This may be a long post - sorry, but I thought this might be a good place to post a bit about the frame that I'm working on and will be building soon.

Let me start with a little bit of how I got the frame, then I'll move on to what I'm doing with it.

I purchased this frame in September 2009 while travelling Europe with Walking With Dinosaurs. I found it on eBay and bought it from a guy in Poland who shipped it to Copenhagen to meet me while we performed there. I already had 3 bikes with me on tour so I didn't allow myself to build it up - I didn't even open the box to look at it.

The frame travelled with me through at least 25 countries in Europe and Asia for about 18 months before I decided to bring it to the US while we had a break in January. I originally planned on building a fixed gear out of it and use it through Europe, but since it won't be going back to Europe I thought I might build a low buck road bike to use while staying in LA. After I finally opened the box in the beginning of February I decided that I might want to build it up as the bike I would have wanted to buy back in 1988 or 89.

Here are a couple pics right after it came out of the box.

The first thing I did after I got the frame out was to think about what to do with the paint. The existing paint was pretty rough in spots, and to be honest, the pink and blue over white didn't really suit me. I contemplated painting the frame myself. I'd never painted a bicycle before but I had painted some car parts that turned out really nice. Cutting and buffing was actually kind of fun, especially when it was all done and I could look at how well they turned out. While in LA I'm staying with a friend, so I don't have all my stuff, and it's not my house so I decided, instead, just to send it out to be powder coated. My friend, Sherry, has a nice print in her house that has some really interesting shades of goldy-yellow that I thought would make an interesting paint scheme - powder coat the base and then paint the lugs a complementing shade of yellow.

Here's a pic of frame after it came back from powder coat. I like the way the yellow turned out.



Well, this picture was actually taken a little later...but it's almost what it looked like when it was back from powder.

My next step was to pick out a color and paint the lugs and bottom bracket. When I picked up the frame from the powder coater I found a color that matched my KTM Adventure 990s metallic orange to a T, and it gave me the idea to maybe do my lugs and bottom bracket with in a nice navel orange-orange.

I found a good auto paint supply and purchased some single stage paint and a bit of 400 grit sand paper to scuff the powder so it would take paint.

That afternoon, I was stumped with how to properly mask the lugs. I used blue painters tape and tried to make it conform to the shapes of the lugs then went off to paint. I had to paint it right away as the paint had it's hardener added at the supply shop.

I'm usually a very patient person, but sometimes I get impatient when I'm painting. This time was a good example of that, and the results prove it! Unfortunately (for you) I don't have any pics of how this worked. But it's safe to say it didn't work well at all. The color was off, due to the yellow base and I had some lumps and runs and poorly masked edges.

I decided that I needed a pro's help to get it right, so I googled pin stripers and sign painters in Burbank to see if I could get lucky and find someone close by. I got lucky (so I thought) and there was a sign painter less than 5 minutes away. I threw the frame over my shoulder and rode over to talk to them about fixing what I'd done. The guy said that it was no problem, quoted me a reasonable price and said he'd have it done by the weekend - it was Monday.

I got a call from the sign painter on Thursday letting me know that he was gonna try to get me done that day and that I'd be able to pick it up on Friday or Monday at the latest. I didn't hear from him again until I stopped by his shop the following Wednesday. When I got there I got some song and dance about the boogered paint not being cured and he wasn't able to do anything to it. He also recommended that I take it back to the powder coater and have them strip it and recoat it!!!!

At this point I was pretty down about the process - I'd started acquiring parts and I'd gone way, way, way over my initial budget so I didn't want to pay another $150 to repowder the frame. I put it away for a week or so and tried to figure out how to move forward.

After pondering for a while I jumped online and googled painted lugs bicycle and found tons of photos from folks who had painted their own lugs, and the results looked great! I clicked around a bit and read some tips on how to cut the lugs properly. Originally I had tried to form the blue tape and use it's straight edges. I was afraid of taking a blade to the new powder coat. But, from what I read, that is exactly what I had to do. I set off masking one section, then cutting out the lug, and it turned out, and I didn't cut into the powder. I did the rest in the same fashion then had to figure out what colors to paint the lugs.

I took the picture that I posted before and made a bunch of different variations in Photoshop to try to pick out the right combo.





I ended up picking this color scheme, but while researching the paint itself I decided to make all of the cream color a silver/aluminum color.

I chose Duplicolor's Specks Retro Red and their GM silver trim color, scuffed the powder coat some more, primed it and added some color. I also decided to paint the crown of the fork the red color to tie it all in.


Here's the frame waiting to add some clear to the lugs.


And the fork in that *****in' Duplicolor Retro Red!!

I wonder if you can guess what happened next...

I absolutely LOVED the Retro Red and decided to remove all of the new clear coat, paint and then scuff all of the yellow powder coat and paint the frame with it!

