Peter Kohler asked, "But do the refinishers ever think of SELLING touchup paint for the say 25-30 typical lightweight colours? Of course not!"
I've had an awful lot of bikes painted, and I always ask the painter for a little bottle of touch up. Sometimes I don't get it, and sometimes, as in Richard Sachs red from Joe Bell it does not do as much good as one might think. The base undercoating make it come out a really different color and it still is not easy to match.
Body shops in town can take a paint sample to a local business called Color Match, if memory serves me, and they do a cool computer thing and give them the exact mix to match. I think it costs about $35, though.
To match a whole bike is a matter for a paint pro, but I think we have touched pretty heavily on touch up many times, so the archives should be rich with info and Ray Dobbins has a feature about it on his web site, too, I believe.
Tom Sanders
Lansing, MI USA