as many times as painting gets ask'ed here.
 

I want to paint my aluminum track bike. I don't have anough money for powdercoating, and I want it to be light, and not flake so much. Suggestions?

I suggest you use the search function. There are dozens of threads on how to perform a rattle can paint job so all the info you need is already in the archives just waiting for you to find it.

http://www.garberdesign.com/bike/rebuildpaint1.jpg

Pic ***** time! :-) . Rustoleum Professional Primer + Paint + Clear. I will never paint another frame by myself. To get a good job, you need to do a lot of prep work, and have the right tools. In the end, I don't think it's worth it. If I was in your shoes, I would just polish the aluminum to a mirror finish.

If I rattle can paint it, say primer-paint-clear, how much weight will it add. Also. If I don't like it, can't I just wire brush it off?

I took welding and fabrication at a tech. school in high school.

I guess no one gets on this forum any more

Trek?

Depends on the paint, and how much your put on. In the end, very little.

Yup! '84 760 :D

:thumb: Nice!

We're here but find your question silly thus no answers. You going to the nationals on a rattled can'ed track frame?

Doesn't look like they sell the clear other than in a rattlecan. Thinking about painting my commuter with rustoleum because I'm not currently set up for the good stuff.

Never been a velodome Nessism. What tool to polish the aluminum, wire brush?

If your aluminum frame is anodized, you don't want to polish it, much less use a wire brush on it. Ewww!

well its got no paint, with clear coat over decals, so how do i take the graphics off.

I have the dawes sst-al from BD.

I ride a GT mountain bike in raw aluminum. To remove the clear coat I used the spray on "Airplane Stripper" from my FLAPS. Very effective stripper and only moderately evil as paint strippers go. Still, wear gloves, eyes and have a bucket or hose handy.

After stripping I scrubbed it down with scotchbrite, I forget what grade, probably the standard green hardware store scrubby. You could use a polish on it if you are very patient and want it shiny. Me, I like that raw aluminum patina. There are mediocre pic's on my deficient blog. Scroll down til you get to the big ugly bike. Okay, the big ugly bike with a suspension fork. That's what raw aluminum will look like without a clear coat or regular polishing.

I don't think the stripper will hurt it if it is anodized under the finish. I sorta doubt it's anodized.

I'm in the middle of a DIY paint job and cannot recommend it. If you just strip and spray, it won't suck too bad, but won't be great looking either. There's a lot of hand work in getting a really nice paint job, no matter what type of paint.

Foam brush rustoleum or hammerite might work better than a rattlecan:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=545685

I rattle canned a frame of mine today, made me relize the potential for the bike to look bad.