Would you strip this?

[JPintheCAN]

I am 90% sure I am going to blast and coat this frame and fork... Just to be sure that it will last a long while. Does anyone think it's worth continuing to touch up?

The rest of the bike can be seen here:
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=69316

The headtube looks kind of bad and the chain suck looks massive, but dosnt feel deep. I'm sure it will be fine but don't want it to go downhill...

 

[tintin40]

I would let a pro look at it. Clean the areas up. then decide

 

[jimihendrix]

I would let a pro look at it. Clean the areas up. then decide

I agree, it's still in superb condition for a 20 year old bike, the rust could be treated and the paint colour matched to blow in the repairs, that way you dont destroy the original decals etc .

 

[kaiser]

Agree with the above if it can be done, the paint is simply superb, one of the hilights of the bike. Keep us posted

 

[utahdog2003]

I would NOT strip that paint under any circumstances. :cry:

 

[Anthony]

I think you'd be crazy to have that frame repainted and I don't see anything in those pictures that should cause you to.

If that bike was mine, I would get rid of all the flaked/lifted paint with a file, and remove as much rust as I could without damaging the sound paint. You'll be able to tell if the rust is deep enough to be a structural issue, but it doesn't look like it - and even if it is, a respray won't cure it. I would then carefully apply a good rust stabiliser (it's called Kurust in the UK) to all the brown areas you have exposed. Then primer, then top coat with gloss model paint, or car paint, obviously as close a match as you can. Model paint is so cheap that it doesn't cost much to mix colours to get a close enough colour.

If you do it well, it won't show too much and the four areas are all quite well defined. The bb shell is out of sight. The chainstay maybe should be covered with a chainstay protector anyway. The two bits of headtube are quite visible, but if you can't achieve a satisfactory colour match, a couple of frame protector patches might solve the problem and be a reasonably good idea in any case. All the rest of the paint looks pretty good - too good to waste it IMHO.

None of the rust looks inside to out, and as I say even if it was a respray wouldn't fix it.