Scratch Free Bikes After 1 Year Plus
#76
Senior Member
True story. I built my first bike from scratch (no pun) a couple years ago. I posted a picture on BF from a vintage Pasadena ride. When I checked the photo I saw a scratch on the outside of the chainstay, just past the chain ring. I ran out to the garage at 10 o'clock that night and touched up the scratch. I'm pretty well over it now. I picked up a few more scratches on last year's Eroica. Scratches happen.
#77
Senior Member
As Indiana Jones famously said 'It's not the years, honey. It's the mileage.'
#78
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 526
Bikes: Trek Domane, Surly Disc Trucker
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I probably care more about dings in my bikes than I do about dings in my cars. Having said that, they're not a big deal to me either. I just had to overcome the awkwardness of going to the make-up section of a store to buy nail polish to cover over the scratches
As an aside, when my kids were growing up and bought baseball cards, they tended to keep them protected, in plastic, to look at. When I was a kid, growing up in the 50's and 60's, I was an avid baseball card collector. But we actually played with them ... games like farsies, topsies, knocksies ... or clothes-pinned them to our bike to hear the flapping sound when we cycled. I probably had complete sets of a few baseball seasons but they would all be pretty worn-looking from playing with them. Of course, if I kept them in pristine condition (and my mother didn't throw them all away when I moved out!!!!!), they'd probably be worth quite a bit now. But, I did have fun with them at the time!
As an aside, when my kids were growing up and bought baseball cards, they tended to keep them protected, in plastic, to look at. When I was a kid, growing up in the 50's and 60's, I was an avid baseball card collector. But we actually played with them ... games like farsies, topsies, knocksies ... or clothes-pinned them to our bike to hear the flapping sound when we cycled. I probably had complete sets of a few baseball seasons but they would all be pretty worn-looking from playing with them. Of course, if I kept them in pristine condition (and my mother didn't throw them all away when I moved out!!!!!), they'd probably be worth quite a bit now. But, I did have fun with them at the time!
#80
Cycleway town
You could almost see the scratches on mine in the thumbnail profile picture.. over there.. on the left.
It gets locked up to posts/railings/racks/etc every day. The chrome Wald fenders have got dents in. All my bikes get the same treatment. It's a tool, and they age like a fine wine as they get marked up. It makes the parts less attractive to thieves, too.
It gets locked up to posts/railings/racks/etc every day. The chrome Wald fenders have got dents in. All my bikes get the same treatment. It's a tool, and they age like a fine wine as they get marked up. It makes the parts less attractive to thieves, too.
#81
I am a pretty big time car detailer and I extend that to bikes, my bikes get detailed after each ride. One of my bikes is new, but the other is 2 years old and has a good amount of miles on it, and it's as flawless as the day I bought it. I do hear rocks ding off the downtube sometimes which makes me cringe but so far so good and the films I've seen thus far for downtubes I haven't been impressed with. I also keep my bikes in Feedback Rakks so they never touch walls or anything, and neither bike gets parked anywhere or leaned against anything as they are for fitness, not leisure.
#82
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: VA
Posts: 1,437
Bikes: SuperSix Evo | Revolt
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I have about 4k miles in her first five months and she still looks great. But it's a road bike, and I'm a lil OCD about keeping her clean. Barring a serious crash, I don't see any reason why she won't look pretty much the same for years. Just like a car, if you clean it and take care of it, it'll look good.
#84
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Mid Atlantic / USA
Posts: 2,114
Bikes: 2017 Specialized Crosstrail / 2013 Trek Crossrip Elite
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I like a clean bike. So unlike some people who love their bike having that layer of road grit on it so show it's been used (which I appreciate...it's just not my style) I clean my bike thoroughly so it always looks as nice as it can.
But it's scratched to hell and back after 3 years since I bought it new.
It's just not dirty.
(Props to dirty bikes though. I get it. Respect.)
But it's scratched to hell and back after 3 years since I bought it new.
It's just not dirty.
(Props to dirty bikes though. I get it. Respect.)
#85
Senior Member
My bike is the maroon bike with the yellow pannier on it, and my wife's custom built Co-Motion touring bike is the blue one just above it. The deckhands loaded the bikes on the ferry. When I asked her about her first scratch on her bike she said, it is just a tool". It still looks reasonably well after over 20,000 miles of loaded touring
Last edited by Doug64; 04-27-19 at 10:50 AM.
#86
Banned
San Juan Islands?
I've loaded my bike on the car deck of drive on drive off ferries , few bikes.. then ..
