What's the Downside Of Painting Frame ??
 

My everyday road bike is an early 80's Nishiki Prestige. Well all that really remains of the original bike is the frame. It was painted the original color(black) in the 90's keeping all the original markings. Now I'm thinking at the end of this season of painting it a much different color. I would not be able to keep any of the original lettering. I value the frame in a sentimental way as well as it's fit and functionality. The paint right now is not terrible, just want something new and different. So what do you guys/gals think ?

It's your bike and your money. Paint it whatever color you like. If the frame is solid and doesn't have any rust or structural problems, go for it. BTW, there are paint houses that can reproduce the original decals if you want a real restoration.

Why not?

It's your bike, and it's not like you're worried about collectors value.

The only consideration is cost. Professional bike painting is very costly, and the frame probably doesn't warrant it, but if you can DIY with a rattle can, you can get decent results for little dough. I once painted an old frame by bringing it to the autobody shop where they owed me a favor. I picked out a popular auto color, and left it with them until the right car came in and they sprayed the frame along with the car for a couple of beers.

Whatever you can put on with reasonable effort at home will be softer than the factory coat and will be more prone to chipping. I won't repaint a bike until it's in a truly sorry state. Even I'll settle for Hammerite and a brush, which to me is the best available compromise between effort and result.
I guess if I had a bike I really wanted to doll up I might consider first media blasting it and then powdercoating it, but so far I haven't seen the need.

Consider powder coating. In this thread, the poster GordoTrek says he got his bike sand blasted and powder coated with all holes in frame plugged for under $100.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...nt-job-pricing

The only downside I've heard people really talk about is that it destroys the value of a vintage bike, but I doubt this is one of those. There is cost depending on how you want to do it. So, no downside if you want to freshen things up a bit. It might strike some as unnecessary as it is for largely cosmetic reasons...however, people put all sorts of effort into such things they enjoy (cars, houses, yards, clothes, etc.), if painting it helps you enjoy it more, do it. Personally, I have an '86 Trek with alright paint I've considered re-painting. Yeah, it'd take down some of the resale value (from a few hundred dollars!) and some people, philosophically, would be opposed to it. but I've put so much time into customizing it and making it my ride...the frame is pretty much the only original piece. I'd just like it to have a nice coat of paint.

+1 on powder. $75 and my old dime-a-dozen Raleigh became something special.

http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a...pse6905af5.jpg

(Sorry for the really bad pictures.)

d just like it to have a nice coat of paint. http://www.oldjoy.info/jiechiok/images/16.gif

The cost of material for painting will cost more than powdercoating it.

Paint has more depth than powdercoat but powdercoat is 1/3 the cost....at minimum.....And that's with cheap paint.

+1 on the powder coat.

If you DO elect to do it yourself then there remember that PREPARATION is the key. Disassemble the bike as far as possible. Thoroughly sand the bike. Mask and plug ll the holes and paint. If you want a good job then use a srayer and decent paint. If you want an OK job then use rattle cans. Apply several coats, allow dry time between each and sanding between them. Apply a few coats of clear after you're done. Don't expect a prop job but work with it and don't shortcut the process and it won't look half bad.

The last time I painted a bike cost of materials for epoxy primer and single stage (no clearcoat) urethane was $90 plus shipping and the quart cans are easily enough to paint 3 bikes. There is also the cost of the equipment to do the spraying, but you can get a serviceable detail gun fairly cheap and borrow or rent a compressor.

I'm guessing you haven't painted anything in the last few years......It'll cost you $90 for a quart of decent paint.....let alone reducer,primer,catalyst,fish eye junk,ect. ect......Prices for paint have gone up in the last couple years....ALOT!

If you want something fancy like House of Colors paint or color changing paint,you looking at $200 a Quartt on up.....as much as $1500 a quart.....:O

All my friends have had sandblast and powder coat service done to their bikes. I just finished painting my bike. I did everything myself. I sandpapered the frame down to the 4130 Chromoly myself (took me 3 days). Then I painted it using:

2 cans of white primer
2 cans of (john deere) green spray paint
1 can of clear gloss enamel

I learned way more about bikes by doing the entire process myself (dis-assembly, hand sanding, paint, re-assembly) than I ever thought possible. It took me a total of 6 days to finish and about 2 hours of re-assembly all for $29. The 5 cans were $5 each and I used 4 sandpaper sheets at $1.


Booger is right I suppose that cheap paints are a bad idea. The green paint chips off pretty easily as I have already crashed once since my paint job. On the other hand I didn't wait the full two weeks for drying.

Check the prices at the TCP Global Restoration Shop. A quart of acrylic urethane is $32, but you can save by buying their kits.