Patina or pati - nah 🤔

[thom04]

Today I got around to making a mess of my lovely Ribble.

It had a couple of little bubbles / snakes under the paint & knowing that the 531c tubing is pretty thin I didn't want to leave it too long, or ride it too much without taking care of any problems.

After some light scraping with a screwdriver & some sanding it's not looking too bad... I've also plopped on some rust converter for good measure.

Luckily, the rust is all surface level rather than coming through the frame, which was my main worry. It was particularly bad around one of the cage mount bolts & a really annoying one under the second 'B' of the down tube decal which split as I was gently trying to ease it out of the way

Now - the real question. Should I try to restore the paint, or buff out the edges a bit & slap on some clear coat?

 

[PanoIgano]

Hard call and also a matter of personal taste.

If you do ride this bike a lot and it's a keeper then a paint job wouldn't be that bad of an idea to my books.

 

[thom04]

It gets a lot of miles & has lots of chips etc, so the paint is never going to be perfect, and tbh I like a bit of patina - but this might be too much

On the flip side, I've got some primer & paint ready to go, but am aware that it's unlikely to ever be a perfect match so may look worse in the long run

 

[hamster]

Touch it up, it will look fine from 2 metres away.

 

[highlandsflyer]

I would start by examining the crustiest area, gently wire brushing off loose surface crust. Once the crust is removed how pitted is the surface? How thick is the tube there? If you are satisfied the rust is external, (look inside every orifice with good light to be as sure as you can this is all external), and shallow enough not to compromise the tube, take it gently back to a smooth gradient to surrounding good paint anywhere you see 'bubbling'. Then you would be best sealing in the metal.

 

[thom04]

I'm still torn, but for now pati - nah has won (it's going to get painted)

I'm doing the worst bit first to see how fantastic it looks at the end - depending on the results I might just clear-coat the other bits!

First coat of primer is on, I'll go over this with some 2000 grit then see how things are looking

 

[thom04]

The label clearly says THE PERFECT FINISH so I'm expecting good things

 

[thom04]

Not perfect, but the paint was a pretty good match & like @hamster said - from 2m it'll look fine.

This was 2 coats with some light sanding in between - I painted it on in the end in an attempt to reduce mess, but I think the finish would have been better if I'd masked everything off

 

[bikeworkshop]

Having spent my working life looking at working bikes, I can confidently say I prefer the look of touched-in paint over scabs and damage, even lacquered ones.


It makes the bike look valued, and mine's a pavlovian response because a valued bike is better maintained, and the owner is less reluctant to meet the cost of spares and repairs.