Touch up Paint

[mrgold35]

What is everyone using to touch-up your Rad Power Bikes?

I have black and white 2016 Radrover and white 2018 RadCity Step-Thru. I have quite a few dings on both Radrovers from normal wear/tear and flipping over the handlebars a few times trail riding. I was thinking about doing the usual sand, tape, spray, and clear coat; but, I'm new to this and don't want it to look worst.

I wanted to find out what everyone is using to color match and how it is holding up?

 

[gregorb]

What is everyone using to touch-up your Rad Power Bikes?

I have black and white 2016 Radrover and white 2018 RadCity Step-Thru. I have quite a few dings on both Radrovers from normal wear/tear and flipping over the handlebars a few times trail riding. I was thinking about doing the usual sand, tape, spray, and clear coat; but, I'm new to this and don't want it to look worst.

I wanted to find out what everyone is using to color match and how it is holding up?

No dings yet on the Radcity but...Got pretty good at touching up bikes over the years from lots of trial and error. Found various brand paint pens worked best for the smaller, most common dings. Painters, Painty, Decocolor and Tree House (brands) are available at art supply type stores and online. They are fast and convenient, if you can get a fairly close color match. That can be difficult sometimes. Found the trick is to fool the eyes from looking at the ding as much as possible by matching as close as you can and really just making it look BETTER, not perfect. Perfect is difficult and not practical in most cases. Clean the area, test the color in sun and shade, let it dry, and be thankful if color is close and helps keep the eyes from looking at it. Nail polish and model kit paints also work, hold up well and you can mix colors if you want. But I found mixing colors can be very tedious, annoying and time consuming. Better looking is really the most practical way IMO. If the color is a standard one, say white, red, black etc. White and black in your case...Get 2 or 3 different brand pens and try each for a closer match. Works very well. Also take phone pics of bike color in sun and shade. Then take to store and compare to color caps on the pens, nail polish or model paint colors. This also helps get a closer color match. You can also use this method for spray paints if the ding is larger and you plan to mask it off and spray. Good luck!

 

[mrgold35]

Thanks for your experience on this. I never considered paint pens. Your suggestion sounds like the best way to go for fixing minor paint damage from chips/dings.

 

[mrgold35]

Thanks again @gregorb !

I ordered Brite-Mark on Amazon for about $5 each in Black and White marker paint. The paint pens are not a perfect color match since the Rover and City have a mix of gloss and flat black and white paints on the frame, pedals, and rack. I have more of a clear coat on my white radrover compared to flat white on the Radcity. Anything looks better than exposed aluminum from scratches on my frame, pedals, and Topeak rack.

Very pleased with the results and I don't think someone would notice the filled in scratches except for me. Need to make sure to wear gloves next time because the black is hard to get off my hands without solvent (my Pedro Oranj Peelz Citrus degreaser worked pretty well).

Brite-Mark medium tip, Black, Amazon, $5.19: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DD2EW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Brite-Mark medium tip, White , Amazon, $4.99: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DD2EU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[gregorb]

Mrgold35,

Glad to be of some help. You said it.... "anything looks better than exposed aluminum". That's the key. To just make it look better and fool the eye. A tip: Found it works better to dab on the color from an already paint covered pen tip if not a large ding. And thank you for the Brite-Mark recommendation. Never saw that brand before.