genejockey 

How do you know whether to redo decals and/or paint, or just do touchup work? My current project, a 1982 Lotus Supreme (lugged Tange steel, brazed by Tsunoda, with Dura Ace EX kit) has MOSTLY pretty good paint, but with A LOT of chips, and the decals have seen better days. How bad does the paint have to be for you to throw in the towel and have it painted? Especially if you want to keep it the original color?

For now, I'm planning to do touchup work. The fork was completely chromed, then painted to match the frame, except for the crown and dropouts. I mixed Testors' Blue, Black, and Silver into a close approximation and managed to cover most of the chips, so from a distance it looks pretty good.

The decals are another matter. For example, here on the top tube -


TO me, the paint is on the cusp of needing to be redone, but the worst part is the decals, which are flaking off the paint. If I save the paint, can I /should I replace the decals? I just ordered them from Velocals. How do I get them off without messing up the underlying paint?

randyjawa 

I have had a vintage road bike or two in my time. My rule of thumb, when it comes to a newly acquired vintage road bike is to make it road worthy and safe to ride. Clean it up, of course, and forget the cosmetics for a while. Ride the bike to be sure that it tracks well and that it fits you and that you like the way it rides. Once satisfied that those conditions have been met, to your satisfaction, then you can consider cosmetics.

How bad do the cosmetics have to be? That is an question that only you can answer, but you don't have to answer it right away. For my money, your bike does not need new paint or cosmetics now. A bit of paint touch up, perhaps, but that is about it.

If you do decide on new art (available through some or even several sources), then you will need to paint the bike also, just to keep the appearance matching. Components need to look good also, again to match the new paint and art.

All that said, be forewarned - painting a vintage road bike costs a few dollars and, as often as not, lowers the value of the bike. This one, I painted with my trusty paint brush because the paint was shot and the art was almost completely flaked off. That effort set me back over a hundred dollars Canadian.

"As found"...


As restored...


This one has looked like this ever since I got it, many years ago. The top tube cosmetics are very poor but I just can't bring myself to destroying the rest of the original paint and very hard to reproduce art, which is partly stenciled on. And you know what? After a while that wonderful patina of age kinda grows on you...

SurferRosa

Looks great to me. Loved. A little patina never hurt anybody. If you touch it up, it'll often look botched and ugly. Maybe use some clear nail polish or enamel on the bare spots.

A beautiful build with well chosen consumables and shiny, unscarred components is so much more important than covering up a little patina.

BFisher

Bike by bike basis, here. I had a black and pink Miyata 912 frameset here that was just rough enough that my refinishing plans made sense for me. I am not great with touch ups. Plus, I wanted an orange bike.

My red/white Ironman got the rust removal/touch up treatment because I like the original colors so much and didn't want to spring for a refinish at the time. From ten feet away it looks fine. I may have it powdercoated one day.

You can wipe down a scuffed up bike with a clean oily rag to inhibit oxidation. Even a touch of boiled linseed oil over chips will help. With some bikes I don't mind if they wear their scars.

thinktubes 

When you figure it out, let me know....

genejockey 

There's the same discussion in another of my interest areas, vintage watches, where those who collect vintage American watches will often prefer a watch with a PROPERLY DONE reprinted dial over a watch with a heavily patinaed original dial, whereas collectors of Swiss watches believe redialing destroys the value. My own observation is that one man's patina is another man's schmutz.

Part of the problem with the Lotus's paint is that parts of the frame under the paint are chromed and parts aren't. I'm pretty sure they didn't chrome the whole thing because while chips at the head tube end of the top tube reveal chrome, those at the other end show bare metal with light surface rust. I conclude they only plated as much as they needed to to end up with chrome head lugs, DS chain stay and dropouts. So some chips reveal bright and shiny and others reveal dull corrodible steel. I also think the paint adheres poorly to the chrome, so there tend to be larger chips on the paint-over-chrome bits.

It's such a pretty bike that I find myself wanting to make it as close to new-looking as possible (see tsenyuta's Supreme from the same year, in this thread), but I'm starting from a goodly distance away from that....

nlerner

I don’t think there’s any objective standard but instead depends on your tolerance for patina. In the image above, the finish does look pretty beat, so if it’s a special bike for you, worth sinking in a fair amount of money that you’ll never recoup, go for it.

Rooney 

If it’s a keeper, do whatever you want with it. If it’s just a project/flip/whatever, clean it up as best you can and let the next owner decide what to do with the paint and decals.

genejockey 

Is it a keeper? Ha, well, thereby hangs a tale. I bought, stripped down, and rebuilt another vintage bike, which was in MUCH better condition than this one. My wife said, "Gee, you can fix up bikes and sell them!" so this was to be an experiment, to see if I could.

Yeah, well. The answer is NO. I get obsessed with doing it right, and in the process I end up too attached to it. I'm already so looking forward to finishing this bike and riding it that I'm checking tracking on various packages a couple times a day.