# Blemish care on an older DeRosa SLX



## sikabk (Jun 23, 2011)

Hi!

I posted this on another forum and then I recalled RBR had a DeRosa sub-forum, so I would like to draw on the knowledge base here. I recently bought a very nice possibly early 90's CrMo SLX DeRosa. The frame is beautiful, but has a few spots where the paint has been chipped to the bare metal. I would like to seal the damaged areas with clear nail polish, but I would also like to kill or slow down any rust in these spots. I've been thinking of using a very fine small brush..the kind you might use in oil or water colors..to apply some naval jelly (phoshoric acid) to the spots prior to applying the clear nail polish. Does this sound like a reasonable approach? I don't want to hide the blemishes, that's why I'll be using the clear nail polish.

I would also like to see about contacting DeRosa...to try to date the bike a bit better, is the "derosanews" site the contact place for older DeRosa bikes?

Thanks,


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## sikabk (Jun 23, 2011)

Update, I'll be using the nail polish, but I'm still trying to get a better idea of how old my De Rosa is so any advice on where to look,.... any tips will be appreciated! Here's her pic on the De Rosa thread!

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showpost.php?p=3486485&postcount=19


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## Fredrico (Jun 15, 2002)

*Nice bike.*



sikabk said:


> Update, I'll be using the nail polish, but I'm still trying to get a better idea of how old my De Rosa is so any advice on where to look,.... any tips will be appreciated! Here's her pic on the De Rosa thread!
> 
> http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showpost.php?p=3486485&postcount=19


No pix, but I have a Professional from '84, that I've conscientiously applied automotive touch up paint to covering the scratches, sprayed lightweight oil inside the tubes when overhauling the BB, and tried to not ride on wet roads. There's some surface corrosion inside the seat tube and the top tube cable guides, but that's it. The enamel touch up paint has held up just fine over the years and 70,000 miles. A few times, I've had to "sand" down rust with emery cloth before applying the paint with a very tiny pointy brush. The durability of the paint on those steel DeRosas is legendary.

Yours looks like it was build between "88 and 93, owing mainly to the SLX tubes and components. The geometries and lug work is the same as mine. Definitely a keeper, a standard of comparison upon which I judge all bikes to this day. :thumbsup:


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## sikabk (Jun 23, 2011)

Fredrico said:


> No pix, but I have a Professional from '84, that I've conscientiously applied automotive touch up paint to covering the scratches, sprayed lightweight oil inside the tubes when overhauling the BB, and tried to not ride on wet roads. There's some surface corrosion inside the seat tube and the top tube cable guides, but that's it. The enamel touch up paint has held up just fine over the years and 70,000 miles. A few times, I've had to "sand" down rust with emery cloth before applying the paint with a very tiny pointy brush. The durability of the paint on those steel DeRosas is legendary.
> 
> Yours looks like it was build between "88 and 93, owing mainly to the SLX tubes and components. The geometries and lug work is the same as mine. Definitely a keeper, a standard of comparison upon which I judge all bikes to this day. :thumbsup:


Thanks for the tips! I'm leaning toward 91 or maybe 92 if some of the aero components from 91 were used. She really is a keeper and fun to ride!


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