Laquer repairs

[theabbeyfamily]

My wife and I are just returned from our first jaunt on our new Sherpas. The bikes have been just about bang on, and performed even better than we expected. The only problem in the whole two months was my final flight from Auckland to Christchurch, where the baggage handlers somehow managed to clout the downtube with something. It was, I suspect, a fairly rapid and lightweight clout rather than a heavy, substantial one as there appears to be no dent in the frame itself, but rather there are two smallish craters in the paint (through to the steel) with a largish patch of lacquer flaking off from between and around those holes, covering maybe a couple of square inches. I'm reasonable comfortable to try the paint repair, following all the good advice in these columns, but I'm unsure what to do about the lacquer. I wonder if there is perhaps a lacquer problem on this frame as the (somewhat inevitable) scuff marks on the top tube also have some lacquer damage despite my care. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Danneaux]

Welcome to the Thorn Cycling Forum, Abbey Family!

My, what a wonderful trip; what a terrific "first-test" of the Sherpas. Glad to hear you all came out well except for the mishandling by airlines employees. They can surely be careless at times.

To better help and advise you, can you please tell us the approximate age of the bikes and their color?

Age...because the powdercoated finish on Thorns now seems pretty robust compared to some of the older wet-painted models. Yours sound like Mk3s and therefore truly new...

...and color, because the red ones have a glossy powdercoat finish, while the black models have a matte finish; the means and methods for touching them up vary because of that.

I've had remarkably good luck touching up glossy finishes with clear acrylic sprays, rubbed out with compound after they've cured. I prefer catalyzed two-part paints for doing larger areas, but small ones can come out very nicely with the spray-and-rubout method.

Could you possibly post a photo of the lacquer problem? I've written a little tutorial on how to more easily post photos: http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=4313.0 It almost sounds as if the outer clear coat has somehow separated from the base color? It sounds impact-related, though I'm having a hard time imagining what could have cause such paint damage without denting the tubes.

Best,

Dan.

[theabbeyfamily]

Thanks for that reply. The bikes are brand spanking. Picked them up in early July. So new in fact, that I haven't even got used to which model. They are Nomad's not Sherpas! Doh! Mine is a powdercoat Tonka yellow (and very pretty it is too!) I'll sort a photo out today. Once again, thanks.

[janeh]

You should send a picture to Robin Thorn as he'd probably be happy to advise. I had paint problems in my mk2 Sherpa and he was very helpful.

[Znook]

As Dan and Jane say it's best to take some pictures, and forward them to Thorn for their specialist opinion. I, and I'm sure others too, would be keen to see the outcome of this as, at the moment, the TY Nomad is the one I'll be going for.

Robbie