TiHabanero

Just painted a newly built frame. Best job yet, and I dropped the bike! It slid down a bolt I have sticking out of the wall and took a bunch of paint with it. Dang! Dang! Dang! Zero miles on the bike and it looks like a well used machine already. Good grief!

Doctor Morbius

I feel for you. I know how much that first ding/scratch/gouge can suck. I was putting together a guitar one day with a perfect surf green body from Warmoth.com and the hammer slipped from my hand and dinged the front surface. OUCH! That really hurt.

AlmostTrick

I would curse, give the universe the finger, and then re-do it. Then enjoy my minty bike and say Ha Ha.

Moe Zhoost

I've done similar on almost all the frames I've painted, no matter how careful I am. Sometimes I'll just touch it up with a fine brush, but occasionally I'll get out my air brush and attempt a return to pre-scratch condition. Bike painting is not a job for those prone to obsessive tendencies.

Slightspeed

Nice painted bikes can be a real scratch magnet. I spent big $$$ getting my Raleigh Super Course painted, and took it on the Eroica last year and came back with two chips on the fork, above the chrome and one near the bottom bracket, behind the crank. One night, after posting a picture of my bike on Bikeforums, I saw a new scratch on the drive side chain stay. 10 o'clock at night, I was out in the garage laying on touch up paint. Obsessive? Guess so.

I laid my modern carbon bike up against a flag pole to take a bathroom break. It was leaning against the saddle, but slipped, hit on the top tube on the flag pole, and slid down taking paint with it.

Scratches happen. 🤬

Lemond1985

Understatement of the day!

Nachoman

I scratched the top tube of a brand new bike BEFORE GETTING IT OUT THE DOOR OF THE LBS, so I feel for you.

themp

I bought a pair of Zoic Ether shorts and they have a zipper on the right leg:

https://zoic.com/ether-shorts-essent...ack+size-Large

Well, when I am taking a break on the bicycle, I unconsciously rubbed my right thigh on the top tube(bicycle is leaning against my right leg). When I got home after that first ride with the new shorts I found multiple deep scratches on the top tube paint from the zipper. Broke me of that habit.

bedtime

keeping the bike looking brand new is too much of a hassle for me; I'd rather just enjoy it as it is and not freak out over every little ding.

Ghazmh

I had a brand new Cervelo R3 back in 2015 that I carefully leaned against a stone wall. It slid forward and down a bit, enough to take a few paint chips off of the top tube exposing the bare carbon. I had it for about 2 months at that point.

BobbyG

If your bike is black, get your Monty Python on and call it "The Black Night" and add the words, "Tis but a scratch" on it. Maybe put a grail on it as a head badge.
and don't forget to add Trotify to your bike.

Be Brave, Sir Robin.

Lemond1985

Now all you need is something to replicate whipping sounds from the buggy whip, followed by a low growl and a whinny.

Wilfred Laurier

How did you paint it? I have never seen a repaint job (with the possible exception of some pros who work with frame builders) that was not soft as cheese and prone to scratching. I have done a few thorough rattlecan jobs (strip frame to bare metal, multiple light coats of hardware-store brand 'rust paint') that looked decent for a season or two, but all eventually looked like carp.

m3tal070

2k paints are your freind...at the very least using it for a clear coat will help.

Moe Zhoost

I made a small strap that loops around my front brake lever and clamps the lever closed with velcro. This pretty much prevents such slipping. It even works on a slight slope when leaning a bike against something.

TiHabanero

I guess I am so bummed because it was the best rattle can job I have ever done. Perfect from every angle and any distance. I know rattle can is not durable, but there are zero miles on the darned frame and there is a big ol' scratch in it.

Around 1988 I found a 1974 Suzuki GT 750 in perfect condition with 4600 miles on it. Not a single flaw on the bike, 100% original. Of course I had to go through it mechanically and in doing so I nicked the tank. The once perfect bike was no more, and to this day I am really sensitive about it. Silly, yes, but it is my obsession.

Mad Honk 

Habanero dude!,
If a rattle can ding can make you sick, just think what happens when you spend hours with an air brush using polymerizing paint to get it just right and the frame moves in it's holding apparatus, putting a wear line down the paint that requires a complete re-do of the process. I have learned the hard way to send the frames out for painting.... Smiles, MH

BobbyG

I use half a clothes pin to wedge the brake lever.

TiHabanero

Mad Honk, glad we share the pain! lol. I will repaint it next winter after it gets beat up a little more. New paint, new bike, no? No way will I have it done professionally unless it is powder coat for durability reasons.