Controversial? Respray 1991 Clockwork or not?

[Waderider]

Apparently my 1991 CLockwork is an unusual colour. I like cycle touring and wildlife watching, so want a bike with a more stealthy colour. I've had it built as a retro-ish mountain bike for nearly 2 decades, but find myself using it less and less. Am I justified getting it resprayed matt black to match a set of Thorn touring forks? It would at least give it a whole new lease of life as a tourer.

 

[brocklanders023]

Looks in good nick, that colour's quite rare and you'll never get the original finish back once it's gone so I would not repaint it. I'd think about buying another Clockwork frame in need of a repaint (£40/50 should do it) and treating that to a spruce up.

Saying that, it's yours so do what you want!

 

[marky2484]

Spray it = Use it ?

Leave it = Don't use it ?

Spray away, my dear.............

 

[Raging_Bulls]

Clockworks are not that rare, so if you don't want to paint this frame, it shouldn't be too difficult to get another one in the same size that needs a respray.

TBH it looks like most of the originality is gone anyway (V-brakes, fork, stem, saddle, etc). As a result, I wouldn't be bothered to strip it and paint it in a colour you like better.
Unless you plan to sell that frame for profit or restore the bike to fully original spec, there's just no point in keeping it in this colour.

 

[Waderider]

Originality......

Stem, fork and saddle are all period! - that is, they were on the bike by 1994. It did have Dia Compe 986's with PC7's at one point, and Onza HO's at another.

 

[oldave]

Spray it = Use it ?

Leave it = Don't use it ?

Spray away, my dear.............

Precisely so!

 

[markwashington]

TBH the colour of your bike won't matter a jot to wildlife watching. I go wildlife watching (mainly birds and mammals) daily and have been doing it wearing a bright blue coat for years and never had a problem with seeing what I wanted to see. In my experience the noise you make has a far greater impact than the colour of what you wear.

I'd keep the bike Orange if I was you and use the money you save on a respray for something else that'll make cycling more enjoyable.

 

[sylus]

The orange colour isn't rare just not the usual for that period.

The forks you have seem to be doing the job okay and the only reason for adding a thorn fork I pressume is to gain eyelets for front rack/luggage? if thats the case you can easily get front racks that do not require eyes to fit.

As to the colour, I'd stay with it unless you really have that itch to change it then a powder coat black with new decals would look cool too. Plenty of examples of that within this very forum.

 

[highlandsflyer]

TBH the colour of your bike won't matter a jot to wildlife watching. I go wildlife watching (mainly birds and mammals) daily and have been doing it wearing a bright blue coat for years and never had a problem with seeing what I wanted to see. In my experience the noise you make has a far greater impact than the colour of what you wear.

I'd keep the bike Orange if I was you and use the money you save on a respray for something else that'll make cycling more enjoyable.

How do you know what you may have missed due to your loud clothing?

Ever been deer stalking?

 

[DeoreDX]

Does anyone make some sort of vinyl bicycle wrap you can install on the bike which will preserve the original paint while allowing you to modify the color?