So yesterday I completed my second century ride. It was for the American Cancer Society, and I had a great time. My company sponsors the ride and provides vans and trucks to bring people back to the start. Great! Nope!
My bike ended up not being secured very well in the rack, and fell over during the drive back. Now it has a 3" long x 1/2" wide rub mark on the top tube, down to the bare carbon fiber. I have no idea how deep it is, but the way the paint is rubbed off, I'm inclined to think it started to dig into the epoxy of the top tube. No individual fibers are exposed, but the surface does feel a little bit rough.
I'm thinking of two possibilities of how to repair this...
1) Take it to a custom airbrush place that does motorcycles, etc, and have them use an epoxy based paint. That way it might provide some strength, and an airbrush would blend it in perfectly assuming they get close with the color (its just black and white graphics).
2) Get some automotive touch up paint. Prep surface with 600 grit wet sand very lightly, then clean with windex. I just don't know how I'll make the sharp edge of the top tube graphics that way. Then a few coats of clear on top and wet sanding in between to smooth it out.
Any ideas? A new frame is $2k. I would feel terrible talking to my boss about this considering the ride was for charity and everyone was a volunteer helping out for a good cause.
