• Something very bad happened to my Roberts before Christmas. I dented it stupidely, it fell against a door frame at home...

    I took pictures with a scale reference and emailed them to Roberts who were kind enough to look at them and chat with me over the phone. They believe this is cosmetic only. They only said that if I hit a car from the front the dent is where the tube would be likely to bend more than any other place. Appart from that, they feel it's OK to ride it (which was my feeling too, but it's good to talk to the specialists).

    I contemplated the idea of leaving it like this, and riding it with pride like suggested Reeen (who gave me great moral support when I was "crying" over what had happened... yeah I know, first world problem...)

    But I couldn't let it like this. If I break something I want to repair it.
    So I started sanding the tube, mixing some good loctite filler I had left from works on my motorbike tank, sanding, priming... the usual things to do in such situation...

    I first wanted to buy a spray can online with a corresponding RAL colour that I had identified with a RAL design sample (RAL 5010 Gentiane Blue). The problem with that is that it would be a plain colour, not a metallic finish and the tube would not match the rest of the bike. A metallic clear coat would lighten the colour...
    When I went to Halfords to buy the primer, I notice they had a lot of blue spray cans, so I went back with the bike and found something very close.
    I masked the "Chas Roberts" signature at the front of the tube as I was very keen to keep it. And I masked the rest of the bike, from the front top lug to the seat cluster lug.
    A couple of paint layers, followed with 3 coats of clear lacquer. It's not perfect, but overall I'm very pleased with the result.

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