Frame Painting Advice
 

So I don't know a whole lot about bikes but I've recently become completely obsessed with old Schwinns. I've got a beautiful bright green Continental and a yellow Breeze to go with it. Then I obtained a baby blue Continental but its in pretty rough shape so I thought I would make it into a project so I could learn how bikes work.

At this point, I've taken almost all of the components off. The kick stand and the chain are the only things I still have to remove, which hopefully will be pain free. But from there does anyone have any suggestions as far as sanding or using paint stripper goes? How about types of primer and paint I should use? And are there any tips/tricks I should know before I begin on this journey?

http://www.bunchobikes.com/repair2.htm This shows how to remove a kickstand without special tools. When it comes to repainting I took my bike to a car shop and they did it for $80. A good price and a far better job that I would have done. Good luck with your bikes.

+1 take it to an auto body shop. They did better and more durable work than I could have done....

Chain is easy to get off.... http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?ID=553 best 15 bux you'll ever spend and you will use it PLENTY if you continue down the path of messing around with bikes.

When I do a rattle can spray bomb I try to get it down to the metal as best as possible, granted there are areas where you won't get it that fine. Typically a 150 or 180 grit for the heavy lifting and then a quick once over with 400 to smooth it down. Clean it, wipe it down, whatever, just get all the dust off it. Probably would be a senseable idea to wear a mask while sanding as there probably is lead in the old paint. Primer coat, a couple of light coats. If the primer coat comes out a little rough smooth it out with a light rub down with #0000 steel wool. Color coat, again several light coats. Finish it off with a clear coat. Now the hard part, leave it alone for a good couple of weeks so the paint can cure, it will be less likely to scratch up when you go to reassemble. Use a good quality paint and follow the directions, there is a reason for why they say you should not use it when it's below 65 or so.

But, yeah, it's still a rattle can job and it will be less durable than ^^^ those guys suggested, but with patience you can get a pretty nice looking finish.

Why not burn it off with a torch? :)

Take your frame to the local soda blaster. Most areas have them. It looks like sandblasting but uses baking soda so it won't hurt the steel. I had my Le tour soda blasted for $30.00. It was well worth the money. If you do go this route, take a big plastic bag and some gloves. Don't grab the freshly blasted frame with your hands, use the gloves and put the frame inside the plastic bag to protect it until it can be primered.

Mike

Have you considered powder coating? It is more durable than paint. When I first wanted to get my bike powder coated, it took it to a respected place in the community. They quoted me $225. I took it to another place, and they did it for $75 (including sand blasting). I went to with the less expensive place and got great results. Since then, I have had another frame done. When I was assembling first powered coated bike, I dropped a heavy impact socket on the frame, and it left no mark. For me, powder coating is the way to go.

you can do a fantastic paint job for $10, if you like the colors black and white. this is assuming you already have some sandpaper and rubbing compound.

rustoleum appliance epoxy and elbow grease.

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your new obsession!

There are lots of posts on this site with tips on painting your frame (like this, or google "site:bikeforums.net how to paint frame"). But wait, something doesn't sound right. The chain and kickstand are two of the first things I would have taken off. You did remove ALL the components including bottom bracket and headset? And are you sure a repainting is necessary?

Oh, we like photos. Let me repeat: WE LIKE PHOTOS!!! Show us your budding collection.

If you have it powdercoated, I'd try to find a place that can iron phosphate treat it first, to prevent rust later on if you get chips or scratches. It should help preserve the insides too.

I really like the idea of sanding the whole thing down and painting it myself, but I live in Oregon and the possibility for warm sunny days is rapidly diminishing :\

I'm having a great time doing this though! Every time I get a new part removed I get super excited! And then I realize that I'm going to have to figure out how to put the thing back on when its all painted and I get a little dilusional. No worries though, I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

I think I'm going to make this one a single speed (is that the correct term?). To do that, do I just unscrew the other 2 sprockets from the main one? And I'll probably have to get a new chain because the one I have now will be too big. Oh and the derailleur, do I just remove the whole thing?

I used to have that obsession,too. Red Varsitys, yellow Continentals, navy blue LeTours. Sounds like you have a nice collection!

Not sure I would paint this one. I feel like everyone comes on here with their first bike or two and says "THIS PAINT IS AWFUL, I'm going to repaint," and then they post a picture and it looks fine—just needs cleaning and polishing. Let's see a picture so we can be better informed.

Make sure its a keeper before you paint too. Does it fit/do you like the ride/will it work for the kind of riding you want to do? You'll never get your money back if you decide to sell it down the line.

That said, it's probably a good candidate for powdercoating. They'll sand blast the frame for you and you'll get a super-durable finish that in most cases will look awesome. You should be able to find someone to do it for less than $100.
Considering you'll probably spend more than you think on a good spray paint job (at least half the cost of powdercoating, likely more) and the end result won't last as long, will probably not look as good and will take at least twice as long to get finished if allowed to properly cure..... Just sayin.

+1 Well put. Everyone wants to repaint, but a good one will cost serious money. A cheap one and you will end up with less than satisfactory results.

If you get the urge to paint, your cheapest option would be to find another one with a frame in better shape paint wise. I routinely find Varsity and Continental level Schwinns in the $10 to $20 range. And the neat thing is such a bike will come with the original decals, logos, headbadges and parts that you can use to fix your bikes, or move them to a new home.

I think I proved that you can do a nice job with rattle cans with this one. The preparation took about 2 years, but I took a lot of breaks.

http://inlinethumb60.webshots.com/44...600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb32.webshots.com/47...600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb07.webshots.com/14...600x600Q85.jpg

Oh, you can definitely do nice spray-jobs. (Yours is a particularly nice example. Cheers!)
It's just that most people don't have the patience to do such a nice job. It's hard to see your frame just hanging there for 2-3 weeks. I mean, it feels dry!

Out of curiosity, how much did you spend on that paint job?

grand bois! thats a beautiful saddle! where do i find something similar?

Also, for those questioning the current paint job - its not in that bad of shape. Someone tried to rattle can the chrome parts silver and they did a crap job so its all over the frame, but the original paint isn't too bad. I'm repainting it because I want it to be a different color and because it requires taking off everything and then putting everything back on, so it'll be a good learning experience :)

Painting a bicycle is not a good experience! Sure, take all the parts off and put 'em back on, that's fine. You can probably get the rattlecan silver off with a solvent like goof-off while you're at it. Clean everything, put it all back together, excellent learning experience. Still don't like the color? Sell it and get one you do like. Much better experience than painting a bike.

A few thoughts on painting.
Chemical stripper is much better/easier than sanding off the paint. Your local big box hardware store should have a good paint stripper, you want something that will remove automotive paint.
Sand blasting, unless done by someone with Gorilla hands and the IQ of a slug isn't going to damage a steel frame. I did a little experiment and held a Reynolds 531 tube (previously damaged) about an inch or two away from a sandblasting gun for 3 minutes. the result? A nice clean tube. Of course a commercial blaster with high PSI might do damage but seriously
your not gonna damage tubes in the time it takes to strip paint.
Take it to an automotive shop, or a shop that paints motorcycles and can deal with round tubes. a 2 part paint with clearcoat will look much better and more importantly last much longer than a rattle can job. Not saying it can't be done (see Grand Bois' frame above), but that is the exception not the rule.

If you decide to go the rattle can paint I recommend visiting your local motorcycle shop and checking out PJ-1 frame paint. It's mostly designed for off road frames and is epoxy based. It also comes in clear coat. If you have the patiance to let it sit 2-3 weeks to cure you can obtain a good and durable finish.