AdamCh

Howdy, I'd like to touch up these scratches but I can't afford to have the frame resprayed. Is there a way of finding the right colour paint to touch them up considering the age of the bike? Would it be better to try to find some paint which is similar or could I try to mix colours to get a match. Any advice welcome.

dsbrantjr

Nail polish comes in a bewildering assortment of colors and might be a good choice. Use a light touch and a fine-tipped brush so that you do not make the touched-up areas more obvious. Like in grade school, stay inside the lines!

AdamCh

Thanks very much, that will be a lot cheaper than having the frame resprayed. I can also have a beauty treatment with the left overs.

70sSanO

I’ve used Testors model paint. Mixed colors to get a pretty close match.

John

AdamCh

Thanks man, I'll give it a try.

shelbyfv

That's an attractive paint job and has a long way to go before it needs a repaint. Touch up the scrapes that are through the paint, polish it and you'll be looking fine!

AdamCh

thanks, I'll get my paint brush out and give her a makeover

Elbeinlaw

Word of advice from sad experience: once you mix TEST on an obscure part of the frame and let it dry. Particularly enamel paint dries a different color. I take an old paint bottle and both mix and cover so I can save my test mixes. And the worst thing you can do is mix just a smidgen to test and then, when you get the color right, have to guess at what the mix was. You're guaranteed to get the mix wrong, because that's the way the Universe works.

Amt0571

I've used nail polish before. It's not durable though,

However, I have a touch up kit for my car which consists of two bottles: one with the paint, and another with a clear coat. If I apply the clear coat over the nail polish, it holds up forever.

I bought mine at a Toyota delear (because I have a Toyota, obviously), but I think most brands have them. It cost me something like 7€. Really cheap.

AdamCh

Thanks man, Why can't things be easy? They should have saved me a can of the original paint from France in 1988.

AdamCh

Thanks dude, I've already applied nail varnish to a small silver part of the bike so I'll put the clear coat on that.

Elbeinlaw

Was France even around in 1988?

As for why it can't be easy … once you do it once, it's actually not that difficult, and the skill is applicable to all kinds of things. Personally, I enjoy developing the skill required! In these times, people would throw a bike out because it has scratches or "the gears don't work" rather than learn to fix them. You'll become one of the 1% of people who actually fix stuff.

AdamCh

Ha ha. I'm enjoying doing little bits and pieces to it and it's become a bit of a project. It's my first road/racing bike. It's really good to have tips and advice on here and from youtube videos. I'm also learning new terms and parts which I'd never heard of. A sign of how much I don't know is that a guy at work had to show me how to pump the tires up.

Elbeinlaw

I learned a few years ago while in a Central American urban area that in some countries, there is not a tradition of do-it-yourself-ers. I don't know about GB. In America, there used to be a proud history--as in, "I changed my own water pump on my car and I'm proud of it!"--and among some people there still. But it's fading. I drive a pick up truck and I'm constantly picking up and repurposing "garbage" … like bikes where the chain came off, chairs where one leg is broken, a coffee table where the top was destroyed but the frame was perfectly good. It appalls me that people throw away perfectly good things that just lack a little repair.

For me, being able to fix something--either mine, or someone's discard--is a tremendously fulfilling act. I spend my life with words, with philosophical (legal) concepts. It's a relief to get my hands on something tangible and to figure out how to fix it. It also--I won't lie--makes me feel like Superman.

Be warned. Once you start, there's no going back. Pretty soon you'll be building bikes from scratch from the bare frame and you'll wonder: how did I ever get into this?

Amt0571

I also like repairing things but, to do it, you need time and sometimes space. Lots of people, lack both.

I have an interminable backlog of things to repair. I have little free time, and when I have it (usually when my son is finally sleeping at 10pm) , I'm usually too tired. Moreover, like most europeans, I live in a 3 bedroom 100m2 appartment with a parking space shared with 7 neighbours. I simply can't replace a water pump in my car like you said because I lack the space. Lots of people don't have a parking space and simply park on the street.

Elbeinlaw

AMT0571: I remember this story I read in college (in a galaxy long ago and far away) where a non-biologically male narrator mentioned in passing that her boyfriend was repairing his Harley in their one-bedroom apartment's kitchen. One of my classmates (a non-biologically-male person) said that that was completely unrealistic. It sounded so realistic to me that I didn't even notice it until she mentioned it.

Yesterday, when I was repairing my Bike Friday in my kitchen, my wife of 37 years walked around and threaded her way through all the pieces and tools on every available surface and didn't even comment. Of course the aforementioned Woman of Valor has been trained (Stockholm syndromed?) for 37 years.

rydabent

Hobby shops have almost any color you want in small bottles.

Amt0571

I repair my bikes in my living room. Including brake bleeds involving DOT 5.1 fluids and fork maintenance. It's far from ideal though, and I can't repair my car in my livingroom unless you can enlighten me on how to fit it in the elevator.

BTW, you can't fit a bike and have room to move around in the average European kitchen. Let alone having space to have the tools at hand.

Miele Man

Testor's enamels in the small 7ml bottles are pretty good. However, I REALLY like Humbrol brand enamel paint in the tinlets.

I do not use acrylic paints for bicycle touchups.

Cheers

AdamCh

Thanks mate, I'll get a few tins and start experimenting

AdamCh

Thanks dude, there's one near me so I'll check it out

dedhed

I've put a lower control arm in curbside.

robertorolfo

Guy down the block from me (here in Queens) swears that he "dropped the tranny" in his car for repairs while in a regular parking spot in the street. I've also don't my fair share of motorcycle and car wrenching in the street (nothing quite as serious as that, admitted), and one of the best things about bikes is that they are light and small enough to work on almost anywhere.

I used some Testor's to touch up one of my bikes, and the mixing was really quite a challenge. I was trying to match a shade of yellow, and getting the right amount of green and red was so difficult that I settled for "close enough." Should have consulted an artist, but it was still a fun experience.

shelbyfv

Yep. My first year out of college I stored my BSA in my apt living room (first floor, no stairs) and cleaned parts with gasoline indoors. Stupid....

Elbeinlaw

I have two sons, who have survived so far through their 20s. I had two brothers. I've grown up my whole life around males, and I am one. It absolutely amazes me that any of us survived our 20s.