Mountain Biking - painting a bicycle frame, need help!

i have a mountain bike and would like to get the frame repainted, does anyone know if i can bring it to a car body and paint shop to do this? or can i do this myself? if anyone has done this mod, please tell me if its difficult and what kind of results you got please, thanks.

Also if someone were to do it at a paint shop, how much would it cost around? i have a small frame...

I just finished painting my frame yesterday. :D

Banana yellow. I got my information off these forums. Basially you have the choice of stripping the paint off or just too paint over it. I will send up a link i used once i get home.

mindbooger sounds good, i have been searching as we speak and found that ppl are either going the anodizing or powdercoating route to recolor their frames, what do you think about that? I want it to come out really nice n glossy, and i heard powdercoating is the way to go, I wonder how much it will cost, maybe $50?

but please post some pics and maybe a DIY faq to recolor your frame, I would love to check it out :), I can't stand my ugly frame now... hehehe

I bought gloss paint from the local hardware store. All together it cost me around 20 dollar CAD which is around 15 US. Its pretty simple. Ohh you should remove all items off a bike before starting. Which means cranks, BB, headset and everything else. Makes it a lot easier.

I used a coathanger to hang it up to make it easier

nice, how long does it take to dry, how many coats did you do, and did you put any coats of clearcoat after? i plan on painting mine a nice off white pearl color, like a creamy white...

what brand spray paint did you use? looks good!

i am gonna give it a day to dry but i used 2 coats but once it dries i am gonna to apply the clear coat. I used tremclad for both the paint and the clearcoat.

did you have to sand it b4 you painted it or anything, and where can i get that tremcad paint?

i sanded it too give it some "tooth" for the paint. Tremclad is just a brand. Go to your local hardware shop and find metal paints.

I'll post a thread that Kurt did that talks about surfacing the paint and polishing.

Nice color.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=37079&page=3&highlight=kerk

To professionally paint your bike, it's going to take more steps than you've seen discussed so far. How do I know? I've painted 8-9 bicycles and over 70 motorcycles in the past five years.

First of all, how far do you want go and what type of material? If you just want a quick repaint (no fixing of the dings or chips, don't care if decals show through), then I'm wrong and a spray bomb is the way to go. But keep in mind, spray bombs are typically lacquer or overthinned enamels. They'll either lose their shine fast or chip off easily.

If you don't mind spending a couple hundred, your first step is to STRIP the old paint completely. I use chemical stripper. It's messy, it's caustic and it stinks, but it WORKS great. It may take three or four applications, and you may have to sand a little, but this is the best way to get a good start.

Next question is big: is the frame aluminum? If not, skip down. If it is, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION: you will need to go to a paint store and get an alomide coating. Some sell it in a two-stage (DuPont), others in one-stage (PPG). What this does is coat the aluminum with a bondable surface. Why do you do this? Aluminum has very small pores, unlike any other material. The only way to open the pores is to treat them with an acid (bromide acid in the coating) or powdercoat (which requires 400-600 degrees of heat). What happens if you skip this step? The same thing that happened to my first bike: the paint chips off in sheets...sickening.

If your bike is steel, carbon, Milwaukee mystery metal, whatever...this is what you do next. You need a good primer. I use DuPont VariPrime. It's strong and it's perfect for bare metal. If you're painting aluminum, you DEFINTELY need a great primer. Once you've applied the primer, if it's slick enough, squirt you paint.

Paint can be as crazy as you want it. My bike is made up of about eight different steps (black base, blue & white Ice pearl, purple kandy, clear, pearl graphics, clear, pinstripes, clear). But I've got other bikes that are relatively simple. The key is with GREAT PREP, even if you don't know exactly what you're doing, you can have an awesome looking ride.

A body shop is going to charge you $200 or better to do it right...one word of caution: body shops spray cars usually. Painting a bike is a different world for them, subject to runs and heavy spots. I'd recommend finding a motorcycle painter (who deals with odd shapes and tight places) OR a body shop that rides...

