Touch-up paint

[Zac]

FWIW, I was checking the Gunnar/Waterford site to see if they had my paint color (I ordered a bottle when I first heard they were shutting down, but it broke during a move) and noticed they added some Riv colors:

Rivendell Atlantis Green

Rivendell Cream

Rivendell Head Tube Ivory

Rivendell Homer Hilsen Blue

Rivendell Jay's Green

Rivendell Light Blue Met

Rivendell Light Green

Rivendell Pearly Arctic Blue

Rivendell Roadeo R

Rivendell Roadeo White

Rivendell Sage

Rivendell Sam Hilborne Orange

I think the touch-up paint is now shipped in plastic bottles instead of glass like I received.

https://waterfordbikes.com/fv/store/Touch-up-one-step-p579850196

[Gordon Stam]

I need Pea Sage Green. Got a "beusage" spot on my Romulus.

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[Roy Summer]

Sometimes you can find nail polish that will match or come very close. Clear polish will help prevent rust if you can’t find a color match.

[maxcr]

Does anyone know if the Sam Hilborne Orange is the same as Rambouillet orange?

Max 

[Bill Lindsay]

Orange Sam Hillbornes and Orange Rambouillets are both "sparkly metallic Orange" in color FAMILY.  They are not identical.  The multi-coated treatment of the Orange Rambouillets have been described as a "thousand dollar paint job".  Whether a scratch on an Orange Rambouillet could be made slightly less ugly with the $50 Hilborne Orange touchup from Waterford, that's up to the beholder.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA 

[John Hawrylak, Woodstown NJ]

Bill

Would the Rambouillets being built in Japan have anything to do with the shade of orange???   The Waterford colors seem to be the colors they used for the Rivendell models they made.  

John Hawrylak

Woodstown NJ

[Bill Lindsay]

John

No, I don't think anything particular about the Nation of Japan directly influenced the shade of orange of the orange Rambouillet.  Rambouillets got that paint job because they got that paint job.  Orange Hillbornes got their different paint job because that's the paint job they got.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Cyclofiend Jim]

The original orange Rambouillet was a two pass paint job using House Of Kolor paints. That specific method of paint application is not used any longer.  

I had documented that a while back here - 
http://www.cyclofiend.com/rbw/color.html

Jim

[Armand Kizirian]

Just call Riv HQ, they usually have little bottles if you ask nicely.

[John Dewey]

Over the years, Rivendell paint schemes come and go (came and went) seemingly 'who-knows-whoever-whenever' saw fit. Metallics, metal flakes, basic solid 'enamels' (for want of a better word). Ever changing. I can't imagine anyone in Walnut Creek grabbing a small bottle of carefully inventoried touch-up off the shelf, packing it and shipping to you. Way too many colors have come and gone. And the work required to inventory, preserve, keep track of it all. Yikes.

Turning the clock back, I picked up a call from GP (late 90s...early 2000s) while working in my office at Testors, the hobby paint company. We had long conversations, lots of emails passed between Testors and Riv with the intent of formulating touch-up paint for RBW (our) bikes. We could have, after all, matched any color anyone could possibly have wished for / conceived of. We were the best. Had plenty of beautiful little glass bottles, caps that insured paint good for decades when properly sealed up, and a willingness to get it done. As I recall now, years later, I sent way too many samples to count.

It could have worked and in my position as the 'Testors guy'—and someone who still drinks the Rivendell 'Kool-Aid'—the program could have been successful.

Alas, it didn't happen—and I never found out why. 

Never fear...you can, of course, wander into any hobby shop (assuming you still have one nearby—good luck with that) and apply your own paint-matching skills to get pretty damn close to any color. It's actually an interesting exercise...fully satisfying when you're successful. 

That is, for the couple dozen of us who really care that much.

