I know this might be better in the Bicycle Mechanics section if I was looking for technical advice but this is more about personal preference so thought I would throw it out to the general forum.

I love my Shiv (tri bike). I have a couple other tri bikes, one newer, one older, but there is just something about this Shiv that it just "clicks" with me. Even though it's old (as far as tri bikes are concerned) and I'm old (and fat, and slow), I just love this bike. The ONLY thing I don't like about it is that the base color is black. I'm personally not a fan of the blacked out look. I like colors.

I'm thinking I want to add some color to the bike. I really like some of the color shift paints (or wraps) I see on some of the Cervelos and Quintana Roos. Now, if I was just going to go with a single color, like white, I imagine it would be pretty easy to just strip off the top coat from this bike and rattle can the white of my choice over bare CF. But being that I kind of like that color shift look, I think that would be quite a bit more tricky to do with rattle cans.

So the question is, what would be better? Strip it of all the hardware and let somebody wrap it? Or sand down the clear at home and shoot it with some Krylon? Andbody have any experience with this?

Wrap will be more durable. Rattle can paint can be brittle and easy to scratch or chip up. Certain colors in rattle can do better than others.
Wrap is expensive. A professional paint job is expensive. I vote for wrap.

#Cerakote

Just my 2-cents: If its a carbon-fiber frame like is shown on Specialized's website, I wouldn't work on it myself. As for coating I'd take it to a body shop and get it painted. And expect a two-tone 'fade' job to cost more. If it was an AL or steel frame I'd say get it powder coated.

Massive number of threads about painting on the C&V forum

If it is a Specialized bike and you are the original owner go to HotTubes or Black Magic Paint or one of the other approved painters from their list so that way you keep your lifetime frame warranty and get a really sick paint job in the process. Otherwise if you aren't the original owner or just don't care (which is silly) then do whatever. If I am painting at home I am going to spring for the Spray.Bike paint

I doubt these are "wraps".

Does this ever look anything other than crap?

Seems like it might make more sense to live with it rather than go through the expense of getting an equivalent finish or having it look worse.

You shouldn't be paying that much attention to the color while riding it.

At least, the "blacked out look" is fairly popular and fairly timeless. So, it's not like it would bother other people.

But not enough mainstream attention.

Has anyone ever wrapped a bike? Did it come out well? Pictures? truly curious

I am sure a lot have tried, but I would think that a bike would be exceedingly hard to wrap with all the small tight curved surfaces. Car wraps cover large areas with few if any tight curves like on a bike

maybe instead of painting the entire bike, do some bits a color accent?

An internet search shows wrap kits for sale (at fairly reasonable prices). So, somebody has wrapped a bike (almost certainly).

I don't really want a fade. What I'm looking for, I'm sure you've seen some of those Teslas that look white-ish but depending on the angle of the sun can be green, blue, yellow or orange. Pretty sure that is some kind of a wrap.
Not the original owner.
I don't want to live with it, but that's why I'm asking. I also don't want it to look like poo, either.
I believe my BMC is a wrap. I can't say for sure because I can't find any seem where the wrap joins around a tube. But there is a distinct "seam" where it goes from color to the base black. Plus, all the labels on it look integrated into the color. They are not individual stickers on paint.

The paint that changes colors from different lighting angles is paint, been around for 30 years(?) now I think. I call it cameleon paint, I don't know the proper name. Might exist as part of a wrap, I don't know.

Gosh I wouldn't try to strip a composite frame. Even with metal, it's a big mess. Rattlecan paint is not durable, trust me, every bike I owned before my first good one at age 28 was stripped and rattlecan painted. A durable paint needs to be baked on. Bike Friday powdercoats their frame for ease of changing colors. I would worry about heat of any kind on a composite frame. But a painter that does composites could tell you for sure. But any existing decals or design paint over the base coat, will print through if not removed. Sketchy.

A wrap can look perfect, if no wrinkles. Many decades ago, a project car at Car & Driver, to do the mirrors, the painter painted some kind of plastic and then heat-shrunk it onto the mirror housing. But again, heat and your composite frame, I wouldn't risk. So I would choose a wrap that coordinates well with the current color, and just do the areas of the tubes that are not compound curves, so the material does not need to stretch.

If done professionally, a really good paint job could cost more than buying a duplicate frame in the colors you want, or commissioning a titanium frame from custom makers in china where others have sourced them. I don't know about the possibility of custom composite frames.

Look before you leap. Make sure you ask plenty of questions.

"To find the expert, pick the one who says it'll cost the most and take the longest time."

Rust-Oleum color shift paint for bike frame set?

Now, see, that's very much what I'm looking for. I see a lot of Cervelos and QRs with that finish. What I'd like to do is more of a white base with like an iridescent coat. And I know what people say about rattle can. No doubt it's not as good as true commercial quality paint applied in a booth by a professional. But I have had some good results with meticulous preparation. It will take longer to prep and may not last as long as a professional job, but this is also not an automotive or commercial application.

There's a place locally that does wraps. I'm going to take the bike to him and see what he says. If he thinks he can do it, I will probably just pay the man. If not, I might go rattle can.

Since I don't know, let me ask:

Will a wrapped bike that's ridden in rain occasionally have more rust problems than a painted bike over the long haul?

Back in the 1980s I painted a bike frame with marine, single part polyurethane paint and it still looks OK.

So…?

If you are going to rattle can 2K is the way to go

I can't imagine why, as long as the edges of the wrap have good adhesion, and you are not applying it over rust; Wrap or paint over rust is not good. If not removed (for things other than bikes), I've used Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer, then paint. Ospho applied (to turn to black iron phosphate), then painted days later, the Ospho came up to the surface with white streaks, perhaps not dried long enough. These days I wirebrush with Ospho until rust gone, clean thoroughly with alcohol, use the rusty metal primer anyway, then paint, and that has worked well.

Why 2K? (See what I did there?)

need a cobol programmer to fix that

Peter Gibbons from Initech.

I haven't contact the local guy who does wraps yet. I did contact a painter I saw on Youtube. He did outstanding work but his price was well outside my budget. I have watched a few other videos and I'm seriously considering giving it a shot myself. I've had pretty good luck myself in the past with painting. What I'm thinking about is basically to flip my bike's current color scheme, going from black base with white graphics, to white with black graphics. But on top, I want to do a multicolor clear coat, and then a 2k clear over that for the best durability. At this point, I'm just debating on how I want to do the graphics. Do I want to just use decals over the new paint? Or paint the graphics on? Doing decals has the advantage of being cheaper but the durability would likely suck. Painting the graphics would obviously be the better way to go but much more difficult, time consuming and less forgiving.

Is it possible to paint and let dry/cure, apply decals, then 2K clearcoat over the paint and decals? Decals would seem to me to be precise and easier than painting designs. However, you'd need to make sure the decals are UV light stable over time. If the clearcoat blocks UV, that might help.

I thought about that too but I asked someone who does vinyl decals and he told me the chemicals in paint would likely react with the vinyl while curing. Likely poor outcome.