Painting my tourer!
 

Hi all,

I've decided that I want to paint my new touring bike. (Well, new to me, it's actually used). I'd love to go with a black/red combination, and ideally, I'd love to do it myself. But, I have been advised by people on other forums to get it done by a professional. Or, if I don't want to do that, then prepare, prepare, prepare.

Does anyone here have any tips on painting a touring bike yourself? I've got a bit of room indoors to do it in the winter - or I can wait until Spring and take it outside into our shed, and do it there.

I've also considered using Plasti-Dip as a (much cheaper) alternative. My Dad's going to get his plasti-dipped and I said that I'll wait and see how his turns out. Kinda think that Plasti-Dip's a bit of a cheap cop-out... But, I'm willing to give it a try.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

Jack.

I think Plastidip is a bad idea, since it would add thickness, and not be durable especially on the dropouts etc. It is still an intriguing idea.

For self-painting, I haven't done it, but I have also heard that preparation is essential.

I know there are some threads on the topic on this site, you may want to take a look at Classic & Vintage... I recall seeing a few relevant threads there over the past several years.

The only such painting I've been satisfied with is using commercial two-part automotive polyurethane paint systems. It takes equipment, respirators, a makeshift paint booth, etc.. Not something you'd likely take on for a one-off project. Best to find someone already set up, then do as much as the prep work as possible yourself.

Pay someone to do a Powder coat job. they sandblast the surface , then never touch the metal till its finished
skin oils mess up the adhesion and flow. our local : https://www.facebook.com/astoriapowdercoating.apc

or just get spray cans, you will have a lot of touch-ups, as air dried paint is not very rugged ..
but it's cheap to do the chip and flaking fill ins later..