Respray bike frame

Hi STW, I’m looking at getting an old cannondale prophet MX frame resprayed and am looking for any recommendations and inspiration.

I’ve had the frame for quite a while now and am looking forward to refurbishing it and rebuilding it back up. I’m going with a spray job, rather than powder coating, as I’ve had stuff powder coated before and it’s tough, but not the finish I’m after this time.

So I’m having the MX resprayed and I have my heart set on some sort of finish involving Mercedes kryptonite green, but am open to suggestions. As I’ve been looking through the insta feed for big nose customs (which I think I must have got from here, but cannot find where now) and there are some funky finishes you can achieve – so much so that I’m after some inspiration, as I haven’t got a scooby what’s possible.

As I will keep the Proph until I cannot ride mtb anymore, I’m ok to go all in on this.

So STW, any recommendations on bike sprayer etc in and around Surrey, or further afield if courier charges aren’t going to really hurt.

And any inspiration on colours, finishes etc – nothing is off the table at the moment. Be good to see what others have gone for and how it’s turned out.

JMJ Designs in Cornwall. (Search FB and Instagram)

He’s done a hat for me.

And a frame for MrsTH

Getting my Deviate done in a couple of months, with some pretty cool effects, nothing is impossible seemingly. Get your name down ASAP, as there’s a bit of a wait.

https://colecoatingsworkshop.com/

If you SW end of Surrey (and even if you’re not) this lady does some amazing stuff. She’s in Petersfield

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFpsdjFlVCM/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_sNf6LFgjX/

https://www.velofique.com/

@tomhoward

The colour and finsih on that frame for MrsTH is fabulous

@nedrapier

If you SW end of Surrey (and even if you’re not) this lady does some amazing stuff. She’s in Petersfield

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFpsdjFlVCM/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_sNf6LFgjX/

https://www.velofique.com/

thanks just had a look through her instagram feed, the Manuka frame in green is astonishing, how do you come up with that design and then spray paint it on a bike ! Some very clever people around.

https://www.facebook.com/kustomflow/
https://www.kustomflow.co.uk/

@paton cheers for the link, another amazing portfolio

I may have to rethink and engage someone with a degree of artistic imagination, as my thought process went – respray single colour, new decals, lacquer – done.

Cheers, she likes it!

It would be remiss of me not to mention Fat Creations, if only for inspiration, as his wait list is very long…

https://instagram.com/fatcreations?igshid=5y3ohyvfrgsg

Here’s JMJs insta too, https://instagram.com/jmj_designs?igshid=3tr53oasfruq

Another good account to get ideas from is unlimited colors https://instagram.com/unlimited.colors?igshid=7bmc56koki27

thanks guys, some stunning portfolios to look through at the weekend.

Anyone here used bignosecustoms ?

@tomhoward

Cheers, she likes it!
It would be remiss of me not to mention Fat Creations, if only for inspiration, as his wait list is very long…
https://instagram.com/fatcreations?igshid=5y3ohyvfrgsg
Here’s JMJs insta too, https://instagram.com/jmj_designs?igshid=3tr53oasfruq
Another good account to get ideas from is unlimited colors https://instagram.com/unlimited.colors?igshid=7bmc56koki27

Never thought I would like the combo of candy red and gold leaf, but done like that by Fat Creations on a Dogma, it just looks incredible.

Some stunning work there. I’m a little (a lot) concerned that my budget will not stretch to some of these designs.

It’s not a cheap thing, for something that is purely aesthetic. MrsTH’s was £525, (£495 for standard 2 colour job, plus £30 for the candy finish). I take the view that if you are going to keep it for a long time, and you really want to make something uniquely yours, it’s not too bad, especially when you consider the work/time involved. The Pivot was in a fairly sorry/well used state when we sent it off, and it’s flawless now. Paul did a few spray cards for us, with different no’s of coats/paint mixes to make sure it was properly what she wanted, and We’ve been emailing back and forth for about a year discussing what I want for my Deviate.
I got a quote from Fatcreations for a flip/chameleon job, was north of a grand. IIRC the red marble and gold leaf was nearer £2k. Car for that etc. (Fwiw it was the wait that put me off)

Go wild – I did. I had Bristol bike restorations lay down a base silver cost of paint, then 3 layers of large metal flake, then royal blue candy then 7 layers of lacquer to get it smooth. It’s quite sparkly 🥰

Although to be fair, anything with Candy paint involved is lovely.

If I did another frame I’d be tempted to skip the metalflake, lay down candy and then add some spectraflare on top. I quite like the purple that Cannondale did the Caad12 disc in (dura ace version I think), and I’ve always had a thing for Renault Liquid yellow too. That Pipedream Moxie Pink is also epic.

FatCreations is your guy, unfortunately the waitlist for frame resprays is loooong.

