I think the original paint is a candy colour?
Re paint, it was a sort of cherry red, I had assumed with metallic flakes like a car. But on closer inspection, it’s not – the base coat is sort of crinkly. I showed it to Argos, and they pointed me to their rack of sample colours, and they do basically the exact same finish in the same colour. It’s a process of many steps, and is another £200 or so.
However, some say Argos painted finishes aren’t durable, and if it was the same as the original finish that would make sense because it wasn’t that durable. See the other ‘Is this a crack?’ thread I started. The paint had rubbed through slightly on the cable boss and started corrosion tracks under the paint.
Since I want the frame to last I am going to powder coat it. First I’ll try spray.bike and if that turns out shite I’ll get it powder coated later. I’ve gone for dark red + lacquer which won’t be anywhere near as nice as the original but it’ll do.
Any plans for chainsuck protection?
I thought about soldering a plate over the outside of the tube, then I wondered how hard it would be to remove it if it was damaged – and where do I get stainless sheet from? I have some thin alu sheet so I think I will cut a little piece of that like a frame protection sticker and use some number plate fixing tape to stick it on. If it gets mashed I’ll remove and repeat.