Interested in getting a touch up but have some questions before you book. This blog might have the answers you are looking for.

How much do touch ups cost? Touch-ups start at $250 but often can go upwards of $900+. We find on average they range between $350-$750. It’s best to send us an email with photos of the areas that need repair or bring your bike by the studio and we can give you an estimate.

Usually there are multiple ways of going about a touch up repair. If you have a budget in mind let us know and we can recommend ways of staying with in your budget or make it as economical as possible.

Why does a small repair cost that much? Even though the spot you are looking to repair might be quite small there is still a lot of labour involved. All touch ups require preparation to insure the new paint sticks to the old paint. It also includes filling, sanding and primer prior to blending in the colour and clear coat. If the damage is near or includes a graphic or logo we'll have to do extra masking to get it right. Depending on the colour match this can actually be the most time consuming part of the job. With fancy metallic / pearls / fluoresces etc we will have to do a spray card to check that the colour is correct prior to spraying the area we are fixing.

How long does it take? Depending on how big the repair is, the colour and type of bike it varies. We always aim to have most jobs done within two weeks. Booking in the queue is required.

Will the area be noticeable afterwards? If you are familiar with VeloColour you know that we are perfectionist when it comes to custom paint or really anything we do. The same goes for touch ups so 99.9% of the time our touch ups are seamless, if we don’t think it’s possible we will let you know before hand. The odd colour is impossible to match perfectly. If this is the case we will recommend doing the repair in a different way. For example adding a stripe or band over the chip in a complimenting colour that matches the current paint design, that way the fix looks like an intentional design element. Check out some of the repairs we have done in the gallery below.

Can I add a few new design elements while I get the touch up done? No problem! If you want to add design elements to the project that would be a separate fee. Design time starts at $275 and the paint application gets charged according to time spent.

I have a matte bike. Can I still get a touch up done? Matte bikes are extra tricky because we are not able to blend the old clear coat with the new clear coat, you get a spray out halo. (matte and gloss happens in the clear and not the paint colours). With matte bikes there are two options. 1. Touch Up the chipped area and then give the whole frame a new matte clear. If you have glossy graphics those would either end up matte or we would have to mask them which can add significantly to the cost of the project. 2. Mask an area with a hard edge, do the touch up with either matte or gloss. This will result is seeing and feeling the masking edge.

I crashed on my carbon bike and it needs a touch up. It looks like the frame might be damaged too. Can you fix the carbon and do the paint touch up? We are not currently set up to do carbon repair but plan to offer this in the near future. The best way to stay in the loop about this is to sign up to receive our monthly newsletter.

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Can I just buy paint from you and do the touch up myself? Sometimes, definitely not if your bike is metallic so only solid colours. Otherwise if you can bring your bike in to the studio we can mix a vial of paint. We need the bike in front of us to match the paint, we can’t mix from pantones, RAL etc. It’s important to note that our paint is water based. You will need to put a protective layer on top of the area after. This could be as simple as using clear nail polish.

Should I get a full paint job instead of just a touch up? If your frame is in rough shape and has a lot of chips in different spots sometimes a full repaint is more straight forward and a similar cost. If you send us pictures or pop by we can discuss your options.

Are there any additional costs that I should know about? In estimating the job we will provide a breakdown of the cost. Once we start the job if an unforeseen expenses come up that could increase the cost outside of the estimate we will get in touch. If parts are left on the bike and inhibit the touch up area we would charge to remove and reinstall those, with your approval. Like mentioned previously a touch up often requires colour matching which is an additional fee depending on the time it takes to get it right.