Does anyone have any experience painting their bike frame? I bought an old beater to ride around town and the paint is cracking all over. Any suggestions on type of paint and how to go about this?
i recommend spray.bike. see below for some more info…
Awesome, thanks! Looks like a cost effective route to go.
Just finished this frame last week with spray.bike. Total cost came to ~$150 with all the prep and masking materials.
I have used both spray.bike and rust-oleum spray paint. I made sure everything I was dealing with was acrylic (including the clear coat finish), so nothing chemically ruined the paint. The spray.bike paint was for my TT bike, and the rust-oleum was for my mountain bike, as you can hopefully see in the pictures. Spray.bike is more expensive (esp with US shipping), but the powder-based product is really cool to use. And the white writing on the MTB was an acrylic paint marker on top of acrylic black.
As important as the type of paint are the prep and technique. A few tips that I wish I had spent more time on to cut down difficulties, bleeding, etc.
- Care with taping areas not to be painted because these have to stay on the whole time
- Do it in a relatively warm place, inside or outside, so the paint dries right and you’re not freezing
- Wet sand the old paint and use isopropyl alcohol/normal towel to remove dust/etc. in between
- Take your time with layers, light layers are key to prevent bleeding (which saves you work on the back end and the mental stress of perfection; keep note of recommended spray distance)
- If you wet sand between layers to make them smooth, use high grit (1500-2000) sandpaper very lightly to not remove too much (repainting is rough)
This is probably too long-winded, but I’ve gotten really into this recently. Hope this helps! If you have any questions, feel free to DM me.
*gmh39, that bike looks incredible! What inspired that design?
Thanks for the follow-up post… I have my original late 80s Pinarello road bike I have been meaning to sell. I was going to sell it as-is, but the paint is a total mess-- literally falling off the frame. However, I will give this a shot. I have done a fair amount of painting in the past, so I may be able to make it look almost new.
While I am a bit concerned about your bike fit, your paint job is pretty awesome !
Thanks for the follow-up post… I have my original late 80s Pinarello road bike I have been meaning to sell. I was going to sell it as-is, but the paint is a total mess-- literally falling off the frame. However, I will give this a shot. I have done a fair amount of painting in the past, so I may be able to make it look almost new.
What do you think about resale value once painted? I’ve got an original generation Cervelo S5 frame that the paint is pretty badly beat on. I have no plans on using the bike so I was going to sell it and frankly just wanted to try the spray bike stuff, seems like a cool product.
I know the frame isn’t worth a whole lot to begin with but would painting it make it worth even less or even non-sellable?
What do you think about resale value once painted? I’ve got an original generation Cervelo S5 frame that the paint is pretty badly beat on.
I really do not know for sure… a vintage, hand-built Italian steel bike is probably a different market dynamic than a mass-produced recent carbon frame. The Pinarello Montello SLX probably has some collectable or nostalgic appeal. In my bike’s current state, I figure I might get a few hundred dollars for it. Good condition examples of my frame alone are selling for $500-$700 on eBay. If I can get mine looking relatively good (but not professionally restored), I figure I might get something in that range for a complete Dura Ace bike. So, maybe I make a few hundred dollars for my time on a fun project.
While I am a bit concerned about your bike fit, your paint job is pretty awesome !
For some reason my phone always does a fish-eye effect. I think (read: hope) that’s what’s causing the weird looking fit.
For inspiration, I was originally going to do a pixel fade, but when I was researching patterns I found this bike. So i did something similar in blue.
I think if you do a unique design and include original decals/stickers, a new paint job could help the resale.
It could be your camera lense, but if your seat is that far off from level (as it appears), for a road bike that is typically a sure sign that your seat is also way too high. It might be something to check.
But, still, that is a very nice paint scheme!
Oh yea, the saddle in the pic wasn’t adjusted for fore/aft yet, just threw it on for a pic. But I have been getting some saddle soreness, so that might be something to look at.
Otherwise, thanks! Already planning another frame. It’s just too cold up here (NY), so it’ll have to wait till spring.
Those are amazing. Can you talk a bit about the steps you took on the pixelated tri bike?
Hey davetallo, sorry for the delayed response. The pixelated tri bike was a process. I painted a white base, then had to make a square grid on pieces of tape, then I did orange first and then blue. I had to cut out the individual square or square-based pieces, which did allow me to make it random. The worst part was having to retape the orange before I could spray the blue. That and some bleeding, but overall I think it turned out pretty well. I learned pretty quick that having things line up is a lot harder than overlap. For more pictures with some more explanation, I put it on my instagram: eemeryart, feel free to check it out! (or ask any other questions here)
did it myself 4-5 years ago with no previous experience, paint still as good as new:
advice here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ickag%20diy;#2355527
my bike here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ickag%20diy;#3488048
more shots of my bike here (red P2)
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ro%20bottle;#5165302
other bikes here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...t_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;
.