Sacrilege?

[All uphill]

I have a 1972ish Raleigh Grand Sports which I bought a couple of years ago for £60. It was in a bit of a state and I cleaned it up, replaced the wrecked wheels with 700cs and have enjoyed riding it. It has a transfer saying it was built by Carlton in Worksop.

The thing is I don't like the colour scheme and so it sits at the back of the garage making me feel guilty.

I'm tempted to strip and respray it in a colour I prefer. Would that be sacrilege? Should I sell it and buy something scruffy to occupy my itch for a project?

 

[Hover Fly]

It’s your bike, not a grade 1 listed building, do what you want with it.

 

[Johnsco]

Do what you think fit.
As said - It's your bike.
I recently repainted my 1960s Carlton.
These are not the original colours.
I rubbed it down, painted it with rust-preventing primer then finished it by brush ... Two coates.
This is not a spray job.
I've since replaced the scruffy steel wheels with two brand-new alloys of original size ... 27" x 1.1/4".

 

[Spiderweb]

If it were mine I’d get a silver seat post, get rid of the ugly gel type saddle and leave the paint/chrome as is, it looks rather nice.

 

[davidphilips]

Looks ok as is, but its your bike and with a 531 frame and some nice chrome why would you sell it and buy some thing not as good? If you want to paint it go for it.

If i owned it i would perhaps paint it like a raleigh team bike but keep the chrome as is.

 

[ChrisEyles]

I love the chrome and would definitely keep that, but other than that would definitely be up for painting it in my preferred colour scheme - YELLOW!!!

 

[rockyroller]

I spray painted bike once. it turned yellow alright, but it was no masterpiece. sounds like a big project, good luck

 

[raleighnut]

Paint Away.

 

[fossyant]

I've just refurbished a 30 year old Ribble 653. I did take some time over prepping and respraying as I was using a pearlescent white, as the base coat had to be perfect as the paint is transparant.

Go for it, just take your time.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Unappealing paint colour but a nice but not especially rare Raleigh 531 frame? - repaint it, but keep it tasteful. If it's a really rare model and still cosmetically tidy, think hard about it first, because everything is only original once. The financial rarity value of things doesn't interest me, but it's nice to own an example of something where the other 99% have been messed with and yours hasn't.

I'm not a huge fan of the predominantly white scheme of my Raleigh Gemini hybrid, and I did consider changing the colour. If it was a common or tatty looking machine I wouldn't hesitate. The problem is it is rare (you will encounter 100 Pioneers for every Gemini), and totally original. That rarity made me leave it as-is.

 

[Gunk]

I’d go Banana