I got an Open Up through Ali which fast tracked me through the list, paintjob was excellent, unfortunately i’ve taken chunks out of it from dropping a chain and stacking bikes in the car! Devestated.

Who is it on here that does frame spraying, can’t remember….?

I do frame spraying. I’m the big nose Customs lad!
Drop me a message on Instagram if you want to run through some ideas buddy

Richard @bigyim bignosecustoms did an amazing job on my wife’s bike….definite recommend a his work and he’s a top bloke. 👍🏻

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGnEInSA5qq/?igshid=84emci2zj3q7

Yep, I’m well happy with my fork lowers from bignosecustoms. It’s ace because no one knows what it is!

Full Stars n Stripes. I remember a friend have a Prophet MX in full Star Spangled Banner and it looked awesome.

Set them in low/slack mode, add a slackest and a modern 27.5 fork and have fun

Another vote for Cole Coatings. Really good to work with in getting a design sorted out and will work to a budget. Did me a very nice job on a Sherpa frame for £ 1000.

£1000 ?? Is that a typo?

If it’s not I need to asses my pricing!

It was indeed £ 1000 but included a fiddly design (camo) with lots of masking on a fair chunk of the frame and on the fork.

I had a good look into respraying my Glen but couldn’t justify the price.

However I am going to get it re anodised (it’s black anodised at the moment). Acorn Plating quoted me ~£100 to have my xxl frame done. Looking to get a set of hubs done too.

Any chance you guys are able to share the finished bike ?

Some really good info here guys.

I’m struggling to get a handle on budget vs design, as it does seem like I’m limited by only my imagination and budget. Imagination hasn’t had much use over the years and my budget cannot stretch to a grand, sadly.

Rather than boring the entire forum, if you send me an email address via private message then I am happy to share more info.

Pretty sure I’d like to see some custom painted bikes, even if no one else does…

Hiya. I’ve had 2 bikes resprayed by Richard @bignosecustoms. He is a super nice guy and I’m happy to spread the word about him.

1: Road bike. Cervelo S3 which ended up looking like this:

OK so the insta image embed continues to fail. Go here: road bike

2: Track bike. Started as a standard 2010 Felt TK2 paint job and ended up as this:

another failed insta link – try this: track bike

He has also done 2 friends bikes: here and here

Its really hard to photograph the camo pattern on my Cervelo and the flip paint on the 2 track bikes (they are both the same colour, one gloss and one matte). If you have a look on the bignosecustoms insta images you can see them in some more detail I think.

OK Let’s try and post some images

Bloody Hell- that worked! I wanted a camo motif and we decided to use a Dark Peak colour palette- gritstone, dead bracken, bilberry, purple heather, bog cotton- because that’s where the bike lives. The camo pattern made it quite a fiddly job, with 5 rounds of masking. Also Cole Coatings don’t use decals so all the words are airbrushed on.

@dpfr – thats a cracking finish. Like that, esp the little details like the fork lowers matching.

I’m hoping to get my 2016 Voodoo Bizango painted/coated soon. Spoke to a local powder coaters in Aberdeen and they said prices start at £50 for a bike frame. I’ll need to go in and have a more detailed discussion about the process and then decide on what colour to go for.

The bike is worth very little now but I’ve never really liked the yellow paint job it came with so a new colour might just make it look a bit nicer. Need to decide whether I want a subtle matt grey/green/black colour or something a bit more jazzy and shiny! Oh, and I’ve never disassembled/assembled a full bike before so that’s another challenge!

@walowiz The fork was quite a big chunk of the total cost, but pleased I had it done

@bruceandhisbonus,

Customised Coatings in Newmachar have done a few of our bikes. Most excellent jobs for what seemed a very reasonable price. Threads fully protected, etc and good folks to deal with too.

Customised Coatings in Newmachar have done a few of our bikes. Most excellent jobs for what seemed a very reasonable price. Threads fully protected, etc and good folks to deal with too.

Thanks @benz. That’s the place I have spoken to and they said prices start from £50. However, after more research I’m now wary of the shot blasting and powder coating processes so I’m considering a DIY job with spray.bike paint. It would allow a bit more customisation options although pretty sure the finish would be more vulnerable.

@bigyim have messaged you on Instagram.

@bruceandhisbonus

I don’t think you will have too much to worry about. Their work is perfect and neither myself and friends have had any issues. Their FB page will show some examples of colours available – some cracking options.

I forgot to say that the frame was bead blasted and powder coated in orange. But the original plan has changed, so am wondering if that changes what can be done now.

Can the frame still be painted ?

Does the powder coating needs to be removed ?

Anyone know if or how the frame already being powder coated affects the respraying option?

I don’t want to weaken the frame in any way.

Not as far as I’m aware (ianapainter), you’d still have to key the surface to take the new paint/primer, regardless of what had been done previously.

The person who would be doing painting would advise with more authority though.