if I washed my bikes, I'd find scratches, dings & whatnot, I find that just general giv-a-dam goes a long ways in preventing undue harm.

I have an S&S tour bike, the first trip in an airline suitcase had me thankful nothing was bent or dented. The paint chips floating around the inside of the case was a bitter pill to swallow. Though I'm pretty pragmatic about these kind of things, especially if I'm at fault, evidence of lack of due care for others really sticks in my craw. Paint is just delicate. If I were to do it again, I think powdercoat is a better option for the vanity concerned (me.) Save the worry & evidence for actual harm.

I get irritated with door dings on cars for the same reason. My all electric Leaf got keyed from headlight to taillight the day I bought it. It's not the ding or the scratch. The minor blemish hardly affects the utility of a multi-thousand dollar machine. It's the blatent rudeness, disrespect & disregard for the property (rights) of others the ding represents. It's just good civics to not be not-disrepectful. Maybe that's too much to ask.

If I put it there, it's a battle scar from use & utility. There is a difference.

prj71

^^^^Strong OCD.

firebird854

This is the very first picture of my bike, before I even rode it, only moments after buying it. I managed to scratch the clear coat by leaning it on that pole... It has gone through spring, summer, and fall with no additional scratches, but this still haunts me.

jadocs

You should see how I maintain and keep it clean.

GlennR

you answered your own question.

FiftySix

I'd love to have scratch free bikes. I don't intend to scratch or damage any of my possessions, but stuff happens.

Of course, my current two bikes were bought "pre-owned" and came "pre-scratched".

DropBarFan

I have a powder-coated frame that seems to resist scratches better than any regular-paint bike I've had. Not that I worry too much about scratches. If I had the money for a nice custom Ti tourer I'd probably opt for paint just so it would look pretty.