So, good luck y'all 🙃🚴

Jock

 

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[George Schick]

Interesting, this interaction between Riv and Testors. I'm sure a color match could have been prepared especially for every Riv bike ever made...except ...that first batch of orange metal flake Rams.  Since it was a two pass base coat/clear coat (which is the way ever automobile is painted nowadays), it would take two bottles of touch up paint to repair scratches.  And it would be very difficult to apply them in such a way that they pretty much blend with the rest of the bike's paint.  At least one poster on this blog some time ago had one of these Ram's that needed a repair of some sort.  He took it to a shop where they repaired the frame damage then stripped down all the paint and repainted it in the original base/clear coat colors that Jim references from House of Kolor.  But that must have cost a fortune.  A single can of those paints, which only come in sizable containers - quarts, at least - which must be mixed with a reducer and then sprayed.  Most painters would be reluctant to do this because they'd have to pay a lot just to get the paints and then they'd be stuck with a lot of leftovers.  

[Brian Turner]

I find the conversation between Grant and Testors extremely curious, especially given the casual indifference (I'd say near defiance) Grant seems to have always shown towards touching up chips and scrapes with color-matching paint. It's weird to think there may have been a time before beausage was fully embraced as a tenet of Rivendell philosophy.

[John Dewey]

George, you are correct. It's really tough, if not impossible to perfectly match metallics and 'candy' colors for want of a better word. You can get close enough to probably satisfy all but the perfectionists (like me), but it's a tough match. I'm probably on the fringes when it comes to scuffs and scratches...I often think my life would be easier if I

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[John Dewey]

...if I wasn't. I have a beautiful 40 year-old Waterford Paramount finished in a color called Neon Orchid. I made sure to get bottle of Schwinn touch-up at the get-go and I've carefully nursed it along all these years later. Kind of crazy. No way to match that color on your own.

Jock

[Jay Lonner]

Yeah this has always been a weird bit of cognitive dissonance for me when it comes to Riv — on the one hand, extolling the virtues of Joe Bell paint jobs, fancy lugs, and other details. On the other, the whole “beausage” schtick, and an almost cavalier attitude about touch-up paint, dings, etc. I think the rat bike aesthetic works for a brand like Surly, which has always leaned into a punk/street attitude, but with Riv it just seems a bit off. My sense is that as a designer GP is kind of restless, always looking ahead to new concepts and projects, and isn’t really interested in dwelling on legacy products. Admirable in its way, but you’re on your own when it comes to color matching. Even the naming is cryptic — good luck sourcing Sergio Green or Ana Purple. Doesn’t seem like a big ask to also supply the paint code.

Jay Lonner

Bellingham, WA

Sent from my Atari 400

On Jun 3, 2024, at 7:12 AM, George Schick <bhi...@gmail.com> wrote:

Interesting, this interaction between Riv and Testors. I'm sure a color match could have been prepared especially for every Riv bike ever made...except ...that first batch of orange metal flake Rams.  Since it was a two pass base coat/clear coat (which is the way ever automobile is painted nowadays), it would take two bottles of touch up paint to repair scratches.  And it would be very difficult to apply them in such a way that they pretty much blend with the rest of the bike's paint.  At least one poster on this blog some time ago had one of these Ram's that needed a repair of some sort.  He took it to a shop where they repaired the frame damage then stripped down all the paint and repainted it in the original base/clear coat colors that Jim references from House of Kolor.  But that must have cost a fortune.  A single can of those paints, which only come in sizable containers - quarts, at least - which must be mixed with a reducer and then sprayed.  Most painters would be reluctant to do this because they'd have to pay a lot just to get the paints and then they'd be stuck with a lot of leftovers.  

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/7e604d12-ad67-4410-8aac-08ee035f4f00n%40googlegroups.com.

[John Dewey]

Brian, yes, but this was quite a while ago now tho—and might very well be why the program never materialized. 

My perception of bicycles has always been rather peculiar. I guess I'd say I have—from a very early age—viewed bicycles as rolling artwork. I inherited this quirk from my grandfather (probably an obsession) but an inheritance for which I'm grateful. My pals were all bike nerds but it was religion for me and I've never outgrown it.

This 40 year-old is still a daily rider.

