Cycling UK Forum

I keep the bike in a garage but it gets wet on rides. I don't do much, other than keep it reasonably clean and occasionally spray on WD40 and wipe the frame with a cloth. The chain has worn almost all the paint off the top of the full length of the chain stay and it never seems to show any sign of rust. I put this down to the quality of the steel.

patricktaylor wrote:I keep the bike in a garage but it gets wet on rides. I don't do much, other than keep it reasonably clean and occasionally spray on WD40 and wipe the frame with a cloth. The chain has worn almost all the paint off the top of the full length of the chain stay and it never seems to show any sign of rust. I put this down to the quality of the steel.

ive generally only found rust around the wheel locknuts, around the headset, parts of the brakes...in general the frame seems fine tho!

could this be due to a poorer standard of steel on these parts...or a different composition of metal?

Scratches are a good reason to buy a bike in a plain coloured enamel, red, black, yellow, etc. Unfortunately off the peg bikes tend to have fancy lustre finishes that are almost impossible to retouch successfully.
Someone nudged my almost new custom bike down a stuccoed pillar years ago but the scratches were almost un-seeable after half an hour with black Humbrol.

Yes - any colour so long as it is black. (I've never understood the fashions over the years for metalised/ pearlescent / translucent / shaded / flourescent and all the rest of it finishes. They cost a premium price and are impossible to touch in. Since they are probably bought by people with a concern for appearance, it must be heartbreaking - or an excuse for an annual respray.)

Any colour as long as it's monochrome.

My new bike is in Sparkling Graphite Metallic - single colour, very nice. I had a small scratch on the fork and also wanted to clean up some of the welds with a small file. I contacted the manufacturer to see if they supply touch up sets and they don't, but they suggested car paint. So I took the bike inside Halfords to where the car paints are arranged on the shelf. At the second attempt (they exchanged the first one I tried, which didn't quite match) I found exactly the right paint - so exact that I think this is the same paint as used by the bike manufacturer.

The frame is made in Taiwan, and I presume was sprayed in Taiwan, and the car for which the touch up set was made is a well known German luxury brand. I don't know how this works but it's quite likely that when the bike manufacturers (British in this case) choose a paint for their bikes they specify car paint. So even with fancy lustre finishes it might be possible to repair scratches (except where one colour fades into another).

The chain has worn almost all the paint off the top of the full length of the chain stay and it never seems to show any sign of rust. I put this down to the quality of the steel.

no, its from the oil on the chain. Like you never see a rusty engine case on a machine, yet the anciliary bits that arent in contact with oil do rust.

Scratches are a good reason to buy a bike in a plain coloured enamel, red, black, yellow, etc. Unfortunately off the peg bikes tend to have fancy lustre finishes that are almost impossible to retouch successfully

true, but my experience has shown that metallics & flams are much easier to keep clean. The dirt seems to slide away with the lightest wash. The solid colours take more effort to remove filth - both bikes and cars. (and its not due to a one-off poor lacquer job thats prejudiced me)

Yes - any colour so long as it is black

never again - yes, very easy to touch up. My first custom build was black and a mate had a black car and theyre so difficult to clean - show up every dust and blemish. Fine if you enjoy cleaning, I'd sooner be riding.
BTW I heard from someone in the trade that a black car costs more cos the car has to be one with no panel faults, or paint blemishes, as it shows.

pigman

You are right about black cars but I don't think the effect transfers to bikes. I cannot claim to be the world's best cleaner of either bikes or cars and I had to put my foot down over this when she wanted a black car (my foot rarely goes down in this house unless in a cycling shoe) but given the choise, I always go for black bikes. We got a silver car BTW, now common as muck, not so long ago a very difficult colour to paint match.

thirdcrank wrote:pigman

You are right about black cars but I don't think the effect transfers to bikes. I cannot claim to be the world's best cleaner of either bikes or cars and I had to put my foot down over this when she wanted a black car (my foot rarely goes down in this house unless in a cycling shoe) but given the choise, I always go for black bikes. We got a silver car BTW, now common as muck, not so long ago a very difficult colour to paint match.

My kid brother who used to be in the car repair business hated balck cars when there were panels to beat out/fill/bodge then respray as it was impossible to mask any ripples and bulges and indents. The effect does atransfer to black frames bikes - my restoved black frame Galaxy revealed in full glory several minor dings which were baerly noticable before the change of colour. Suppose I could ask for the dings to be filled when I get the next restoving job done or I could go for canary yellow and save on the filler....

That's one reason why my machine is black. It's easier to touch-up scratches. I use a modelling brush and a tin of Humbrol black enamel modelling paint. You can't avoid cratches I'm afraid. Just get it resprayed when it gets you down.

workhard wrote:

Langley wrote:Some monumental <i>[rude word removed]</i> dumped their bike on mine and i now have a lovely fresh scratch. Why he did not use other empty bike racks i will never know.

Not the best way to start my day.

Just venting

S'obvious. Car driver driven out of his 4x4 by rising fuel prices, without a clue how to behave appropriately. Just like when he was driving his 4x4.

A generalisation again.

generalisation? more like pure conjecture

I assumed it was irony.