I tied up to a hand rail , open ocean ships do roll a bit,
so abundant hand rails to hold onto are part of the architecture ..
...
I've loaded my bike on the car deck of drive on drive off ferries , few bikes.. then ..
I tied up to a hand rail , open ocean ships do roll a bit,
so abundant hand rails to hold onto are part of the architecture ..
...
#87
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
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I wish modern paint jobs held up a little better. Most of the noticeable scratches on most my bikes are just from transportin/storing them. I accept the damage I get from a crash, but getting noticeable damage from minor bike rack rub or leaning one bike on another is incredibly annoying.
#90
Cycleway town
My tandem is a daily, gets locked up against railings and posts etc all the time, needless to say it has marks.
It's original enamel would've stood up better, but it's rattle-can paint never stood a chance.
I don't care, though. When it's tatty enough I'll go for a different colour..
It's original enamel would've stood up better, but it's rattle-can paint never stood a chance.
I don't care, though. When it's tatty enough I'll go for a different colour..
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#92
A few years ago in the Spring I built up a new aluminum touring frame to be my all-around bike. There was an early season gravel event a couple towns over and I used it as a christening for my new bike.. It was cool and rainy, and by the end of the ride the dirt in the fabric of my pants had completely worn the paint off large patches of the top tube
#94
I am potato.
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Pacific Northwest
Posts: 3,344
Bikes: Only precision built, custom high performance elitist machines of the highest caliber. 🍆
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Although I'm sure that if I washed my bikes, I'd find scratches, dings & whatnot, I find that just general giv-a-dam goes a long ways in preventing undue harm.
I have an S&S tour bike, the first trip in an airline suitcase had me thankful nothing was bent or dented. The paint chips floating around the inside of the case was a bitter pill to swallow. Though I'm pretty pragmatic about these kind of things, especially if I'm at fault, evidence of lack of due care for others really sticks in my craw. Paint is just delicate. If I were to do it again, I think powdercoat is a better option for the vanity concerned (me.) Save the worry & evidence for actual harm.
I get irritated with door dings on cars for the same reason. My all electric Leaf got keyed from headlight to taillight the day I bought it. It's not the ding or the scratch. The minor blemish hardly affects the utility of a multi-thousand dollar machine. It's the blatent rudeness, disrespect & disregard for the property (rights) of others the ding represents. It's just good civics to not be not-disrepectful. Maybe that's too much to ask.
If I put it there, it's a battle scar from use & utility. There is a difference.
I have an S&S tour bike, the first trip in an airline suitcase had me thankful nothing was bent or dented. The paint chips floating around the inside of the case was a bitter pill to swallow. Though I'm pretty pragmatic about these kind of things, especially if I'm at fault, evidence of lack of due care for others really sticks in my craw. Paint is just delicate. If I were to do it again, I think powdercoat is a better option for the vanity concerned (me.) Save the worry & evidence for actual harm.
I get irritated with door dings on cars for the same reason. My all electric Leaf got keyed from headlight to taillight the day I bought it. It's not the ding or the scratch. The minor blemish hardly affects the utility of a multi-thousand dollar machine. It's the blatent rudeness, disrespect & disregard for the property (rights) of others the ding represents. It's just good civics to not be not-disrepectful. Maybe that's too much to ask.
If I put it there, it's a battle scar from use & utility. There is a difference.
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#96
Senior Member
This is the very first picture of my bike, before I even rode it, only moments after buying it. I managed to scratch the clear coat by leaning it on that pole... It has gone through spring, summer, and fall with no additional scratches, but this still haunts me.
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#98
On Your Left
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Long Island, New York, USA
Posts: 8,373
Bikes: Trek Emonda SLR, Sram eTap, Zipp 303
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#99
I'm the anecdote.
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: S.E. Texas
Posts: 1,821
Bikes: '12 Schwinn, '13 Norco
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I'd love to have scratch free bikes. I don't intend to scratch or damage any of my possessions, but stuff happens.
Of course, my current two bikes were bought "pre-owned" and came "pre-scratched".
Of course, my current two bikes were bought "pre-owned" and came "pre-scratched".
#100
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 3,150
Bikes: 2013 Surly Disc Trucker, 2004 Novara Randonee , old fixie , etc
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I have a powder-coated frame that seems to resist scratches better than any regular-paint bike I've had. Not that I worry too much about scratches. If I had the money for a nice custom Ti tourer I'd probably opt for paint just so it would look pretty.