On Mon, Jun 3, 2024 at 7:43 AM Brian Turner <brok...@gmail.com> wrote:

I find the conversation between Grant and Testors extremely curious, especially given the casual indifference (I'd say near defiance) Grant seems to have always shown towards touching up chips and scrapes with color-matching paint. It's weird to think there may have been a time before beausage was fully embraced as a tenet of Rivendell philosophy.

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[John Dewey]

Exactly 👍 

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[george schick]

Yes, indeed!  Sometime last year on a blog about polishing Paul brake parts Laing posted this comment: "...To me, patina is just another word for lazy and not maintained. Beausage is another word for abused. Rusted is not "original"..."  I couldn't agree more.

[Bill Lindsay]

The last several Rivendell Bicycle Works Owners Bunch posters have agreed with one another that beausage means lazy and neglectful usage of one's bicycle.  

That's a terrible misrepresentation of the meaning of beausage, in my humble opinion.  Useful objects are USELESS if they don't get used.  The USE is what makes them worth their own existence.  Beausage is the combination of two words: BEAUTY and USAGE.  Beausage means that the object looks like it has been used. That's all.  The idea is that a useful object that looks like it has been used is more beautiful than a similar useful object that looks like it hasn't been used.  Lazily neglecting ones bicycle is not beausage.  "Rat bike aesthetic" is not beausage.  Parking a bike outdoors for months, not riding and letting it rust is not beausage.  

If you've got the time and energy to disguise your used bike as an unused bike, and think that's beautiful, that's cool.  You do you.  

Those of us who keep our bikes mechanically and functionally perfecto, and don't mind that they look like they are actually ridden; we are not bike abusers.  There's room for both approaches in this little niche of the cycling world.  Some of us capture both approaches in a single stable.  (This guy). Both are valid.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA 

[Johnny Alien]

I agree with Bill. There is a large difference between beausage and abuse.

[WETH]

This discussion reminded me of an article on the Japanese concept of "wabi sabi": 

"But the quintessential artistic application of wabi sabi is kintsugi, a Japanese craft for repairing broken pottery. Rather than trying to hide the fractures and make the pottery look as good as new, kintsugi artisans use a tree sap lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum to accentuate the cracks and repairs. (Kintsugi literally translates to “golden joinery.”) Sometimes they even will take pieces from other broken ceramics and combine them to form a new aesthetic.

By making these imperfections conspicuous, kintsugi celebrates the history of the piece while creating something wholly individual. The damage is not only heightened to artistic beauty, but it can never be replicated as no ceramic will break in the same manner as another. This makes it more valuable in the eyes of the owner." https://awaken.com/2022/09/escape-the-perfectionist-trap-with-the-japanese-philosophy-of-wabi-sabi/

Erl Houston

Kensington, MD

[John Rinker]

Excellent article Erl; thanks for sharing! Leave it to the Japanese to elevate imperfection and entropy to an art form. 

And Bill's characterization of beausage is spot on but, not for everyone.

Cheers, John

[P W]

I like secondhand bikes because I like stories.

I like the idea of an object living alongside or entwined with a life.

I like things to be passed along and cherished.

And I like battlescars, chips and dents (within reason), because they can help illustrate the things I can only otherwise imagine.

I like to know something was used, and presumably loved.

I don’t mind seeing that.

I still obsess with the maintenance of said bikes. Take time and spend huge sums of money to rebuild and ride them.

And I like the idea that my riding of them is only one part of their overall journey. I’m a custodian, and as such I want to treat them with the respect and love I think they deserve as objects of design and also as tools.

Not giving a shit about the condition of the paintwork, or caring if I accidentally add another small ding to the top tube, is not the same as not caring about the bike at all. I actively worship these things, both in use and aesthetically as I encounter them. I don’t know a way to show them any more respect than that. I just quite like scuffed-up bikes and bike parts, as long as they’re still structurally sound and mechanically well-maintained. 

My general preference is to leave paint as I’ve found it.

Although a bike Steve Potts recently just modified for me is getting a full fancy repaint at D&D.

So I guess you just go where the bike dictates.

