I have an old On One 456 14" as a frame for the kids to grow in to and fancy giving a bling colour that the kids will love. Particularly a metallic or glitter teal or purple.
Any tips for prep and execution?
Anyone fancy sharing their rattle can efforts?
Got a whole series doing mine
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If you can find someone local to blast the old paint off that will save you hours of misery and protect your hands and fingernails from sanding and sanding and sanding.
If you want your colours to pop give it a few coats of white primer.
It's getting cold outside so before you start painting sit your cans in a bucket of warm water for a while. This makes the paint thinner and raises the pressure in the can so it doesn't come out like soup and run down your fingers.
Leave it for AGES to dry. The paint will be really soft for days and will chip and dent easily while rebuilding the bike. If you can still smell it, it's still curing.
An aerosol 2k lacquer is a good final coat.
The finish will be a mess unless you agonise over rubbing it down between every stage but it's a fun DIY project.
I've done a few but never found it durable enough over an industrial process.
Nice to do though and ride a bike you've painted but yeah, don't expect it to be as durable as a factory finish.
You should either spend an hour doing it or six months doing it, because ime everything in between all looks the same!
Done two now. Ribble 653 painted in pearlescent white - that took some work, and my commuter in a gun metal - let me dig some pics.
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You should either spend an hour doing it or six months doing it, because ime everything in between all looks the same!
+1
Or just get it powdercoated (or wet sprayed if you really want to) professionally
In this case I suspect that 99% of the value added is going to be in taking the kids to Halfords and letting them choose the color. Spray that over whatever is already there, add new decals, spend the other 99hours of prep and finishing doing something the kids actually want to do.
PS It's cheaper to powder coat ! The Ribble cost about £100 in paint, but that's how I wanted it. Two primers, three pearlescent and two lacquers. The Diamond Back was one base, two colour and one lacquer. The pearlescent needed a perfect base coat as it's virtually transparent. It took ages to dry properly.
I've done a hardtail frame with rattle cans and won't be doing it again. The results were OK but it wasn't as durable as I would have liked. I also don't think I saved much by the time I bought paint stripper, primer, paint and laquer. Next frame will be off for powder coating I think.
wheelsonfire1- Full Member
Are you implying it's easier to just wait for Weeksy to want another swap as long as his current bike is the colour you like?
Get it powder coated - place near me (LSN Coatings in Castleford) is about £30-50 depending on paint and do a really good job sand blasting.
Much easier, often cheaper, and much more durable than rattle can.
@thisisnotaspoon yes, save the faff of stripping, spraying and rebuilding. Just wait for @weeksy to need a change!
Can't find my thread from this time last year (though there's plenty of others if you search "spray bike"), but I did it, and was reasonably satisfied with the results, but I probably wouldn't do it again.
As people have said, spend a couple hours doing a hack job, if the kids just want something in a colour they've chosen, or get it powder coated, or Cerakoted, it you want it to last, which won't be much more expensive.
Spray.bike acrylic paint is very satisfying and cheap way to go. I’ve done three bikes so far. This CX bike was a standard red Luath, and is still doing the circuits with a new rider.
Did this a few years ago with rattle cans. Despite letting it sit for over a week beside a warm radiator, the paint wasn't very hard wearing.
First ride out, the QR slipped, and the tyre took the paint straight off the inside of the chainstay
Decal/sticker kit from someone in Australia
Team Panasonic 753 steel
Before
During (nut blasted at work)
After
Whats the choice paint for frames ? acrylic or a 2 pack ? I've a fuji pro system, so just the paint type not a rattle can or anything like that.
how durable is spray.bike?
Looking at the state of my bike, not very. Admittedly it was a fixed gear crit racing team bike but the whole rear triangle is a complete mess (far worse that it looks in this photo)
