pulwitzer

I'm looking at this year's Bianchi Volpe which only comes in the color black however I want it in the color celeste. I realize the only way to get exactly what I want is to do it myself. I plan on having a paint job done on it but I have little to no knowledge on the process.

I was going to buy some of the celeste touch up paint on ebay and have the paint reproduced in a larger quantity but I don't know where to go for that. Are there shops dedicated to paint jobs for bikes or would I have to go to somewhere like a car shop? I'm in NYC if anyone's from around there and know a place. Lastly, would a paint job affect the value of the bike if I plan on selling it? I would assume it would but a Bianchi bike in celeste is favorable so I'm unsure in this case.

jwarner

If you really want to do this, powder coating is the way to go. It is much more durable. I think you can wrangle some decals to put on the bike from Bianchi, put them on after the powder coat, and lay a clear coat over the top. I also suspect that a good powder coat shop can get the color you want. If want to spend the money to go this route, I might even spend a bit more to find a nice striper to do some cool pin striping on the bike prior to the clear coat, and I would do several clear coats with hand rubs between to give the final finish more "depth."

If you are set on paint, Imron from Dupont is really the only thing I have found that will hold up as it is flexible and durable (if they even still make it -- it has been 25+ years since I sprayed anything with it). It is the nastiest stuff in the world to paint as one must wear full SCBA and a bunny suit. I believe it is a neurotoxin. Again, a good shop should be able to recreate celeste green with no problems.

zenith

A powder coating shoppe would be the place to go if you want something done nicely. They should be able to do the strippingtoo. They will also be aable to reproduce your color. That avenue will require some more money on top of the bike price. If you can afford it why not.

pulwitzer

Thanks for informing me about powder coating. I'm trying stay classic so I probably won't be going the pin stripe route. Is a photo of the celeste color enough for powder coating or would I still need the touch up paint? Would I need to dissemble the bike and give them just the frame or would they be able to work with the entire bike?

With the decals, I could only find the "oversized" decals from their main site which I don't think would fit the Volpe. Should I call in for the Volpe decals or do they not offer them? Else, would it be possible to cover up the decals before the coating? What kind of price am I looking at for the entire process?

jwarner

Depends on who you use. Personally, I would disassemble, protect all bearing races and important threaded surfaces (i.e. bottom bracket), and sandblast the bike to metal myself, but I'm kind of particular about things. I realize this may not be an option for you, but this is all I know. I would talk to the shop you choose about stripping the current paint off the bike and matching the color. See what they prefer. If they won't work with you to create the product you want, and even give you a few options of what they can do, find another shop. All my paint experience is from my father's specialty auto shop when I was much younger (like 25+ years ago), where we did complete rare auto and motorcycle restorations, hot rods, and whatnot (and I built the odd bike in addition to cars because that was what I was into). The basis of any kind of custom business like this is giving the customer what they want, meticulous attention to detail, and helping the customer see the things they might not have thought of or known to be possible. Almost all of our business was word of mouth, or came from people at auto shows seeing the work we had done. Needless to say, we went out of our way to make perfection a reality.

If I did go this route (which is likely to be expensive -- shiny fast things tend to be expensive), I would seriously think about doing some custom striping or paintwork. I've always wanted a celeste green Bianchi with the "Master says Faster" cartoon painted in black near the top tube/head tube junction or lug, and then repeated (acid etched or bead blasted) on the chainring or near the center of the crank arms or on the hubs. Unfortunately, I have more ideas than time or money.

Good luck.

jyl

The bike needs to be stripped down to the bare frame. The powdercoat shop won't do it.

Powdercoating is very durable. It can be a little thick and obscure details like lugs. Stock bikes are usually worth the most, but I doubt a good powdercoat will hurt value in the case of a modern Volpe.

I'm not sure how easily a powdercoat shop can "match" a color. I don't think they can custom mix a color, as is done with paint.

Did the Volpe come in celeste in a prior year? If so, I'd buy that year's bike - just keep looking until you find one.

Powdercoating a bike costs $100-150. If you need a bike shop to strip the bike and reassemble, that's a couple hundred more. Plus decals. You're talking about a $400-500 project.

