What is the range of prices for custom bike painting? And has anyone had any experience with it… durability issues? is there any damage to the frame when they remove the original paint?
I have had many bikes repainted and have had great results. It pays to get it done right though. Not sure where you live, but Joe Bell is the best. He is in California. You can get a paint job much nicer, more durable, etc… than the original. Joe Bell was a website, just do a search. There are many other great painters out there, but they do cost money. IMO it is money well spent. You get what you pay for. A more costly paint job looks better and last much longer. No damage to the bike when the original is removed, and in many instances (especially steel bikes) it can help prolong the bikes life, help you notice any stress fractures, rust, etc…
Ben
There are places that will do a simple repaint for between $100 to $200 or as much as you want to spend depending on how “artistic” you want to get with airburshing etc. Don’t forget you have to include your cost to tear down and rebuild your bike unless you want to do it yourself.
A few years ago I was pricing re-painting an old Specialized frame at Class Act Coatings (I think they were near Seattle and did paint work for Specialized). They wanted between $100 and $200 to strip the paint from the frame and repaint a solid color and apply decals(if available) with a coat of clearcoat.
Some places also do “powdercoat” which is supposed to be very durable but I don’t think you can do much artistic with it.
Joe Bell is the best. I’ve had three of his paint jobs over the years – the most recent about a year ago. Simply stunning work. On a par with the best show-car painters. The paint on my Holland looks like it’s a few inches deep. He uses mostly DuPont Imron paint, which is the toughest stuff out there. I even had him paint my Ouzo Pro fork to match my frame. I’m tempted to take my 3T stem down there.
He does quite a few pro team bikes, and can get any manufacturer’s original decals if you need them.
Pricey though. For the best paint (pearls, metalflakes, etc.) it goes up from $400.
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i would be weary painting carbon fiber. Make sure the people know what they are doing with carbon. Alloy ans stell would not pose much problem
I had a trek frame painted a few months ago. a fellow racer recomended a shop. they basically were a bumper and auto paint shop. i had a powdercoat done, turned out really nice, they only charged about 75.00. i think it may have added a bit of extra weight (very small) but it seems much more durable. i would just call paint shops and ask if they paint bike frames. when i called around i found many places that did. (at least here in denver.)…
I would agree with Luke. I happened to find a guy that rode a bike and painted cars for a living in an area I used to live in. The end result, a guy a likes bikes and is an excellent painter, equates into a very nice paint/clear for cheap. I would like to mention however, that many car shops use different kinds of paint when they shoot. I would avoid the “popular” acrylic/clear mixes and get an actual base with clear over.
I had John Cobb paint my Softride a couple of years back. He also painted my QR forks to match and had decals made up for me as well. It was a great job and after reassembly had a fitting. Seem like the paint was around $150 or so. Don’t know if he still does it but at the time he had pretty sophisticated paint operation using automotive quality paint.
fal7