Final choice to make

[jpw]

So I've got this Legend CX SE order to send in and I'm at the final stage, the aesthetic stage. I've seen the newer matte ti finish and I like it, but then again polish is also nice.

I've decided not to have the metal head tube badge - emphasis here, I've 'decided'...(on something), finally. I am undecided about the rest though.
I'm wondering, is the paint used tough and durable? If not then I won't have paint at all, but bare ti seems a little boring I have to say; practical yes, but still boring. A splash of colour is tempting me.

What da ya thunk? Did anyone have any regrets about the final choices they previously made. Pearls of wisdom received with mucho thanks. :) :)

[kgreene10]

I ride with a guy who hand-polished his Litespeed and it looks quite sleek and extremely shiny. It also looks pretty stealthy, which I think can be nice among all the cycling bling. Nevertheless, to my particular eye, a cool Serotta paint scheme is absolutely gorgeous. If I were dropping the big bucks on a new Legend, I think I would spend about 100 hours with the new on-line paint applet, drive myself crazy choosing among the final three or so, and then go for it.

[Hardlyrob]

Personally I favor the 1/2 paint 1/2 Ti look. All ti to me is too monochromatic. The Serotta paint on my 12 year old CSI still looks great aside from a small number of dings that I've put into it - very few rock chips in probably 20,000 miles

Go for some color man!

Rob

[Ginger]

polished first.
then, when you get tired of that you can have it refinished to the brushed
then when you get tired of that you can have it painted 1/2 paint
then when you get tired of that you can have it all painted.

:)

Keep getting a new bike for the cost of the refinish.

[jpw]

I ride with a guy who hand-polished his Litespeed and it looks quite sleek and extremely shiny. It also looks pretty stealthy, which I think can be nice among all the cycling bling. Nevertheless, to my particular eye, a cool Serotta paint scheme is absolutely gorgeous. If I were dropping the big bucks on a new Legend, I think I would spend about 100 hours with the new on-line paint applet, drive myself crazy choosing among the final three or so, and then go for it.

I'm at the crazed stage :crap: :)

[dbrk]

This bike is a keeper and will last a lifetime and more. So Ginger is onto the idea. Of course, her succession of refinishing has a no-going-back caveat, which is why she lists it in the order she does (though you may likely know this). My brushed Legend was one of the best looking and riding bikes I have ever owned.

dbrk

[avalonracing]

Go with the bare Ti. Otherwise it will really break your heart once you get the first scratch in that new, pretty paint.

If you want to add color change out your bar tape or tires every few months or your headset and saddle every year (and decals too!)

Clean Ti goes with every jersey or team kit too!

[benb]

You can always swap decals, etc.. on the cheap I suspect I'm going to change my decal color some winter when I'm bored.

The Serotta polish finish is not the same as the litespeed.. it's not the mirror finish. (Litespeed is doing something very similar to the Serotta finish on the newer bikes, but most I've seen are the mirror finish)

The mirror finish is the hardest to keep up AFAIK.

The Ti finishes look dull when dirty but when cleaned & waxed they look fantastic and don't age like paint. There is a real "oh wow!" effect when you clean the bike that is not really there with paint.

But some of the Serotta colors will burn your retinas out though.. incredibly vivid colors that really catch the eye. I saw a several years old Fierte in a red at my LBS that the owner was picking up from service. The paint was indeed amazing. Like on the level of a Ferrari.. maybe even beyond that as I've seen quite a few Ferarris and none of caught my eye like that Fierte did.

I didn't specify what was on the headtube when I got my bike and it came with the metal head tube badge.. it's fairly sharp even if it does blend in with the Ti finish.

[jpw]

This was the word from Serotta.

The choices are matte, polish, paint. Satin has been deleted.

Matte can be painted.
Paint can be repainted, or removed back to matte.
Polish can't be painted.

The new matte looks nice and 'spanky' (spangley and swanky) but might be impossible to restore to new without a return trip to Saratoga Springs, NY. Polish seems to be the safe option. Paint is environmentally unfriendly.

As this is a bike capable of fat tyres and could be well used on rough trails polish might be for the best, although I've always liked orange.

[Michael Maddox]

Go with the bare Ti. Otherwise it will really break your heart once you get the first scratch in that new, pretty paint.

If you want to add color change out your bar tape or tires every few months or your headset and saddle every year (and decals too!)

Clean Ti goes with every jersey or team kit too!

+1

Changing colors is a snap. You can even use that green Brooks and matching tape with no ill effect.

[Ahneida Ride]

Personally I favor the 1/2 paint 1/2 Ti look. All ti to me is too monochromatic. The Serotta paint on my 12 year old CSI still looks great aside from a small number of dings that I've put into it - very few rock chips in probably 20,000 miles

Go for some color man!

