Painting a bike

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2014-06-09 9:54 AM

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Subject: Painting a bike
I worked out a good deal with a guy on Craig'sList for a Trek Mystic for my son. The guy lived a couple of hours from me but near my mother-in-law, so I worked it out with her to pick it up on her way to my house yesterday for a birthday party we had for my daughter. Turns out the bike I thought was a bright blue color from the pic was purple. Not a cool deep purple, but a very girlie purple that my soon to be 6 year old boy would have a tough time with.

Since I've been looking for this type of bike for over a year on CL with no success, we've decided to paint it. Has anyone ever done this before? I've seen several sites that show you how to do it yourself, but I'm curious as to what it looks like for normal DIY'ers on their first attempt. Has anyone been successful or failed at doing this?

2014-06-09 11:01 AM
in reply to: jmcconne

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Master
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Subject: RE: Painting a bike

Are you planning on a perfect paint job and have you had any previous experience with painting?  Are you using high quality paint and a HVLP spray gun, or are you planning on rattle cans?

Rattle cans can look good, but not great.

Automotive type paints with the right prep work will look great to awesome.

Prep work is what 90% of the people fail at.

 

2014-06-09 11:03 AM
in reply to: jmcconne

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Subject: RE: Painting a bike
* so long as it's not carbon... painting a carbon bike is a bit more work.

1.) remove the components down to a bare frame
2.) aircraft paint remover (you can get it at your local auto parts store/walmart/etc) - spray it down, let it sit a few minutes, wipe off, spray off, repeat.
3.) CLEAN THE BARE FRAME. Do a thorough job, if you get aircraft paint remover residue left on your primer won't hold.
4.) Self-Etching Primer the frame. Go slow, multiple layers. Let it set a day or so. Depending on "how nice" you want it to be you may need to rinse/repeat.
5.) Paint, same deal as primer
6.) apply decals (if you want) then clear.



*all rattle can unless you want to get super fancy / buy a gun / etc.
2014-06-09 11:42 AM
in reply to: Leegoocrap

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Subject: RE: Painting a bike

I'd suggest calling the local powdercoat painting business and get a quote.  You have to remove everything down to the frame anyway, why not drop it off and have it done professionally?  My husband has done this more than once and he's cheap about bike stuff, so I would wager it's well under $100.  It's worth asking, anyway.

2014-06-09 11:52 AM
in reply to: BikerGrrrl

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Subject: RE: Painting a bike
Originally posted by BikerGrrrl

I'd suggest calling the local powdercoat painting business and get a quote.  You have to remove everything down to the frame anyway, why not drop it off and have it done professionally?  My husband has done this more than once and he's cheap about bike stuff, so I would wager it's well under $100.  It's worth asking, anyway.




I had my bike painted professionally and I think I paid around $200 in NYC. Well worth it to know it would be done well. It wasn't something I'd have been comfortable doing on my own.
2014-06-09 2:34 PM
in reply to: BikerGrrrl

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Subject: RE: Painting a bike
Originally posted by BikerGrrrl

I'd suggest calling the local powdercoat painting business and get a quote.  You have to remove everything down to the frame anyway, why not drop it off and have it done professionally?  My husband has done this more than once and he's cheap about bike stuff, so I would wager it's well under $100.  It's worth asking, anyway.





This is the route I took on one of my bikes...
They stripped the old paint and and applies the new finish - it came in right around $100,
It was well worth it.

Before:


After:




2014-06-09 4:45 PM
in reply to: RockTractor

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Subject: RE: Painting a bike
We're thinking rattle cans. Our plan was to remove the stickers, prime, and paint. I'll look into the aircraft paint remover. I got the bike for $65, so not wanting to spend any type of real money on getting it painted.
2014-06-09 7:44 PM
in reply to: RockTractor

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Subject: RE: Painting a bike

Originally posted by RockTractor After:

 

That is HAWT.  Well done. 

2014-06-10 8:54 AM
in reply to: jmcconne

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Subject: RE: Painting a bike

Originally posted by jmcconne We're thinking rattle cans. Our plan was to remove the stickers, prime, and paint. I'll look into the aircraft paint remover. I got the bike for $65, so not wanting to spend any type of real money on getting it painted.
I did the same on my Frankenstein Fixie. It looks fine to me, pretty much like RockTractor's above. You didn't mention your son's age, but it might be cool to include him in the work as well.

2014-06-11 10:59 AM
in reply to: jmcconne

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Subject: RE: Painting a bike
I painted my ugly yellow P2 a pretty pink.....take it to a body shop....they make colours, just bring them the frame...it cost me 40 bucks canadian
2014-06-11 3:13 PM
in reply to: FITHAPPENS

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Subject: RE: Painting a bike

 

Powder coating would look best, but sounds like outside the proposed budget. May be worth a call anyway. I got four 17" car wheels sandblasted and powdercoated for $160, was a steal. 

 

Rattle cans is probably the way to go then. Strip, prime, paint, clear coat, then use Meguir's or other brand rubbing compound to remove some of the orange peel and make it shine.

 

Or the new trend in car parts is plasti dip. $6 for a can and you can spray it on, then if you want to change it later just peel the plasti dip off and re-spray. Doesn't take much skill to apply so your son could be involved and he could change the color later on if he wanted to.

www.dipyourcar.com

2014-06-12 4:24 PM
in reply to: jmcconne

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Champion
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Subject: RE: Painting a bike

I've never painted a bike or car, but...why not buff the purple and apply a dark tint clearcoat over it to give it a darker purple look?  Have your son help you prep and paint it.  

Does the community college offer automotive body repair classes?  If so, ask the instructors if they'd be interested in doing a bike instead of a car or get some pointers.

Back in the day, there was the "Earl Scheib any car any color $69.95."   

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