P. W.

~

(917) 514-2207

~

On Jun 3, 2024, at 1:56 PM, John Rinker <jwri...@gmail.com> wrote:

Excellent article Erl; thanks for sharing! Leave it to the Japanese to elevate imperfection and entropy to an art form. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/1145235d-f3c6-4dff-90f5-bf022ca721d6n%40googlegroups.com.

[Patrick Moore]

I have to express a slight dissent. It's obvious, over the 30 years, that Rivendell has been motivated by 2 opposing motives: one, absolutely top quality products -- Vuitton-level luggage (hell, I'll bet that if you look at the seams the Riv stuff is better), Joe Bell paint, Harris tweed mudflaps -- now that goes too far: "twee! twee! twee! twee! -- and the other, hemp twine-wrapped fraying cotton bar tape, and "I've got better things to do than clean my bike" beausage. (BTW, "beausage" is pronounced "bow - SAHHJ" and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.)

But we all have our idiosyncracies, and very few of us have conscientiously resolved the internal contradictions between them; on the whole I am very tolerant, at least, of Grant's offbeat choices even though I personally choose very differently than very many of them (the no shoes ruse). 

$1K paint jobs and raveling string on bar tape: it could be far worse: $300 sunglasses and $500 carbon fiber reinforced plastic shoes and every-year-new suspension gimmickry to alleviate excessively rigid frames.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/b3c08dd0-439e-4b97-b52f-be3c9c8c855en%40googlegroups.com.

--

Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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When thou didst not, savage, know thine own meaning,

But wouldst gabble like a thing most brutish,

I endowed thy purposes with words that made them known.

[George Schick]

There's something a bit cuckoo going on here with some of the replies to this blog post.  On the one hand, the OP wants to know what kind of touchup paint will work to cover scratches in order to improve the look of his bike.  Good for him.  OTOH, there are those checking in who are saying don't pay any attention to all that, just let it go (AKA "beausage") because it will show that you've been riding your bike a lot.  Which is which?

If you live on a gravel road and have a lengthy gravel driveway to get to your house and have plenty'a money, would you be comfortable buying a high-end car in the double $ figures like an Aston Martin Vantage to drive over it on a daily basis?  Well, maybe so if your pockets were so deep that it didn't matter one way or another and you'd just trade it in whenever it gets too chipped up.

We have frequent posters who spend lots of money for a particular Riv frame painted in a special color, decked out with specially anodized components (Leah) who ride the bejeezus out of their bikes but are very careful about damage to either the frame or components. Good for them (her)!  All of that is not to say that everyone should just ride their bike however and wherever they wish and then just throw it in a corner every time they they get home.

I just finished doing a major "overhaul" of a mid-90's Schwinn Ridge Seacher "mixte" step-through to upgrade the older Huffy klunker she'd been riding.  She uses it every year to accumulate miles for a special childhood brain cancer event. She has little money and had been given the Schwinn a few months ago by some people who told her simply that the bike had "been in their basement for a long tiime."  The thing was in atrocious condition, caked with mud, all of the hubs had dried up grease, the chain and the BB had to be replaced, the brakes were completely out of adjustment, there were broken spokes, etc.  I spent lots of hours on that bike and only charged her for the cost of a  new BB and chain. Now it's in perfect running condition and she couldn't be happier. I'm sure she'll be riding a lot more miles this September!

To each his/her own or I 'spose maybe beauty/beauseage is in the eye of the beholder.

[Chris Halasz]

My creative side has me forgoing matched paint in favor of, well, in this case, a heart (which momentarily stopped when I saw the frame blemish is covers). 

Economical and environmental reuse of undesired nail polish. I'm thinking Leah-approved, no? 

And Patrick, in this part of the country, it's pronounce 'bee-u-sage', as in beautifully used and aged. 

Cheers, 

Chris 

[Pam Bikes]

I've matched my paint to nail polish but the sun faded the nail polish to almost white.  I need to try to paint it again and find some UV clearcoat to keep it from fading.  Someone told me to look at Home Depot or Autozone.  I couldn't find it at Home Depot.  Next time I'll go to Autozone.