On Feb 6, 6:24 pm, Tim McNamara <
[email protected]> wrote:
> Although in the past 40 years of riding bikes I've never seen a paint
> chip rust through. I have heard from several people that clearcoat over
> bare steel is not a good long-term plan as the clearcoat just doesn't
> seal well enough against moisture. I've never tried it myself, so for
> all I know this could be jive.
Tim,
I realize for bare metal that clear would not be enough by itself. The
only place like that to worry about is rust proofing my seat post
clamp and repainting a close Walmart metallic green. And I have a big
place where shifter cable vibrated or rubbed down to the porous
primer. So will try clear on it first, and if primer surface absorbs
it, then will paint a circular section on down tube with the Walmart
green (Raleigh racing stripe). Other than that its just little chips.
But the clear should really may the Raleigh dark metallic green stand
up. It looks fine 10 feet away now, if you wear bifocals
The only thing about clear is it will come off easier than a white or
red opaque enamel paint and you won't see it peel. So it will just
take inspections and recoating with Walmart clear. Bob Brown's paint
jobs, no matter how thin, look great, but they also look like it may
cost a little more than a few Walmart spray cans, ha-ha. The worst
thing about powder coating is the lag time without a bike, if its your
only one :-(
I just bought my IRD 5 speed freewheel, frame saver, SRAM PC-89R
chain, and 9 speed pulleys for my Centaur rd so will be touching bike
up in next couple of weeks; before my LBS mechanic, who converted my
Ultegra octagon BB/Dura Ace crank, will hook up and adjust all my
Suntour Power Swift Shift and assemble rear end. Every nut and bolt
was a project within itself, so want to seal the paint so I can just
ride for now. A front rack, fenders, 3W light, and Phil Wood Hub
wheels (much) later, and I'll be done for the most part except bar/
stem adjustments, hopefully.
Thanks!