John Nolan 

You could get a Strada: it comes in Celeste. It's the same frame, with different, lower spec components. You could use the price difference to cover equipment upgrades, and depending on what you want, you could end up with a bike that suits you AND the colour you want.

pulwitzer

I would buy the Strada but it's not the exact shade of celeste that I want. I would also need to install drop bars + other upgrades as you mentioned which seems more of a hassle than having a paint job done.

The 2007 model comes in a greenish color that is similar but is not celeste. To my knowledge, they never released a Volpe in celeste. However, my knowledge doesn't cover vintage bikes so I can't say they haven't for sure.Hopefully, I can get a friend who worked at a bike shop to dissemble and reassemble the bike for me to cut down the cost to a $300 project.

I couldn't find any powder coating shop through Yelp. It did list some bike shops though. I'll try calling in to see if they offer the service or if they can redirect me to somewhere that does.

reddog3

I totally get that a guy wants a certain color on his bike. Since you're looking at repainting a new bike, I imagine you'd like it to look new, and factory when complete? Be prepared to turn your $1100 bike into a $1600-1900 bike when finished.

Custom painting is not cheap. Powdercoat? Not for me. Powdercoating won't mimic the factory paint job, and unless the frame is properly prepped and undercoated, it won't seal against rust. And it won't look factory which won't do anything for the value of your bike-not that a $1100 has much value used anyway, but you certainly don't want to lower it's value right off the bat with a crappy color change.

For quality paintjobs, wet paint is the way to go. If I didn't do my own painting, I'd seek the services of Craig Ryan, Joe Bell, or Keith Anderson. Decals are available, and a good custom painter will have the resources, or the ability to reproduce their own. Also, be prepared to ship the bike. Most custom painters aren't nearby.

dsbrantjr

Have you contacted the factory about this?

It may be more straightforward to have it painted the color you want from the get-go, by the factory with factory paint, than to dismantle and strip a brand-new bike (likely voiding the warranty) then repaint and reassemble it. Not to mention that you will have to find an exact paint match and a capable painter as well. The factory has all of the above.

Letting the factory handle it, if they are willing, may be cheaper in the end, and certainly less hassle.

zenith

That's a good idea. If Marinoni can do it others probably can do it too.

fietsbob

Catalyzed Liquid Paints Like Imron are also very durable .. another Professional Application Project.

Box and Ship ..


You realize Bianchi USA went to Asia for their bikes a long time ago ?

02Giant 

If you want to see what a quality powder coat job looks like, go to spectrum powderworks click on the purple spiked ball then the powder coated bikes tab on the left side.

i had a frame done by them 3 1/2 years ago, they stripped it, powdered the frame, airbrushed the graphics in liquid paint, then matte clear powdered the frame. It turned out great, the powder did not hide/fill in the details, it is a hard durable finish that still looks great. I wouldn't hesitate to go that route again.

daf1009

Interesting that you think upgrading a few components is more hassle than COMPLETELY stripping the bike of all components and then getting new paint...you still have to put everything back on the bike! I also second the opinon that, if you are going to do this, go with wet paint...if you want it to look like factory. Powder coating, while generally more durable, just does not have the look...IMHO

DiabloScott

Is it the Bianchi decal that you're in love with? Or the traditional Bianchi color? Because painting a Volpe like a vintage Campione d'Italia sounds a little like lipstick on a pig.

AnkleWork

Not sure I understand your financial rationale. A new volpe will be worth less than $800 after one year even if in "like new" condition, so let's consider that as baseline.

Say you spend only $500 on a paint job -- all in. Thus you will have spent well over $1600. Your one year old custom painted bike will have lost over $800 in value versus $300 for a stock bike. You're worried about excess depreciation of the value, but spending more on customization only exaggerates the loss in value. Do you see the contradiction?

The extra $500 loss is the cost of ego, and only you can guess what your ego is worth. [BTW, a $500 paint job will not satisfy your ego.]

