# Longevity of Colnago Paintwork - Clearcoat?



## DannyBoy (Feb 19, 2004)

*Here's a few shots*

nm......................


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## DannyBoy (Feb 19, 2004)

I'm just waiting for my NOS Tecnos to turn up. 

I've read a few posts about Colnago paint jobs chipping quite easily. Is this true/common?

If this is indeed the case would it be worth my while paying my local frame builder to put a few extra coats of clearcoat on the frame before having it built up to enhance longevity??

You can see the frame in the retro gallery posts.


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## Mapei (Feb 3, 2004)

I can't speak for the steel frames, but I can tell you that my all-alu Mapei Dream has the most durable paint I've ever had on a bicycle. Far superior, for example, to the paint on my just-realeased-back -into-the-wild Rivendell Rambouillet. It takes a real licking to chip paint off the 'Nago. After 8000+ miles on the frame, the only parts of the frame that look the worse for wear are the chainstay and the rear tips.


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## lewdvig (Oct 4, 2004)

DannyBoy said:


> I'm just waiting for my NOS Tecnos to turn up.
> 
> I've read a few posts about Colnago paint jobs chipping quite easily. Is this true/common?
> 
> ...


Quite a bit of the paint is peeling off of my ghetto Crystal, but that is from the previous owner's abuse of the bike. I have to say, the bare metal looks like chrome - it might get the bead blast and clearcoat treatment from me.


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## wasfast (Feb 3, 2004)

DannyBoy said:


> I'm just waiting for my NOS Tecnos to turn up.
> 
> I've read a few posts about Colnago paint jobs chipping quite easily. Is this true/common?
> 
> ...


Bottomline: I'd leave it as is. 

Why: There are many reasons for easily chipping paint. The most fundamental part is proper adhesion of the primer to the tubing. With smooth surfaces like the chrome stays, mechanical adhesion would be greatly helped with some bead blasting of the areas where the paint will ultimately be. Unfortunately, they are generally just masked and sprayed. 

The plating is a dipping process so the entire chainstays, seatstays and headtube with innersection downtube/top tubes have chrome under them. Some are entirely chromed (whole frame) as it takes less time to dip the whole frame than 2 steps of front and rear. 

If the base layers are only chemically bonded and not mechanically bonded very well, putting more clear coat won't help much. The film still comes loose underneath with an impact. 

Newer clear coats go the opposite of the Imron idea; they are more flexible rather than harder. Harder materials are ultimately more brittle although Imron is still a very durable material. It's just about to be done away with and is getting difficult to find. Modern Base Coat/Clear Coat system have some fantastic clears. I personally use Valspar 4400 but there are many others.

Italian's aren't noted for their quality paint materials. We have access to different materials here (2 stage primers etc) that they may not use or choose to use. There's some excellent information on this topic from Chairman Bill on the Torelli site. It's a different mental approach as well as production idea. 

http://torelli.com/tech/paint.html


That was all probably much more than you wanted to know


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## terry b (Jan 29, 2004)

I have a 5 year old Master Lite with about 3000 miles on it - paint is pristine.

Also have a 2 year old Dream with about 2000 miles on it. One chip due to me hitting it with a metal screen door.

No damage at all from riding on either bike. No evidence that Colnago paint is any worse than anything else.


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