1983 Raleigh Rapide W.I.P. - links for newbies added

[TGR]

lol, i was once young - perhaps i should change my ID to 'iwasyoungonce' and we could have a race!

Is Ed's Gospel ride in Norn Iron?

 

[Ian Raleigh]

The main problem with the bike is the paintwork - it is called oyster and i had touched up a lot of scrapes a long time ago. The touch-up paint (Raleigh Oyster) has faded to an ugly yellow and probably the scrapes would have been better left alone but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I have tried to remove it today with mixed results and i am worried that my efforts may cause more problems. A full respray would be a good option but the cost is very hard to justify but it may happen (more lottery tickets purchased!).

My Panasonic Raleigh is in a pearl white colour and that has yellowed slightly and has chips and scratch's on
it everywhere but there is no way I will ever respray it, Not that I can't afford to do so I can
I just want to keep my bike as original as I can and because I've had it since new it will stay with me like scars on my body will.

If you respray it I guarantee you won't ride it

 

[TGR]

Ian, that is a fair point and it might be true. Ideas to address the scrapes then? Pics show damage to tubes behind BB - little rusty but normally unseen - remove rust and touch up?

I would love the bike like new, but i know it is not cost effective to respray but i would like to get the paintwork looking a bit better and rust-free.

I have done some scraping at the forks and some of the marks have come off but it is very hard to not mark the good paint.

Ideas are welcome

 

[Ian Raleigh]

I'd visit a local car paint supplier and take the frame and see if they have any colour chips that match your frame, You never know.

Remember you only want to touch up the chips and not put a massive blob of paint in the hole and on the good paint as they will look bad.

T-CUT the whole frame and work at any brown rust marks, using t cut usually makes rust marks less evident.

 

[TGR]

In regard to the above advice re. T-Cut i have tried it but it was not a success.

You may have noticed i posted about this in another thread - i was advised to -
1. T-Cut
2. Stanley blade to scrape the paint off
3. Cellulose thinners (carefully)

I tried all with poor results and have caused a small mark on the front fork where, i think, i removed the top coat of paint slightly and the thinners then caused a mark to the fork - BalloX!

Ian, as mentioned previously, local car sprayer may get a visit to discuss if he can assist. Another option is a guy who does car dents and minor spraying work - he comes to your house to do the work. I think he may be a good option - if he can get the right paint but i would need to find out how he would remove the rust to avoid future problems.

Problems, problems, problems, and i thought this would be quite easy - not often i am as wrong as this!!! But all good fun and at least i have the support of you guys who are reading this - thanks to all.

 

[Ian Raleigh]

3. Cellulose thinners (carefully)

Jeeesh! I'd never use that stuff on an enamelled frame, It can ruin frame decals instantly

 

[TGR]

I was careful when i used it - cotton bud and very little of it. The problem occurred when i tried the T-Cut afterwards = perhaps a bad reaction or, more likely, i had removed a layer of paint initially.

I also tried two types of paint restorer but with poor results. They work like T-Cut and brightened the paintwork up but no good on the discolouration.

I think that perhaps i have tried everything i can do and a professional may be a safer option. I really do not want to cause any further damage in my efforts to restore the frame.

Thanks to all

 

[al-onestare]

Hello there

Please, please, please don't mess with that frame. From what I can see it's in fine fettle with standard patina. Compared to mine, it's in great nick and mine isn't that bad but has more scrapes on the top tube.

If you've got any larger parts of exposed metal then use a very fine piece of metal sand-paper and gently remove the surface rust, clean up, then lacquer.

 

[torqueless]

Just to share a slightly different perspective on this.... Personally I don't understand this fetish for homogenous paintwork. Someone obsessing over this suggests a priority of resale-value over use-value...fine, if you want to make money out of bikes... I like to ride 'em.

Achieving Invisible repairs is of course highly skilled work, usually involving much expenditure of time, if you try to do it yourself, or money, if you get a specialist to do it. No doubt pearls and flams and other special finishes are even more challenging to repair invisibly. A certain sort of person may enjoy this challenge, but what you get at the end of it is a lie...It's like saying: "This bike has never been abused in any way".

The function of the paint is to protect the metal from corrosion. If I found a part of my frame was corroding, I would sand that part back to bare metal, prime, and paint, preserving as much of the surrounding original paint as possible. Mainly because I know it is much tougher than whatever I'm going to be replacing it with. I consider it more or less like mending a puncture in an inner tube, and chances are my paint repair will be just as obvious as a patched inner tube is. This approach need not preclude skill, art, or most of all, fun. To a homogeneity-fetishist, the result will be laughable...what do I care?

A repair like this, says: "This bike has been abused, and someone has taken the trouble to prevent further problems arising from that abuse", which is the truth.

Obviously, if you're planning to enter your bike in a show or something, a repair like mine will guarantee that you win no prizes. If, on the other hand, you are planning to go for a ride, it will get you wherever you are going without worrying about either your frame corroding, or all the paint-matching trouble you would be in for next time you scratched your frame if you simply had to have it all one colour.

 

[torqueless]

double post