madpogue 

Upshot is, they'd probably honor the warranty. Upshot of the upshot is, you'd end up with something made by robots, either from old beer cans or burnt charcoal. Wouldn't you rather have a bicycle, made by humans?

Salamandrine 

har har...

I agree with the repaint. It's rusting and too far gone. Decals are available. If you've got an autobody guy willing to do it, that's a good way to go. Frankly a good powdercoat would be fine too. It's not like old Treks have finely filed lug tips. It is a production bike. Or take up the fellow forumite on his offer...

Spray enamels are unlikely to hold up, unless you can wrangle some old school stove-able enamel. In a way, that's what powder coat is. Stoved on at least.

ts99

Did I miss where he recommended what type of paint to get?

capnjonny 

You can read my earlier posts detailing how to paint with Rustoleum enamel . I have done quite a few repaints using it and for the money it can't be beat. Just be sure to be careful and after painting don't hang the hardware on it for a couple months to let it dry . Store it somewhere hot while you are waiting . like the attic.

if you are going to all the trouble of painting the bike you would be crazy not to pull the bottom bracket, fork/stem, and seat post. If any of those is frozen and won't come off your bike is basically toast and no point painting it.

I just finished rehabbing an 85 Bianchi and the grease on the bottom bracket bearings was so hard I had to chip it off with a screw driver. Same with the stem. After cleaning and renewing the grease everything works beautifully.

Hudson308 

Here's another "snot-ridden" ice blue '78 (TX770). Bought it from the original owner, so I can confirm the snotty part. Saddle position is as-found.

Classtime 

Pretty sure he used Rustoleum. That is what I used also. $13.00 total for paint and primer FTW. $20.00 for brushes which are not single use. The key is prep and wait time of at least a week to dry between coats. Colors of course are limited. I've got some safety red that is waiting for a project.

Doug Fattic 

DuPont Imron is a brand name for polyurethane paint that is made by many different companies. It was designed to be used for the abuse aircraft can get flying through the air at speed. It is probably the most durable type of wet paint available. It is actually an epoxy that hardens by chemical action when the activator is added. This paint is too hard to bond to steel directly so that is why a primer is used. The primer is designed to both stick to steel and the top colors. It is also an epoxy paint that requires an activator. Both the primer and color paints need a reducer so they flow out more smoothly. This kind of paint is way more durable than paint designed to harden when left to dry in the air.

There is an experienced amateur builder in Florida that recently wanted to try painting his frames with Rustoleum.He wrote about his issues on one of the framebuilding forums.I’m too lazy to try and find that subject thread.If I remember right he eventually abandoned the idea because of the amount of time it took (even with the help of a hot attic) and the results were less durable than what he was used to.To be fair to his posts I didn’t read them carefully because it wasn’t something that interested me nor something that I would recommend to my framebuilding students.They are making something that will probably be used a lot and will want something more durable.Not only that but fair or not the paint is what will represent the quality of their entire work and there is no way you can get a frame to look as good as a professional polyurethane paint job.Having said that some of the amateur air-dried paint jobs pictured on this forum look good and are a big improvement as well as much more affordable.

Chr0m0ly 

Well, as long as we're posting our Ice Blue's...


1979 514

It's been touched up with some brushed on flat blue paint by the PO.

Hudson308 

BTW, all powdercoat is NOT created equal.

ryansu

Glacier Blue 87 MIyata 112

madpogue 

+1; this is what I was referring to earlier, about the thickness. Even on a "production" * frame, it makes a big difference visually. Thanks for the pics, they make that very clear.


* Re "production" "Production" meant something very different in the late '70s, in a pole shed in a small town in Wisconsin. These frames were hand built by craftsmen. In today's "production" facilities, the employee break room is probably bigger than the pole shed in which the subject bike was built.

The Golden Boy 

Too bad there's only a "like" button, but not a "love" button!

(yes I'm aware of the implications of that statement)

Salamandrine 

That's a fair point. "Production" can vary in meaning. In this case not at all comparable to say a big Japanese factory. I might have said hand built by hippies... (I don't know if they really were hippies, but they looked like it in the catalog)

I mentioned this for a practical reason. The lug points in Treks of that era would have been left more or less full thickness. By contrast, the small scale custom American framebuilders of the same period tended to file the points down very thin. Thinner was cooler and more custom, but that sort of frame detail can easily disappear under a thick powder coat job and look pretty bad. An older hand built 'production' Trek frame could potentially look very nice with a thin powder coat if it is done by someone who has experience and cares.

Unca_Sam

syrupy commercial saleswoman voice: "Bicycles baked by people who care!"

Hudson308 

ts99

After I got my bike, I rode it to the factory and they showed me around. It was just a little shop building with a few guys.

madpogue 

Or would that be "Bicycles cared for by people who are baked!"?

Oh that would've been cool. Were you living in southern WI then? My first "real" bike was a new '82 612, but I was living in Detroit then. And by '82, their catalog was pretty slick, with color photos of each model, so I had no idea it was such a small operation.

The shed's still there, BTW, still red. You can view it on Street View.

ts99

Yep, western suburbs of Mwaukee. The bike makers didn't look up and I didn't bother them, but they did let me in there to look around.

ts99

Update: I'm going to have my auto body acquaintance guy do it. He seems kinda excited about it. He asked if I could get codes for the paint or something, but I don't think so. He'll sandblast it and prep it as well as paint it. I just said match it as close as possible. Several automakers have "ice blue" colors that look pretty good. I'll be happy if it's sorta close to the original.

Classtime 

You will be happier if you get as close to your color as possible. Search a little. How many Imron colors could there be? Or pick a fresh new color?

Doug Fattic 

I'll mention again what I wrote earlier that the Dupont Imron paint code was 44437 and was described as "ice blue metallic" in their 70's paint chip chart.

ts99

Thanks. I didn't catch that. I'll definitely tell him.

jPrichard10 

Sorry to resurrect the dead here, but any update on how this went? This is my all-time favorite color for a bike and I've tried and failed to duplicate it. EVen tried to find old stock Dupont Imron 44437, although I hear it's nasty stuff to apply.

merziac

Another dredge.

100's if not 1000's, they still use it for big rigs because it's so tough, a good friend of mine works at Fretghtliner in the wind tunnel and paint shop.

You can also still look up old charts on the interwebs too.

bwilli88 

Rattle can can be an ok paint job.
Here is a cheapo Hybrid I made into a Covid single speeder coaster brake bike.
I stripped the paint and rust, primered it, let it sit for a couple of days in the sun to harden, then sprayed silver (3 light coats on the frame and 1 silver and 2 metallic red on the fork) and let it sit in the sun for a day and then sprayed 2 coats of clear.

Here is one like above I stripped and made into a coaster brake only bike.