Someone talk me out of ruining my expensive bike.

Alternatively, is it possible to do a decent paint job with a rattle can (on my best bike) at home?

My frame is in bits for some maintenance. Last time it was stripped I painstakingly polished the raw alloy to a mirror finish. It looked mint at first but it’s impossible to keep clean. Now it’s all dull, patchy and looks worse than when it was uniformly raw.

So…

Can you get a smooth, glossy finish with just a rattle can?

Will I have to wet and dry it to finish it? I’ve got lots of nooks and crannies.

Will it immediately start chipping off exposing the shiny alloy underneath?

Do I need primer, or is the metal grippy enough?

Locally, I can buy Halfords paint in about a million colours but I’ve never used it. I can also get Montana graffiti paint which as I remember, is beautiful, but really thick and runny.

I also have a vinyl cutter for the graphics. I might do coloured vinyl or be ambitious and paint the graphics colour and use vinyl as a stencil.

I don’t have a current picture but this is just after I polished it. I’d be totally happy if it still looked like this!

And I’m thinking I want to copy this using either yellow vinyl or yellow paint then stencils,

Someone give me some tips before I ruin it.

Or give me some horror stories….before I ruin it.

Get it powder coated!  I found it much cheaper than a rattle can job, once you bought the primer, multiple cans clear coat and wet/dry plus you get a better/longer lasting finish

Or get it anodised!

Powdercoat

Echo above.  Cost of paint and all associated extras will not be far short of powder coating (maybe even a professional spray job, but no idea about that).

Unless you are very lucky or pretty experienced then the finish wont be what you are lookign for and will chip easily.

Good luck though!

Looks really good how it is, would polishing it up again and using a clear laquer work?

Looks really good how it is, would polishing it up again and using a clear laquer work?

Yeah I loved it when it was fresh. I’ve thought about this but can’t find anyone positive experiences.

Echo above.  Cost of paint and all associated extras will not be far short of powder coating

Ya know what, I live near a frame builder that does powder coating and obviously specialises in bikes. I’ll get in touch on Monday.

Or get it anodised!

I wish. If I knew someone that would do the whole frame for a reasonable sum I’d do it.

Just leave it alone. They were never meant to be polished.

As long as it doesn’t get covered in road salt it’ll be fine.

The less you polish them the better they look.

Scotch brite or have it glass bead blasted to give a matt raw finish. much easier to maintain.

Nice bike – worth doing it properly whatever you decide to do.  Wall looks good too…

I bead blasted my frame then had it anodised, it’s now got a lovely satin blue finish. Cost me £20!

I did our lad’s bike’s forks with Halfords paint and laquer, exactly as the instructions. It’s not tough enough for bikes, chips all over it.

I bead blasted my frame then had it anodised, it’s now got a lovely satin blue finish. Cost me £20!

Anywhere near Sheffield by any chance? Any pictures? I assumed anodising would be expensive.

You can get a good finish with rattle cans but its a lot of work and as above chips easily.

As said above – I’d just buff it up with Scotchbrite and then forget about it. I’ve got a raw Liteville and it’s fine just like that, without any tarty polishing or laquering.

rattle can paint chips easily.

I did an ancient hi-ten frame with rattle cans when I made it into a single speed commuter. Was quite soft and marked/scratched easily – a downtube of a MTB would look terrible after a few rides. For anything decent I’d powdercoat.

Come on, show us a pic of what it looks like now – so we can tell if you’re just being a fanny or not.

Powder coaters down Club Mill Road or try Vernon Barker in Dronfield.

I can get a decent finish with rattle cans, but it always chips easily and looks crap in short order.

If you have not painted before and dont practice enough first you will probable end up with orange peel and runs.

I would get it painted properly with 2k or powder coat. Make sure it is masked properly or you have the ability to remove paint as required afterwards.

I’d also be interested in knowing where does low cost anodising… I’ve got a couple of little bits that I’d like doing but by the time I’ve got the acid and stuff together at £20 it’s probably cheaper to pay someone. Especially since I don’t really have anywhere I want to set up acid baths and stuff…

Back OT, yes it is possible to get a good rattle can finish if you are practiced and know what you’re doing. It’s also possible to make a total mess of it. It’s very time consuming and will definitely need primer underneath and clearcote over the top. Add in the various supplies you’re going to need for flatting between coats and I’d just get it powder coated. It’ll look better and last longer.  You’re not going to get it done to a particularly high standard with a single can.

Wasn’t there a thread the other day about rattle can spray paints specifically for bikes? Or did I imagine that?

yeah there was, the paints were different to rattle cans for cars but with unproven robustness.

“If I knew someone that would do the whole frame for a reasonable sum I’d do it.”

Stevetheanodiser did my full suss for £100 (plus some other wee fiddly bits). So a bit more than a quality powdercoat but not drastically.

It’s been said up the page, but by the time you fully cost a decent rattlecan job, it’s not actually cheap. primer, paint, clearcoat (and spraying frames is pretty wasteful), abrasives, it’s perfectly possible to spend more on it than a pro powdercoat would have been.

Thread resurrection.

This took much longer than intended but I’m very happy with it. I might even get to ride it f I can nail it together before we go north for Xmas.

I had it powder coated by Cycles in Motion in Sheffield and they’ve done a perfect job. I made the decals myself last night.

So glad I didn’t mess around painting it myself!

That looks like a great job. Really nice decals too.

Is it just me that can’t see the picture? Lol

Can’t see the picture but I imagine it looks mint 👌

Nope, can’t see it either

Does this work?

Now that colour change has been achieved, I’ll probably put some pictures of the finished article in the huge Geometron thread.

Polish it again, and this time give it a good going over with a quality car polish. Then get it nice and warm and do it again – use a hair dryer or heat gun and the wax will get into every pore.

We used to keep our motorbike engines gleaming all winter that way (British bikes, raw alloy).

^^ Bit late to tell him that, epic! Lol

U