Rob


YES !!! The 1/2 paint and 1/2 Ti is very very very very practical.

Substitute a SMALL "Serotta" logo on the down tube. The small logo
is the one usually reserved for the seat tube.

On the downtube go reverse Ti.
Chainstays naked or reverse Ti.
Decal on Hedtube.

How about light blue with dark blue decals ?

One can take the Serotta "Polish" finish up a notch with a bit of semichrome
polish. (see Velo Orange.com)

15 years from now the 1/2 1/2 will still look good.

[WadePatton]

polish can't be painted my arse.

simply unpolish it to the finish required for paint.

Of course it'd be undoing a lot of work and I personally think that polished Ti is spectacular. And you're always getting a bargain when you can pay someone else to do the polish work. Just ask Dazza.

Do what you like and change it when you don't like it anymore. :banana:

[vaxn8r]

1/2 and 1/2. Color up front, ti out back where it can take the brunt of drivetrain abuse. Tom Kellog knows too.

I had a Litespeed with a gorgeous polish finish. Easy to change out decals and it cleaned up easy but I got tired of it pretty quickly.

All ti, all carbon...kinda retro...kinda 90's atmo

[medici]

YES !!! The 1/2 paint and 1/2 Ti is very very very very practical.

Substitute a SMALL "Serotta" logo on the down tube. The small logo
is the one usually reserved for the seat tube.

On the downtube go reverse Ti.
Chainstays naked or reverse Ti.
Decal on Hedtube.

How about light blue with dark blue decals ?

One can take the Serotta "Polish" finish up a notch with a bit of semichrome
polish. (see Velo Orange.com)

15 years from now the 1/2 1/2 will still look good.

Have to agree with this, and just as emphatically. I had a Merlin Extralight.
Nice for awhile, but it got boring. After almost 15 years, it got REALLY
boring. Yes, it goes with everything, and that's nice.

I bought a used Legend half paint/half bare. Nice looking, even though it's jade green, which wouldn't have been my first choice.

I expected the paint would take a beating, but after ~5 years, there isn't
even a chip. Amazing. And it's my primary winter bike (in northern CA and
I don't ride when it's messy outside.)

If you're going to travel with your Legend or otherwise subject it to banging
about, then I'd go bare. Otherwise, paint it!

Pete

[jpw]

polish can't be painted my arse.

simply unpolish it to the finish required for paint.

Of course it'd be undoing a lot of work and I personally think that polished Ti is spectacular. And you're always getting a bargain when you can pay someone else to do the polish work. Just ask Dazza.

Do what you like and change it when you don't like it anymore. :banana:

Serotta is very clear on this point. Serotta will NOT paint a polished frame and will NOT unpolish a polished frame, period. The reason? Thin wall tubing and safety margins.

[jpw]

polished first.
then, when you get tired of that you can have it refinished to the brushed
then when you get tired of that you can have it painted 1/2 paint
then when you get tired of that you can have it all painted.

:)

Keep getting a new bike for the cost of the refinish.

I do like the idea of reinventing the same frame over time. It also fits well with my mentality of liking to keep my options open - I dislike the sense of being boxed in.

Apparently the satin/ brushed finish is no longer offered by Serotta, only paint or polish. I've been checking what my chronological options might be. It seems that Serotta sand blasts frames directly after the welding stage to clear off any 'gunk'. From there frames can be immediately polished, or painted, or bead blasted and painted. This would suggest that painting directly onto a sand blasted surface (and thus skipping the bead blasting stage) allows for the possibility of later having the paint removed to another colour OR having the the paint removed and the sand blasted surface polished. I'm double checking this again with Serotta as I write just to be certain, but if it is right I will go for a polished rear and a painted front knowing I can change it later. Bliss.

Keep getting a refinish for the cost of a new bike :-)

[WadePatton]

Serotta is very clear on this point. Serotta will NOT paint a polished frame and will NOT unpolish a polished frame, period. The reason? Thin wall tubing and safety margins.
Well yes, if Serotta is going to do any/all finish work, then you gotta play by their rules. I was thinking outside of that framework.

Two things I can surmise from that. The process they use to prep Ti for paint is such that indeed durability could become an issue. If a hand scuff for paint adhesion would marginalize durability then any scratch or ding would render the frame dumpster fodder. Those are intertwined you see.

In the long-run scheme I suppose a liability-minded person (you know who they are) could foresee a buying a polished frame, then having it painted, then selling it to a rider who polished the frame, and so on until the tubing was in fact too thin for durability.