ike212

I have for the last few months been the proud owner of the latest Santa Cruz Stigmata - the "brick red" colour. It's partnered me through some personal achievements this year in gravel events, not least of all completing the 200km Traka where I was almost certainly the heaviest person to finish and the one who drank most beers after...

However I did not unfortunately have the foresight to get the frame invisiwrapped beforehand. I had asked the shop to use a rub-on protective product they had mentioned, but miscommunication occured, and the outcome is that my pride and joy has 3 pretty deep stone chip marks on the downtube and seattube already. I am now getting it wrapped, but before I do I wanted to touch up the paint.

Now I have a Bianchi road bike, and over on the Bianchi online forums there's advice on a very specific paint that exactly matches the Bianchi celeste and can touch up paint chips to be unnoticeable. I was wondering if there's more broader advice on paintwork repairs - which products to use/avoid, how to find a good colour match etc?
The specific colour of my bike might be difficult to find, but again I just wondered if there were others who have been through this process with their own bikes.

Thanks

SoSmellyAir

Congratulations on finishing such a long event and drinking beer like you mean it afterward. I urge you to maintain the same outlook and not to worry about tiny blemishes on the paint that can only be found with a magnifying glass. If you disagree, Santa Cruz has excellent post-sale customer support and answered all of my questions (regarding internal cable routing) within one business day, so it can likely guide you to the correct paint code and/or a source for the touch up paint.

You best bet is to use its online contact form: Santa Cruz Bicycles | Contact Us.
Or you can e-mail Santa Cruz at: customerservice@santacruzbicycles.com.

If the above somehow fails, you can always find a body shop in your area, call them, and ask them if they do CF painting.

ike212

Thanks.
Generally speaking I am of that mindset, with bikes and things like my modest collection of watches (some people somehow try and not scratch theirs).

However I guess the Santa Cruz just gained a bit of sentimentality for me as it was a 40th birthday treat to myself, and has accompanied me over these rides which 2 years ago I couldn't have dreamt of finishing.
I had intended to get it coated or wrapped, but just for a few reasons converging didn't get it done.

And the marks are kind of noticeable, to the point the one on the down tube below, someone else pointed it out to me. I mean end of the day it's living in the real world it's not on the living room wall, but still I'd prefer to touch it up and get it protected a little as I'm hoping this bike stays with me another decade or more.

Thanks for the tip on contacting direct.
I am in Scotland, so I'd contacted the distributor here (Pom, who cover SC, Juliana and Cervelo) but they just said they didn't stock paint and couldn't help... I'll see what SC say direct, hopefully there's something I can get here in the UK.