So just got my bike back from the local bike shop for a drive train inspection. The guy said he only looked over it for a short time so said not to worry about paying a labour charge, even when I insisted I was happy doing so. My wife picked the bike up and when I saw it, the first thing I notice is that there are 2 dings out of the frame paint on the outside of the top tube. Firstly I am gutted because the frame was mint before this but now I am worried there may be more than just paint damage. The bike is a Specialized Roubaix (CF frame). I will take it up with the LBS and see what they will do about it but a couple of things concern me. One of the dings seems to have more of a scratch - is it possible this can significantly weaken the CF? The scratch does look pretty minor but its there nonetheless. There is some lightly noticeable circular crazing around the dings in the paintwork. How much abuse can CF put up with?
If the damage only turns out to be cosmetic, some black touch up paint will camouflage it. Would I need to lightly sand any chipping around the impact area to stop further paint chipping off?
Any other advice re CF paint repairs is appreciated. I will do everything to get the LBS to take ownership of this but just in case I need to do the paint repair myself...
Oh and before anyone asks, my missus swears it wasn't her - even after cross examination!
Hmmm, good point. I think the mark is too far forward for it to have been caused by the handlebar but I will check it out anyways. The handlebar ends have stoppers in them which should prevent them causing this sort of damage I would have thought. It looks as if something has come in contact from above moving downwards so either something has been dropped on the bike or the bike has been lifted up into something.
Yeah the camera is just a point and shoot. Close ups aren't really its thing. 2 more images, one with flash and one without but with some more zoom. Resolution is pretty poor though.
The bit of paint in between the 2 marks is just hanging by a thread so once it has come off there will be a fairly sizable chunk missing.
If the chipped area is less than .010" deep or so (basically, just paint damage), I would mask the damaged area off and do a rattle can black and clearcoat touch up for cosmetic purposes.
If the gouge is deeper, you probably should contact both the bike shop that damaged the frame and the manufacturer for repair recommendation.