I know, it's insanity, but the path led me here, and here is where I need to be! It's funny, sometimes, where you go and how you get there!

I spent 2 days sanding the frame with 400 and 600 grit sandpaper. I totally removed all of the silver and red paint and removed the tough shiny surface of the yellow powder coat. I masked up the chrome parts and painted the frame Retro Red. I laid down about 4 coats of color before 5 coats of clear. I wanted it to go on heavy since I planned on color sanding, buffing and polishing the clear.


This the is frame after primer, getting ready to go in for it's first coat of color.


Here it is after it's first full coat of color - this color is quite transparent, so it took 4 full coats of color to make it even.


After 2nd color coat, you can see how rough the texture is.

After the clear had dried for about 24 hours I set off wet sanding it with 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit 3M WetDry. I removed all of the irregularities in the paint and had a great smooth surface, but it was cloudy because of the 2000 grit scratches. The next step was to use some 3M 39002 rubbing compound to remove the scratches and make it a bit shinier. I did that twice before I moved on to the Turtle Wax white polishing compound. I also did two passes with the polishing compound. It came out super shiny and clear. I also repeated both the rubbing and polishing compounds on the chrome and it cleaned up very well! Compare this pic with the pic of the yellow powder coat - the chrome is now VERY shiny and smooth!


Wet sanded, buffed and polished!


Here's the fork before wet sanding and polishing.

Thats quite a story and process. The end result is all thats important and your frame looks very nice.

I have a frame thats been through a couple different color schemes also. Sometimes your plans and ideas dont work out as you thought they would.

Looking forward to seeing your final build.

I agree great story and nice results. however I like the before look. what kind of tubing is it?

The tubing is Columbus Aelle. It's not one of their lightest, but it doesn't feel too heavy.

https://www.equusbicycle.com/bike/col...umbuschart.htm

Like it!!

andy

Choosing a paint colour and scheme is harder than it would appear. I appreciated your story and the photos of the process you went through. I do like the final colour too.

I'm looking forward to the build.

Thanks,

Gary.

It looks very nice, better than the yellow powder coat for sure. One of the pictures above (seat stay/top tube area) shows the texture to be very rough, were you able to smooth the lugs out? If so, did you use fine wet sanding? Seems like it would be hard. I would like to see close ups of the lug areas. Where did you do the spray painting?

Lots of questions, but I have a project very similar and not sure which way to go. I'm contemplating sending the frame out for a gloss black powder coat, but if I can re-paint my self and have it turn out as good as yours.....

Thanks for the kind comments!

c_bake, you can do it yourself, and get great results. I painted this in a barn-like building...it's tough to describe but it's a nice backyard barn, with windows, which help a lot! Since the color I'm using has metal flakes in it, I tried to sand the color coats as little as possible. I've read that sanding them makes the flake less obvious. I tried to get a lot of clear on the bike so I had lots of material to cut and polish smooth and shiny. I found that a bit difficult, it didn't want to sit nicely on it like it did the fork crown. I put 5 thin coats of clear on it, and wish I would have done maybe 2 more. I messed up a few places and cut through both the clear and color, but they happened in places that I had already planned on having a pin striper paint. I'm hesitant to show them off Once it's striped I'll show ya!

If you take your time and make the frame smooth, then be patient while painting you'll end up with a finish that will look better than a powder coat finish. Don't get me wrong - I love powder coat, and have used it for other builds, but it always seems to be thin or somewhat transparent at sharp edges, and the finish isn't very shiny, even the glossy finish. I've considered clearing powder coat and cutting and polishing but haven't ever done it.

Here's my materials list:
400 grit sandpaper - to scuff the powder coat (Autobody Paint & Supply)
600 grit sandpaper - to smooth and remove previous paint attempts (Lowe's)
1000 grit sandpaper - to wet sand clear coat (O'Reilly Auto Parts)
1500 grit sandpaper - to wet sand clear coat (O'Reilly Auto Parts)
2000 grit sandpaper - to wet sand clear coat (O'Reilly Auto Parts)
3M 39002 Rubbing Compound - to remove sanding marks (Autozone)
Turtle Wax White Polishing Compound - to remove the finest swirls and sanding marks (Autozone)
Duplicolor Specks Retro Red Paint - 1 can is enough, but I bought 2 (Autozone)
Rustoleum Glossy Clear - 1 can is enough, but I bought 2 of these, too (Autozone)
Clean white cotton terry towels - I used 5 for the polishing stages (Autozone)
Rustoleum Spray Handle - this helped a bit, not sure if I'm 100% sold on it though (Lowe's)

That's all that I used, I'm sure you could go to 2500 grit wet sanding but for my project I felt 2000 was good enough.

Good Luck!

