Hey guys, so I just got my bike back from storage and I'm starting my mods. I took off my old highway mustache bar and am swapping them out for some Mark IV's and noticed that where it was clamped around the down tubes it had chaffed through. So what's the best way to touch it up?

 

OK, so I talked to a buddy and he suggested that I use some black decal tape. It's just below the top crash bar mounts, so it shouldn't be to obvious, and I'm thinking that trying to touch up with black paint would, well, look like a touch up job. Guess I should have put clear protective tape on to start, but it's to late for that now. What do you guys think?

 

I've used black nail polish in the past. It looks good, but no matter what you do, it will look touched up.

 

Honestly, for a quick chip fix, I went to the craft store & bought gloss black modeling paint. Still there...

 

Yeah, I thought about those, but it's about a 2.5" strip all the way around the down tubes, so a cheap patch job would look bad. Do you think the tape would look bad? I was thinking at least it would be consistent all the way around so it might not stand out to bad.

 

I'm thinking more along the lines of protecting your frame from rust. The tape doesn't sound too appealing but you might give it a shot. Either way though, I'd put something on the metal.

 

Oh I'll paint it either way, and no, the tape won't be a great fix, but I've had that clear protective tape and different parts of different bikes and never really notice it... Short of stripping the bike down and redoing the whole frame, I'm not really sure of any other options.

 

Imo...there's is no reason that you can't lightly sand the affected area and spray it with a quality black paint. Get the automotive type that is labled utility (advance/auto zone) and i'll bet it matches close enough that no one will know other than you. You can compound to better blend if necessary. I've done it several times on different bikes. Easy...cheap...effective !!

 

You're probably right... It's going to take forever to tape of the rest of the bike so I can spray it. Might as well do it right though.

 

That's true. A 400 grit sanding then and mask everything off. A high gloss enamel would be a decent match for the black of the PC on the frame. It would certainly look better than the tape IMO, but it's a couple hours work.