Fading paintwork

KernowCB

Last year i bought a 2009 Stumpy Elite FSR and have recently noticed that the entire top bar on the frame has faded to a matt black colour (test bike colour scheme) that just looks plain odd compared to the rest of the nice shiny black colour of my bike. I have emailed specialized's customer care department to see if there is anything they can do...

Has anyone else had similar problems? Specialized or other...

supersonic

Yep, seen it with many bikes where they fade.

Paint quality really does seem to vary, even model to model.

I think sunlight can do it, and of course rubbing. Not sure what you can do about it - if it is the lacquer it may buff up.

Radioactiveman

Never reaaly worroed about paint fade, MTB usualy means your bike gets plastered in filth, rock chipped downtubes, scratched and scuffs from crashes

Paintfade is annoying but in my experience the least of the frames worries

D-Cyph3r

Aye, it's one of the inevitable crux's of mountain biking. You can delay it with frame patches and the like but that smexy paint job WILL get ruined eventually.

KernowCB

I just think on a bike that is just a year old it shouldn't have faded so much already. It's not kept in direct sunlight and i've never had a bike fade just because of rubbing...

supersonic

Gremlins.

phoebian

After being out in Saturdays rain at Cannock with muck getting everywhere, I noticed the rubbing of grit on the top tube between my legs. After a wash i noticed it had gone to a matt finish.

Inevitable really. Only had the bike 2 months aswell :P

SDK2007

My once shiny gloss black FSRxc is now matt grey
The top tube is normally the first to start because of rubbing from clothing, trees, bushes and exposure to sunlight.

allthegearnoidea

Kernow, was tinkering with a Black Specialised comp the other day, top tube all faded, it can be sun related but is most likely that like most of us, when waiting for mates, having a rest, we all sit on the top tube instead of getting of the bike, hence the dulling frm wear from the clothing/mud etc.

can quite easily be bought back with a little compound polishing and albow grease, should come up like new!

now i cant for the life of me remeber where you are down here, but more than welcome to drop by with the bike and can pass some compound over it and see if it'll get all sparkly again!! could even do it super quick with the machine polisher! :shock: 8)

what ive done with mine is when clean and nice, put on some clear tape over the top tube, when that gets all matt and dead, peel it off and put on some more!

Where are my stabilisers?

Back in the day, when I had a bright yellow bike, I used to lay it down on the same side when I took a break. I soon had a two tone bike - awesome yellow on the right and pansy pale lemon on the left. It looked a bit sh*t..... but it was still a fun bike

ride_whenever

Helicopter tape is when it arrives and replace the tape as needed!

rolf_f

Lol - my P7 came matt black but the top tube has polished up to semi gloss due to rubbing

I quite like the variation in lustre on it now.......

.blitz

Think it's called patina

My '96 Proflex was purple-blue when I bought it but all the upper surfaces have faded. The top tube is now 'undercoat blue' and all the black anodised bits have gone a kindof bronze colour. Even the top coat on the carbon bars has taken on a straw colour.

Look out for this finish on next year's Treks.

KernowCB

allthegearnoidea wrote:

Kernow, was tinkering with a Black Specialised comp the other day, top tube all faded, it can be sun related but is most likely that like most of us, when waiting for mates, having a rest, we all sit on the top tube instead of getting of the bike, hence the dulling frm wear from the clothing/mud etc.

can quite easily be bought back with a little compound polishing and albow grease, should come up like new!

now i cant for the life of me remeber where you are down here, but more than welcome to drop by with the bike and can pass some compound over it and see if it'll get all sparkly again!! could even do it super quick with the machine polisher! :shock: 8)

what ive done with mine is when clean and nice, put on some clear tape over the top tube, when that gets all matt and dead, peel it off and put on some more!

Hi bud, I live in lostwithiel and work in st austell - i'm hoping to get out on a couple of cornwall mtb club rides next month so maybe after one of them i could drop by and you could cast your eye over it and see what can be done?? The machine polisher sounds goood! Thanks for the help...