Will The Repair Still Be Visible?
In this blog post, you will learn a little bit about the nature of the carbon repair.
Will I be able to see the carbon repair once you are finished? This is a question that we get asked a lot and for good reason. You are probably concerned that your bike will never ride the same or look the same again. We have good news for you. Even though your bike has been broken, it is possible to make the repair disappear. In this blog post, we will discuss the nature of the carbon repair and how your bike will look once repaired.
There are four ways that a carbon repair can be finished, and they are based on your budget, how you would like the repair to look, and if we can match your colors. No matter the finish, the fabrication process for the repair is always the same. Here are your options:
- Make the repair disappear.
- Make the repair invisible, but cover it up with some new design.
- Do not make the repair disappear and embrace the scar on your bike.
- Perform the repair, make it disappear, and get a full custom paint job at a discounted rate.
Will I be able to see the carbon repair once you are finished? This is a question that we get asked a lot and for good reason. You are probably concerned that your bike will never ride the same or look the same again. We have good news for you. Even though your bike has been broken, it is possible to make the repair disappear. In this blog post, we will discuss the nature of the carbon repair and how your bike will look once repaired.
Ok, now for some further explanation.
Option 1) Make the repair disappear.
This is the first option to repairing and restoring your bike. This involves carefully conducting the repair and fully matching the paint on the bike, BUT it is only the case for bikes with colors that we can match. We want to state this ahead of time to clear up any blurred lines. Unfortunately we simply do not have the equipment to fully match the colors at this point in time. We apologize for this inconvenience; we will be looking to the future for a full paint matching system.
Ok, well, how do we know if we can or cannot match the color for you? Good question, the thing is, we don’t know until we try matching the color on the bike. We color match with a rudimentary method: mix a tiny batch of paint, compare to original color, repeat. If we can dial in the color, we will let you know and proceed from there. Because this process is highly time consuming, it adds some cost to the repair, roughly $100 for a single color and $200+ for multiple colors.
Option 2) Make the repair invisible, but cover it up with some new design.
This is the second option to repairing and restoring your bike. It still involves carefully conducting the repair, but instead of restoring original color and graphics, we provide the frame with a new design. To be honest, this is our favorite type of repair to do. Why? Well it lets us be creative and it gives your bike a unique look that nobody else has. You can choose nearly any color for the new graphic. We may not be able to directly match a color, but we can get close enough that you would not notice a difference. The added cost for this type of restoration is typically $75 for a single color and $150+ for multiple colors.
Option 3) Do not make the repair disappear and embrace the scar on your bike.
This is the third option to repairing your bike. You basically have to make the decision on whether or not you would like the repair to be raw carbon or painted over with white or black paint. Note that we always cover the repair with a UV resistant clear coat. This finish is complementary to the carbon repair and comes at no additional cost.
We also want to mention that the raw carbon repair will have some surface imperfections. Typically, we use a light filler material to fill tiny surface imperfections before painting. With the raw carbon, we do not use filler material because it is white and will show through the clear coat.
Option 4) Perform the repair, make it disappear, and get a full custom paint job at a discounted rate.
This is the fourth and final option to repairing your bike. We carefully repair your bike, make the repair blend into the existing frame, and give your bike a sweet new paint job. The discount is 10% off a full paint job of your choice, but the discount is dependent on how badly your bike is broken. If you have a break greater than two inches in size, you qualify for the 10% discount. If your break is smaller than that, it simply would not be cost effective for us to offer a discount.
Summary
In summary, we have discussed four options that we offer for restoring your bike after a carbon repair. Some are more expensive, while others are complementary to the repair cost. One last thing to mention is this: a carbon repair is conducted with a very different layup process than how your bike was originally manufactured. That being said, there may or may not be small blemishes in the finish of the repair. We do our best to blend the repair into your bike so that it is invisible, but sometimes the complicated geometry of carbon components prohibits us from fully hiding the repair. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us! Thank you for reading this blog post.