ozneddy

We all dump on em and we,ve all done em,but some of them look really good , its the "cheap" alternative,wether you are guided by budget constraints,or distance from a painter there will come a day when even the diehard among us will succumb to the evil of "the SPRAY-CAN" I know some of you guy,s have some awesome rattle jobs and would love to see them,so,never asking without giving --I,ll start the ball rolling by showing my "Aussie" RICARDO ! [IMG][/IMG]

Kaneman

Here's a Mongoose BMX I did for my son. I painted it to match a GT Interceptor that me and my Dad rebuilt when I was a kid!

roccobike

I masked off the decals and rattle canned this 2001 Hard Rock. I know it's not vintage, but it is my only rattle-can job. I did both colors, black and white, and the shock housing.
Edit: I followed one piece of advice from the C&V forum. I let the frame sit for about 2 months after painting, before I did the complete build up. Then it sat, built up, for another month before I took it out on the trail. Allowing it to cure like that made a huge difference because I'm having no problems with small scratches like I've seen with other rattle can jobs.

pitchpole

I have done a few myself but they are not worth it at all. The paint which comes in spray cans does not hold up to abrasion or solvents. If you do not have access to hvlp equipment you can purchase disposable sprayers which allow you mix automotive two part auto paint and use it like a spray can. The prevall sprayer (https://www.prevalspraygun.com) works very well for this in my experience. The spray pattern their cans produce is not that great however and it is best to change the nozzle to a different type.

If you have already painted your bike with spray cans you can spray hardened clear over it to increase the durability substatially. Proceed with caution since some hardened paints make rattle can paints crinkle or run on contact.

retrofit

Posted this before...my first C&V project, an '84 C'dale ST500. Sold it last year as it was too small:



stan

Noah Scape

Finished this mixte for my daughter last week.

custermustache

Beautiful Mixte - where did you get those saddlebags from?

crazyb

1986 Trek 1500

EraserGirl

HEY! that was what i was gonna ask...fess up where'd ya get em?

Fabulous use of Planet Bike Fenders by the way..they look like they have always been there.

Chicago Al 

Great photo, Kaneman! May be 'just a snapshot' but the lighting and composition, the deep shadows from the trees, and the boys clinched-teeth 'dad can I just go RIDE' expression really tell a story.

+1 on the pretty Lotus mixte. I just picked up a pair of those fenders for daughter's Miyata mixte, hope it turns out looking that good!

squirtdad

I did one a couple of years ago....and while it came out pretty nicely, what struck me was that it was not a lot cheaper than getting a powder coat.

Maybe I am just really bad at spraying, but I did very light coats, there was a lot of over spray in the garage...so I used up a lot of cans of paint remover, primer, color coat, clear coat. the difference between my cost and a powder coat was about 50-60 bucks .....not insignificant, but powder would be a more durable surface and it would have been a lot less work

Rabid Koala

Here is my first road bike since the mid seventies, given to me in a heap by a neighbor. That pink and white did not do it for me at all, so off to the auto parts store for some blue and silver Dupli Color rattle cans and some of their clear coat. After all the effort, of course, I realize I need a larger frame, but the bike served it's purpose by getting me back on a road bike. After that, goodbye Trek hybrid, goodbye mountain bikes!

Reynolds 

That mixte is a beauty!

Roll-Monroe-Co

That's what I'm going through now. I'm about 2/3 done with a frame: sand-degrease-spray-dry two days-repeat-repeat-repeat-repeat. Trying to get good coverage, smooth finish, no drips, etc. I'm about $50 into the paint, plus days of work, and I know that it's not going to be durable when I'm "done."

Powdercoating is looking much more attractive for next time.

-holiday76

I did one. I probably would just stick with powdercoat though when you consider the time involved to paint a frame and have it come out half decent.

alicestrong

My rattlecan job cost $10...Rustoleum base/color/clearcoat in Candy Pink...

Noah Scape

Here's a px10 that I picked up at the junk store for a $5. It was very rough. Someone had hacked the derailleur hanger off and it came with a crappy rattle-can paint job, so I stripped it and gave it another. I ended up donating it to my kids' school for a silent auction.



BTW, the panniers on the mixte came from ebay about 5 years ago. I picked up a couple of pair.

Here's a before pic...

JJPistols

haha when ya gonna let him ride it?

Kaneman

haha, well I had to test it out didn't I?

j0shr

hi noah,
whoa! just beautiful =o) what frame/bike is that. beautiful specs/parts, too.

josh

Kommisar89

Those all look really nice. Alas I have no pictures but back in the day, the top tube of my bike got pretty scraped up and I found a matching color auto touchup paint in dark metallic blue and masked off and sprayed the top tube. That came out really nice but it wasn't durable. I had to re-paint it once a year or so. Still, it beat having it look like crapola.

I haven't done any in many years and I think before I would try it again I would set off looking for one off those $50-$100 powder coat jobs. Who knows, might find a unicorn or Osama bin Laden while I'm looking 'cause they seem to go for more like $275 around here

nlerner

I've rattle-canned a few, but I think my most successful was this Raleigh Super Course turned into an upright bar, 3-speed Sturmey Archer rear hub bike. The paint is Rustoleum metallic blue.



Neal

social suicide

Rustoleum Gloss(in some places more than others) Black.

big_heineken

Here's mine:

A 1988 Schwinn Traveler. I wish I would have taken a before picture, because it was really rough.

Grand Bois

All of these freshly painted bikes look great, but would like to see pictures of what they look like after a couple of years of hard use.