[brendan rocks]

so, finally i get my hands on a decent bike, and two days later it has a scratch on the frame. usually i tape the frame with hockey tape - it comes off nicely and is soft... but i kinda like the look of this bike and want to keep it nice... any suggestions?

b

 

[bikeboy389]

so, finally i get my hands on a decent bike, and two days later it has a scratch on the frame. usually i tape the frame with hockey tape - it comes off nicely and is soft... but i kinda like the look of this bike and want to keep it nice... any suggestions?

b

A very light scratch can sometimes be polished out. Waxing can also reduce the appearance of scratches.

But you're gonna get scratches. A bike is a tool (though an attractive one), and no matter how well you look after it, it will start to look used.

Make sure none of the scratches go through to the frame material, cover/repair them if you want to or are able to, and then let it go. Maintain your bike mechanically to the best of your ability, keep it clean, etc.

If you keep up like this, the first time you crash you'll have a heart attack looking at what that does to your paint job.

 

[Kerry Irons]

A simple solution

so, finally i get my hands on a decent bike, and two days later it has a scratch on the frame. usually i tape the frame with hockey tape - it comes off nicely and is soft... but i kinda like the look of this bike and want to keep it nice... any suggestions?

Just a gig, but my bike is 8 years old and doesn't have a scratch on it after about 75K miles. The beauty of bare 6/4 Ti

 

[Cory]

Wear the scratches as a badge of honor.

The first few are the hardest. After awhile you don't wince much at all.
Seriously, I understand your concern, but as Grant Petersen says, "It's a piece of outdoor equipment--it's going to get scratched." A bike with neat, new bar tape, pristine levers, polished crankarms and flawless paint always looks like new jeans to me: Stiff and uncomfortable. And I can't imagine thinking hockey tape looks better than a few scuffs from use.
As the other posts said, you can polish some out. Touch-up paint from car parts places will work, as will nail polish (find a drugstore near a junior high school; you can match a lot of colors there). My Atlantis is a dead match for Testor's model paint in the color made for painting the interiors of Russian military vehicles. Can't remember the stock number, but I bought three bottles three years ago for $1 each and haven't opened any of them.

 

[dogmeat]

Buffing compound, testors paint, wax, etc

Auto parts store trip:
Metal primer
Buffing compound
Wax

Hobby store:
Testors paint... colors to mix n match for big chips

OK, if you have a triple, you'll probably drop the chain and grind the frame there... the only problem with chainstay protectors is you always put them on in the wrong spot, until you drop the chain, grind the paint, and find out where it should have been.

Steel frame- yeah, I care.
Aluminum frame- who cares, put a SpongeBob sticker on it, eventually I'll strip it bare then paint it flat black. CycloStealth... like you won't know it's a Cannondale by the tubes.
Ti frame- man, I love that bike. What paint? Who would cover up those welds?