I don't know if I would have had the nerve to strip the original finish, but the end result is undeniably beautiful! Do you intend to replicate the decals or leave it as-is? I'd be very curious to see your approach to re-decaling it if that's the route you choose.

Chris, the builder sent me some NOS frame decals, so those will be going on very soon!

The original color scheme would've suited BianchiGirl, Kurt or Liberace, but not me. Bleck.

Sharp frameset, Seanery.

yeah the original color would clash with your 'Sunday go to meeting clothes'

Well played, BG. That said, while I appreciate a Nudie suit, I can't get behind 80s flash paint jobs. I'm too young to think they were cool then and too old to be so far removed from them as to think they're cool now.

Nice find!
I would've kept the original paint, but I like the red (much better than the yellow IMO). What are your plans for the build? seems like a perfect candidate for Nuovo Record or Gipiemme/Modolo/Ofmega.

Yeah, I grew up with that line, too. It has taken me years to learn the value of being honest with one's opinions (rather than suppressing them). Of course, there is a big difference between being honest with one's views and being caustic - I'm not advocating that.
You might want to steer clear of these forums if you only want to hear one side of the story


Anyway, congrats on a beautiful frame. I'd like to see the final build.

Found another one online.

Somewhat similar original paint.



These are interesting to me. I always like to hear about new bikes.

Here's a link or four:

https://www.cyberstorepesaro.com/prod..._SLX_mis.58x56

https://velospace.org/node/23709

https://www.speedbicycles.ch/showBike...87ee5b3229a1c1

https://www.lfgss.com/thread54304.html

Today I got to spend some time putting some pieces on the bike, but I've had some issues since my last post so I'll fill you in about those first.

I took the bike to the LBS to get my Campy Record threaded headset installed and to clean up the bottom bracket threads. I took my fork in because I was just a bit worried about stack height, and it turns out, for good reason - my fork was a bit small and wasn't gonna work out. The shop offered to order a new chrome fork that was long enough, but time and money weren't on my side. The shop owner had a fork in his office that he offered to me for $10. It was pretty heavy, but the lugs were similar and it looked pretty good. I got the headset installed and the bottom bracket threads cleaned up. I'm working on painting the fork, It's gonna be silver on the bottom and red on the top, to mimic the look of the polished aluminum and red for that fork I started out with. I'll keep my eyes open for a nice chrome fork for later on.

While I was waiting for the paint to dry I broke out the boxes and started putting some pieces on. I got a Campy Veloce bottom bracket - Italian threaded. It went on painless and looks pretty nice!




Next I went for the front derailleur. It's a boxed NOS Suntour Superbe Pro. This is where I'm sure to be berated - for putting Japanese parts on an Italian frame. Remember, I started this project on a budget (which grew a lot). My first real road bike in college sported Suntour GPX and I liked it quite a bit - it was a Schwinn 754. I wish I still had it now! I decided to build this up as a bike that I would have wanted, and could (almost) afford to buy back in the late 80s...kind of my affordable dream bike - as opposed to my anything goes dream bike!





After the front derailleur it's time for the shifters. I found an NOS mini Suntour Sprint group still in the box. It included 13-23 6 speed freewheel, rear derailleur, shifters, chain and shifter cables. I never built a bike back in the 80s, my buddies were bike mechanics and did all my work for me, so I really had no idea how to install the shifters. After scraping away a little paint they went on great!






After the shifters I decided to mount the rear brakes. I also bought an NOS set of Suntour Sprint calipers and levers.






I'd read a lot about the poor stopping of the stock Sprint pads so I decided to replace the pads with Kool Stops.




You can see how much more material there is in the new pads, as well as a superior compound.




I ran into a snag, however, and wasn't able to mount the caliper - the brake bridge is too narrow. I've got to cut or grind some of the stud down, but since I'm not at my house I don't have the tools to do it here. I may see about using a dremel to do it. I'll have to get back to that later.

After that I decided to get the crankset in place. I've got a very nice used Suntour Superbe Pro 39/53 going on next.




With the crankset ready to go I thought I'd get the rear derailleur on - it's one of the pieces from the Sprint mini group.




The rear wheel is on now, too. It's a Superbe Pro hub on an Arraya tubular rim with Continental Gyro tires. It's got a Superbe Pro 12-18 7 speed freewheel on it, but I think I'll use the 13-23 instead.




Here's how it stands as of now - gotta go work on the fork's paint so I can get more done and go ride this thing!!!

My apologies to you. Despite the fact you went away from that beautiful original paint, I dare say you're doing a 'bang-up' job on that cool Italian frame. The parts you are spec'ing are great, and that shade of red with the contrasting shiny allow bits are really starting to swing.

Nice Job!

I will eat my crow now thankyou.

You're absolutely right! He's thrilled that the bike is getting ready for it's second life! He's been incredibly supportive through this process.