C40 paint touch up in NYC

[galgal]

Have a C40 that could use some paint touch up, before I do the build. Have searched the forum for prior posts on paint refinishing and found a lot of useful information. Most of the recommended pro painters mentioned are not located in NYC though. Someone like Allan Wanta would be great, but I really want to start riding the bike asap and imagine there would be a long turn around time with someone like that. Any recommendations for someone comparable in NYC?
Or of car/motorbike shops in NYC one might have used for similar purposes?
The bike doesn't really need a complete new paint job, just has its share of paint chips, on the drive side chain stay and one on top tube.
I might just try a DIY job, though never tried on a carbon frame before, so any advice would be appreciated.

[ultraman6970]

The 1st question you will get is... how much or a touch up do you want??? All depends of what it is, some stuff sure you can do it yourself but sure if you want the whole fork refinish that is not a retouch at all...

[kmla320]

Vicious Cycles in New Platz

[fuzzalow]

Dontworryboudit. Ride it, make sure you can get outta it what you want and expect outta it first. Only then will you know that it is worth putting any money into it at all.

If positive on the assessment, then make plans to have it refinished during the fall/winter 17-18 off season (you're northern hemisphere, right?)

If negative on the assessment, then it becomes just another bike, passing through.

[AngryScientist]

i agree with fuzz!

additionally, its carbon fiber, at leas you know the spots with the missing paint arent going to rust!

[galgal]

Dontworryboudit. Ride it, make sure you can get outta it what you want and expect outta it first. Only then will you know that it is worth putting any money into it at all.

If positive on the assessment, then make plans to have it refinished during the fall/winter 17-18 off season (you're northern hemisphere, right?)

If negative on the assessment, then it becomes just another bike, passing through.

That is good advice. Will follow. Thanks.

[Hilltopperny]

After you ride it and still want to follow through with the paint call Carl at vicious cycles/metal guru. He is in New Paltz and does good work from what I've seen.

[galgal]

After you ride it and still want to follow through with the paint call Carl at vicious cycles/metal guru. He is in New Paltz and does good work from what I've seen.

Will keep that in mind, thanks. During the summer, I go riding in the Rhinebeck/Woodstock area. Would be a 60 mi r-t to New Paltz

[R3awak3n]

I have seen people go through the work of repainting and restoring their frames, dumping tons of money into them only to after ridding them not being the right size/geometry.

I say ride the bike first, get a few more nicks in it, then in a few years, send it to the painter.

[rallizes]

can we see a pic of the frame?

i'm a big C40 fan

[galgal]

can we see a pic of the frame?

i'm a big C40 fan

Here you go, just put it together, probably need to tweak seatpost and handlebars. Pardon the badly lit indoor pic, roads are still slushy in NYC.

[rallizes]

Here you go, just put it together, probably need to tweak seatpost and handlebars. Pardon the badly lit indoor pic, roads are still slushy in NYC.

very nice! what size is that?

hope to see it on the NYC streets (or one of the parks) soon!

[zzy]

NYCer here - for small touch ups you're limited to auto repair shops. Anyone else will either want to do a full respray or will charge too much. Blending /matching colors is very difficult to do well. I had to repaint a rewelded seattube and got very high quotes from most local shops, almost the same as a 1 color repaint. Auto places were the only reasonable ones. Maybe hit up Raphael at Chelsea Bikes but I was never able to get a straight answer from him.

[galgal]

very nice! what size is that?

hope to see it on the NYC streets (or one of the parks) soon!

Thanks! ST is 51, TT 52.
Waiting impatiently for slightly drier streets

[galgal]

NYCer here - for small touch ups you're limited to auto repair shops. Anyone else will either want to do a full respray or will charge too much. Blending /matching colors is very difficult to do well. I had to repaint a rewelded seattube and got very high quotes from most local shops, almost the same as a 1 color repaint. Auto places were the only reasonable ones. Maybe hit up Raphael at Chelsea Bikes but I was never able to get a straight answer from him.

Thanks for advice. Just a few paint chips on the bike so did a little DIY touch up. That will do for now.

[tctyres]

Maybe hit up Raphael at Chelsea Bikes but I was never able to get a straight answer from him.

He's probably the best mechanic in the city but sort of a disaster in terms of clear timing as well as price for atypical one-off jobs.

I'd call Bilenky, too, if the time comes for a repaint.

I'd get a pack of multicolored sharpies or some various fingernail polishes and touch it up for 2017 riding if it bothers you that much.

[zzy]

What I did was get a friend who does retouching to find the nearest color and ordered me a spray can of it. I sanded the torch marks and scorched paint off, primed it, and did several coats of paint. Then sealed it with a blending clear coat. Came out okay, but the color match isn't perfect.

[galgal]

Thanks all for advice on paint touch up. Have taken care of that for now but have another question re the build and thought to ask here rather than start a new thread.
Am not quite satisfied with the cockpit set up. Which consists of Deda Zero 100 stem and bars. Basically, don't like the rise to the stem with its 82 angle and how it looks in context of the traditional straight top tube. Am considering swapping the Deda stem (90mm) for -17 stem such as the Zipp Service Course SL which should give a stem horizontal to the top tube, correct? Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

[fuzzalow]

Am considering swapping the Deda stem (90mm) for -17 stem such as the Zipp Service Course SL which should give a stem horizontal to the top tube, correct? Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Yes, -17 angle stem gives a nice straight line & aesthetics along the toptube to the bars. I've used -17 stems on almost all of my setups because the primary driver for my fit & position is a fairly closed pelvis angle which requires a fair amount of handlebar drop, hence the -17 stems.

There are folks here versed in stem rise versus spacer equivalents so they can help you better than me for the additional spacers required to get back to an identical bar height with a -17 from what you had before with an 82 degree stem.

Nice c-40, the twin seatstay c-40's IMO are the coveted c-40s.

[cadence90]

Am not quite satisfied with the cockpit set up. Which consists of Deda Zero 100 stem and bars. Basically, don't like the rise to the stem with its 82 angle and how it looks in context of the traditional straight top tube. Am considering swapping the Deda stem (90mm) for -17 stem such as the Zipp Service Course SL which should give a stem horizontal to the top tube, correct? Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

You can use this Stem Comparison Tool (http://yojimg.net/bike/web_tools/stem.php) to explore various stem angle/length differences. Just leave the head tube angle at 73 degrees, and plug in the other numbers. "Height" = stem stack height, usually around 40mm for modern threadless stems, which you can find on the manufacturer's website.

The result will look like this (Red is Deda -8°; Blue is Zipp -17°, which would require +15mm of spacers to place the bars at the same height as the Deda does):

[galgal]

Great. Thank you Fuzz and Cadence. I love this place 🙂