Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - repainting?

So, I was looking at some of the pictures of your fixies and noticed some of you repainted the frames. How exactly would one go about doing this? whats the best paint to use? how about detailing? I'd like to put designs on the frame, in blue, to match the front hub, and what should I use for that? should I coat it? how should I go about taking the paint off?

I've never really...repainted anything before.

I'm going to be undertaking a project such as this and will be taking a lot of photo's to show the progress and etc.

If you like (and the BF FG folks) would like me to post it with updates, I will.

Originally posted by William Karsten
If you like (and the BF FG folks) would like me to post it with updates, I will.
I for one would love to see how it works out, please post plenty of pics of the various stages!

I'm considering stripping my SS frame back to bare aluminium, trying to get a brushed look and then clearcoating it. Anyone done anything similar ?

Originally posted by Mine'sAPint
I for one would love to see how it works out, please post plenty of pics of the various stages!

I'm considering stripping my SS frame back to bare aluminium, trying to get a brushed look and then clearcoating it. Anyone done anything similar ?

What you might want to do is to buy some alumin. from home depot (or the like) and try different versions of brushing. I know brass is to hard for wire wheeling it.. and I know steel is as well, perhaps a soft sanding disk? But anyway, I'd say buy a lenght of bar steel from home depot and then try it on that to pratice on...

I'm waiting to see if anyone jumps on the bike I'm thinking of using for sale. I'm gonna wait a week.

But I'll post pictures and process here.

i got my frame sandblasted at a local place (20 bucks) then painted by a friend who paints cars (20 bucks) - paint was IMRON, and was applied with a spray gun / compressor combo - turned out amazing.

also have a friend that used steel wool to strip his frame, then applied car spray paint - turned out great but chips easily (but no THAT easily) - the only problem was that it took him incredibly long to strip the frame with steel wool

also - when stripping a frame.. NO NOT touch it with your bare hands (oil in your hands will cause surface rust that can lead to big problems down the road)

- strip the frame of all its components
- wash it to remove grease and dirt
- take some medium sandpaper and sand it down. you don't have to take off all of the paint, but you have to make sure you remove any loose paint, smooth out paint cracks, and make sure all the still-painted areas are at least brushed (sand out any gloss)
- wash the frame and let it dry
- use masking tape and carefully mask out areas you don't want painted, like the headset chrome, the fork chrome, possibly inside any tube openings.
- spray a layer of primer and let it dry
- take very fine sandpaper and sand the frame evenly, removing the roughness of the primer layer.
- wash the frame and let it dry
- spray an even coat of paint. don't worry about getting it perfect everywhere. make sure you don't spray too much in any spot so it doesn't start draining. let it dry, preferably somewhere hot, like in sunlight.
- spray a second coat, now covering any weak spots you might have left on the first coat. let it dry.
- you might want to spray an optional third coat, at least partially, if you are not happy with the outcome, but this shouldn't be necessary if you did everything right.

To do designs, like stripes or whatever, I would use masking tape on the primer layer, before you paint, to mask out any designs you want painted a different color. after you paint the frame that way, unmask the designs, and carefully mask out the painted areas around them, right on the edge (with maybe 1 mm of overlap on the paint). Then do the two-coat different color paint on those areas.

Let us know how it goes.

OR...

1. Buy a new Bianchi Pista.
2. Decide you want to remove the logos.
3. Buy a bomb can of Rusto that's about the same color grey.
4. Put the bike on your apartment deck.
5. Don't take anything apart. Leave the bike fully assembled.
6. Mask the components by laying paper towels (no tape) around them.
7. Spray paint over the logos.
8. Put it back in your apartment before it dries so you can enjoy some fumes.

That was my latest painting technique. Believe it or not it worked pretty well. I wasn't too concerned about quality, and I don't recommend this technique. My deck has gray sopts on it. Bye bye security deposit.

haha
cory

I've got some different plans for mine. We'll see if it works out. I'm taking my time, just to see how good I can do it, but not taking it soo seriously that it would be a shame if it failed.

Grunk-
Get a mini sander (disk, etc) or use your hands to get the paint off the deck. Welcome back security deposit! Now, that being done, go out and get some beer instead of paint-huffing

Good idea on the sander. I'll do that. I wasn't intentionally huffing. I had to leave, so I put the bike inside, and when I came back the fumes were over whelming. Open windows, turn on fans. The whole process was so funny.

cory

if you want to save yourself a whole heapload of prep time, use marine or aircraft stripper. they have it at any advance auto for about 6 bucks. but that on your frame... bye bye paint. hit the little spots that are left with sandpaper, wash the frame, spray on paint. oh.. and you might wanna go to an automotive paint supplier, and see if they can fill some spray cans for you. i know of a place that does this for 3 bucks a can, and it's really flexible, high quality paint (read as... very chip resistant). and i clearcoat everything that i paint. just cause i like shiny things.

You can use bulldog, which will make normal paint flexible.

So what brands of paint are you recomending? And enderwaves, you mean that automotive places will sell you their paint in spray cans?

Now how about detailing? I am able to do this freehanded, but will the paint work with the brushes? Won't be all gross or clumpy, or too drippy?

If you use spray paint be sure to read the can for drying times between the first and second coats. Most paint needs a full 24 hours between coats or requires the second coat within one hour of the first. Two coats within an hour of each other will setup as one and form a chemical bond. If you wait any longer than an hour or less than 24 hours, the first coat will not fully cure and lead to orange peeling and a generally weak finish.

Originally posted by redlights
So what brands of paint are you recomending? And enderwaves, you mean that automotive places will sell you their paint in spray cans?

Now how about detailing? I am able to do this freehanded, but will the paint work with the brushes? Won't be all gross or clumpy, or too drippy?

I'm going to use Hammerite. I haven't decided on what model paint to use for the details.