Bicycle Mechanics - painting titanium

Does anybody have any idea on the proper way to prep a titamium frame before painting it?

Ah man painting your ti? I suggest you let the keep its natural ti grey finish and inseatd instal a colorful Chris King Head set, soooo classy.

Does anybody have any idea on the proper way to prep a titamium frame before painting it?

Why would you? :eek:

Do what you want, it's your frame. Painted with bare Ti or clearcoated accents looks pretty good IMO. www.gvhbikes.com sells a few titanium frames that are already painted.

I haven't had experience painting titanium, so I can't add much there. Just thought I'd balance out the opinions here.

Step 1. Get head examined. :eek:

Does anybody have any idea on the proper way to prep a titamium frame before painting it?
Blasphemer!!!!!!!

why would you do such evil things!!!
:eek:

Yes. You'll need some kind of etching primer, a base coat, a few coats of the enamel of your choice, plus several coats of clear. Take all these items, put them in a box, and hide them until you come to your senses. Any time you attempt to paint a bicycle, it's bound to go wrong. Painting a titanium frame will only lead to regret. Maybe have it polished and professionally clear coated. If you are serious about paint, find someone that can hook you up with a local auto paint and body. My friend at Toyota had his frame painted Supra pealescent with some leftover paint. Nice color, and the finish wasn't too bad. But that was an old yellow, very scratched frame. We've left our Ti tandem bare, and just added some SRP fasteners and other anodized bits. Oh, you can also consider powdercoating, which will probably give a better result than paint.

I'm glad none of you suggested he send it out for chroming instead!

Here's the deal the bike was painted with the seat and chainstays polished, pretty nice looking really. The bike got stolen and recovered a year later, paint destroyed. I took the paint off, now it has polished stays and the rest of it is a dull ti finish. Thanks for the input. J Wood

Is polishing something I can do myself?

I'm assuming that if you ride, you've got arms with hands attached to the ends, so I don't see why not. You may need to get a mildly abrasive polish for the first go, then a milder polish to bring out a shine. If you don't clear coat it over that, it will go dull again.

Why don't you annodize it? Hook it up to your car battery and..... pretty purple colors look at the pretty purpl.....um.... don't do that.