Also, you're considering all the hassle of custom painting a new bike while simultaneously considering selling it?!? [shrug]

rpenmanparker 

Painting a brand new bike? What a horrible idea. Without all the prep, the primer, the reactive paint, the correct decals correctly applied and the multiple clear coats you will have an abomination. The color is more important to you than the overall brand new factory appearance? That is truly amazing. I would just decorate it with authentic Bianchi Celeste bar tape, saddle, and outer cables and call it a day. You are absolutely going to cock up a nice bike.

Powder coat comes in very limited colors. You can't choose from a color sample book like for painting automobiles. On the other hand to pick a paint color, you either get the code number from Bianchi or take a paint sample in to an auto paint store and search the catalogs for it. But my advice is positively do not do this.

pulwitzer

I haven't ordered the bike yet as I'm still trying to have everything prepared but the dealer is a friend of a friend so I could probably get him to hold on to the components while I have the frame painted. After that, it would be the same routine as if it were a new shipment so there would be no hassle in dissembling it.

Of course I won't be going through the process without having all the preparation ready. I'm asking for help on here precisely to avoid a situation like the one you described. The factory new appearance isn't worth anything if I'm not satisfied with the color/overall look. I plan on having the bike looking as if it were factory new after the paint job, otherwise I wouldn't even consider it. Decorating it with Bianchi products seems like a half assed way to cover up the bike to look the way I want it to.

That sounds ideal but unfortunately I could not find any contact information from the Bianchi site except an email form which I heard they don't even check. How would I go about contacting them?

Trakhak

Why not ask the dealer (the friend of a friend) to ask his Bianchi sales rep, and so on up the chain, to give a quote on what it would cost to get the factory in Asia to paint a Volpe in celeste as a custom order?

They may refuse to do it, or they may agree to do it at a price and with the shade of celeste that you'd be happy with.

Looking at it from the company's perspective, they'd probably refuse such a custom order or quote an astronomical price in fear of opening the floodgates to dozens of such orders, but it's worth a shot.

AnkleWork

Piling misconceptions ever higher. Just FYI, bikes come from the factory almost fully assembled. Such things as BB, drivetrain, fork, and headset will have to be removed. Even preparing the frame for paint will have to be more extensive than at the factory.
But never mind any facts here -- just do what you want.

pulwitzer

So I gave them a call and as you predicted, they don't do custom orders. However, they redirected me to a place that offers custom wet paint jobs specifically for bikes but it costs upward to $400 not including shipping and everything else. I guess it falls within the price range mentioned before for a quality paint job so I'm not too upset. I may ride the bike for a year or so while saving up money before having the bike painted to get the most out of my purchase.

02Giant 

That may be the best way to go.

Before you write off powder coating, click on the Spectrum link I posted. There is a lot of misinformation and general lack of knowledge about powder.

SquidPuppet

What?

There are hundreds of stock powder colors to choose from, including candies, transparents, metalics, even textures of all types. Candies and metalics can be applied over/under each other to create custom looks too. There are many gloss levels to choose from as well. Custom color matching can be done by computer just like auto body shops do with their paint suppliers, all you need is a sample for scanning.

I powdercoat my bikes because a local shop knows bikes well and does excellent work. He media blasts to bare metal, masks, applies color, and then tops it with a UV resistant clear coat. ZERO orange peel, just like a multi coat wet hand sanded paint job and a gloss level that many folks have mistaken for a wet bike. $75.00 for frame and fork. Vastly more durable than paint.

gsa103

Just buy a different bike. Seriously. Find a Bianchi model you like the paint job on and buy it. You'll get a better bike. Sinking $500 into a $1000 MSRP bike makes absolutely no sense. The Vigorelli 105 is $500 more than a Volpe, comes in Celeste, 105 components and a carbon fork.

There are really only two options here:
1) You've got plenty of cash and so $500 is meaningless.
Great! Go buy a nice carbon bike in a color you like. The Infinito/Intenso etc come with great paint jobs, and are excellent bikes.

2) $500 is a significant sum of money.
In which case, you're essentially throwing your money down the toilet.

Ultimately, its your money. Heck for $1500 you can probably find a used Infinito 105...

AnkleWork

LOL. At least you used the right word, even if you didn't intend to.