Powdercoating is good, if you have a good powdercoating shop to work with. It can cost from $20 to $500 to have one done right. The key here is the prep. The bike must be BARE METAL, otherwise they either 1) give you a contaminated finish or 2) THEY CHARGE YOU to strip the bike...again, chemical stripper is the best.

Sandblasting tends to pit or warp the metal...that depends on how competent the blaster is. I wouldn't trust it...I have too much invested in my ride to accept the possibility.

Anodizing is, IMO, worthless. It wipes off with lacquer thinner, at least the color does. It holds up great, but if the finish doesn't LOOK good, what good is it!!!

Hope all this helps...it's kind of a lengthy process, but believe me, it's worth it...

I've attached a pic of one of my rigs....this is the one with the freakiest paint job...

Uuuggggghhhhh,

I was so anxious to see your freaky paint job and no attachment.

....waiting!....

Uuuggggghhhhh,

I was so anxious to see your freaky paint job and no attachment.

....waiting!....
Yes, I too, am anxious to see much touted freakiness.

i would also suggest powder coating; never had a bike done, but lots of car parts (including an entire frame). it's often less expensive than a quality professional paint job and it stays glossy for a long time. also, powdercoating tends to be a much harder and more durable finish than a conventional paint.

chemical strippers definitely are the way to go as well. they get everything off, are easy to use (with proper precautions), and a hell of a lot faster than sanding or media blasting.

media (sand) blasting: yeah, if they warp or pit the metal, they don't know what they are doing. if they are using a media blaster to strip paint, they should be using walnut husks (or an equivalent) not sand. walnut husks won't damage the underlying material the way other media can.

How are you supposed to post pics on here??? I though I had it right, but I was wrong...

go to 'go advanced' then manage attachments- browse (find the file on your computer) add this file- all done and submit.

Hit the "Reply" button in lieu of just typing in the Quick Reply screen.

A seperate window will pop up. Toward the bottom of the page there is a BOLD and UNDERLINED; MANAGE ATTACHMENTS link. Click that, browse your C:/drive and attach and then hit "DONE".

L8R

Well, I got a pic to work but it's awful small...what kinda settings does it need to be to look good???

mighta figured it out...

i also got a quick questiopn on repainting a bike frame

if i want to repaint my bike frame is there anyways to get the logo of ur bike back on ? like my kona roast is grey and i want to repaint it like a 2003 norco sasquatch colour which is dark green is there anyway of kepping the logo up or does it get covered by the re-paint job?

Well, I got a pic to work but it's awful small...what kinda settings does it need to be to look good???

Nice!

i also got a quick questiopn on repainting a bike frame

if i want to repaint my bike frame is there anyways to get the logo of ur bike back on ? like my kona roast is grey and i want to repaint it like a 2003 norco sasquatch colour which is dark green is there anyway of kepping the logo up or does it get covered by the re-paint job?

No, unless you get stickers from Kona directly.

i also got a quick questiopn on repainting a bike frame

if i want to repaint my bike frame is there anyways to get the logo of ur bike back on ? like my kona roast is grey and i want to repaint it like a 2003 norco sasquatch colour which is dark green is there anyway of kepping the logo up or does it get covered by the re-paint job?

try masking the logo...takes tape and mask the logo with a cm or so on the ouside. Then go around with a fine brush and paint the cm you skipped. This is kind of a crap way of doing it but it will work and can look good if you take the time.

mm i could try what kind of paint do i use any suggestions?

Did you read any of the above suggestions? Leadbutt covered this in a very detailed message.

Leadbutt, very niiiissshhh!

If I need a frame painted, I'm sending it to you bro!

L8R

I have a mostly black with some white aluminum frame. I want to just make it all black is it cool just to paint over the origonal paint? It is already glossy and i would like to make it shiny glossy black. Thanks for your help.

Holy necropost! You went way back to dig this one up. :lol:

I would suggest if you really want it to look good, spend the $75 and have it powdercoated. It is the same way the factory did it and it will look just as good and be just as durable.

Hey Dunzo Get it Powder-Coated!!!!!!!

^^^^ hopefully he has made up his mind by now. the op was over four years ago.