rpenmanparker 

Is it carbon? You can't powder coat carbon.

rms13

Search the weight weenies forum. There are a lot of people there that have stripped the paint off their frames. Of course most are doing it for weight reasons and leaving the frame raw or just clear coating after stripping it

Tornike

Thanks to everyone who provided additional details on the tools and the process.

The fork is carbon, the frame is not.

rpenmanparker 

Is the fork painted red? You could strip it and leave it bare, though it really should have a UV-protective clear coat on it.

The framen certainly be powder coated. It is the cheapest and simplest way to have a frame recoated professionally. The result is tough and good looking if done well. You decorative touches wouldn't be possible unless they were applied over the powder coating at the end.

Tornike

Yes, it looks exactly like on the picture from the page I linked in the original post. I will make sure to have powder coating on it, thank you.

69chevy

Bike, meet Duracoat. - Album on Imgur

mpath

Sorry to burst your bubble, but when it's all said and done - assuming done correctly - you're going to spend more time and money than what the bike is worth. I'd save all that money and upgrade your bike - gruppo, wheels, or even the bike. Your bike is a nice red and white and not like it's the colour of barf. In the meantime, just ride the heck out of it.

rpenmanparker 

NO. My mistake!!!!

Please forgive my serious typo. I meant the FRAME can certainly be powder coated. THE FORK CANNOT! Sorry for the error.

sh00k

i wanted to do this on my boring/dull gray 2015 trek fx 7.4. but after researching it definitely seemed like much more hassle than it's worth.

another idea - if you really want to change the color - is to go to an auto wraps place to see how much it would cost to wrap the bike. but keep in mind this will be pricey and may not be worth it to change the color of your bike.

fwiw.

rms13

+1. It's an entry level aluminum bike. Better off buying a new frame. Even the legendary (around here) Workswell for $450. Then you get a matte black carbon frame that is probably a pound lighter then the current frame and costs the same as you would spend on repaint

TimothyH

+1 on powder coating. It dirt cheap and the results can be outstanding.

The color below is Prismatic Powders "Illusion Blue Burg" It is a two step process with a base color under an "illusion" clear coat.My recommendation is to find a small shop which does engines, car parts, motorcycles and firearms. You do not want a large job-lot shop where your single bike frame will be mixed in with 300 washing machine lids or lawn chairs. A small shop that specializes in custom cars and similar will do an excellent job.

What you see below was $140 including stripping the frame and protecting the cable bosses and bottom bracket/headset faces which should not be coated. I had it applied by Custom Coaters in Marietta Georgia.

Drop it off, pay the money, pick it up a week later, put your parts on, ride. Done.

Before...


After...









-Tim-

ckindt

not

Maelochs

yeah I had to read that one a few times before I figured out what you meant.

I think most of us understood, eventually.

Maelochs

In fact, Workswell will paint the frame for about $50 .... and if you ask for special colors, patterns, extra clearcoat, whatever ... they are pretty good at working with customers.

There is one poster here who had his frame painted in Gulf Racing colors with a special decal about "Life, one mile at a time" and it came out beautiful ... for $50. So say $500 for a 1400-gram frame And fork delivered to his door. You would spend almost that much just painting the old frame.

Keep the old bike, swap the parts across, then spend money on a new groupset and wheels as time allows ... and you will end up with two bikes, and if you still want to pint the old one, you will always have that option.

RoadLight

Hi Tornike,

I've got some experience here. I've painted some cars that I've restored (my best being a 1958 MGA roadster with an aluminum body). When I was young (very young) I tried painting bicycles myself from a spray can and none of them ever lasted very long. They looked okay for a short while but, once the paint started peeling, they looked very bad. So I don't recommend doing it yourself without professional preparation and equipment.

But this advice assumes that you want a great-looking paint job that will last many years. As you wrote later on, you are not looking for perfection and the do-it-yourself method is the only way to do it cheap with paint. However, before I answer your questions, I'd like to suggest another possibility: Powder coat. However, powder-coating will not work with composite carbon and, if I'm not mistaken, your new bike has a composite carbon fork. If this is the case, then paint will be your only choice.

If your new bike frame and fork are both metal and you are willing to disassemble the your bike, yourself---I mean completely disassemble it so the frame has no parts on it (even the headset must be removed) and the fork has no parts on it (even the headset race must be removed), then you can get your frame and fork professionally powder-coated for $175 or less. This price should include sandblasting the frame and fork before powder coat is applied. One place that does this is the Bicycle Shack.

Powder-coating is usually more durable than paint and, if you are not using multiple colors, it is often the best way to go.

I recommend the hardest paint you can find since you will not be baking it. Probably an epoxy paint would be best.

Since your bike is new, its paint should be in very good condition. You can probably get away with sanding it with a fine grit in order to provide a surface that the new paint can adhere to. Remove any stickers from the frame first. Decals under the clearcoat can be left on because you won't be sanding through the clearcoat. Be extremely careful to remove all grease and oil from the frame.

Follow the directions for the paint that you plan to use. Generally, you would remove as many parts as possible, clean the frame and fork, sand the existing paint with a fine-grip paper, clean the frame and fork again, mask/cover the parts that are not to receive paint, spray the frame and fork with your black paint with a thin/light layer, allow to thoroughly dry (24-48 hours) and re-spray with another thin/light layer. For best results, re-sand lightly before each painting---but be careful because you are spraying thin layers---so don't sand through your paint layer. Building the paint thickness up with multiple thin layers will provide superior durability but it takes patience. I'd do at least three coats this way. Then, if desired, apply a couple of clear coats on top of the black to help protect it.

----------

I have a 1985 Fuji road bike that I'm very attached to. I've ridden it for many thousands of miles. Three years ago it developed a micro stress fracture at the top of one seat stay. And a shift cable guide began to separate from the frame. It has a legendary quad-butted steel frame that still rides well today. I decided to have it repaired even though it would cost more than it was worth. I had the seat stay repaired and both seat stays reinforced to prevent a recurrence. And I had a couple of extra bottle cage bosses and a pair of rack mount anchor points added. The work was done by a professional bicycle frame builder who finished the job with a two-color paint job that I designed using pearl metallic paints and a clearcoat. The paint was expertly baked and the inside of the frame was coated with a rust ******ant. The entire job cost just under US$500 plus shipping. I did all of the disassembly and reassembly, myself.

If all I wanted was the paint job, it probably would have cost me between $300 and $350. So the paint was the largest part of the expense. That's the kind of price you can expect to pay to have a pro do it with paint because every well-done paint job requires lots of hand work. One reason that powder coating cost much less is because it doesn't require nearly as much hand work. The frame and fork are sandblasted, powder-coated and baked. That's all.

Kind regards, RoadLight

TrojanHorse

Crap, you guys are so negative. Lookit at the results this fella achieved! Anybody can do it!

https://www.bikeforums.net/16629346-post23.html

Maelochs

Just a couple rattle-cans and some household masking tape, right? Anybody could do it.

noodle soup

If you want to paint your bike black, and don't want to spend a crapload of money on a professional setup, Eastwood 2k paint is your best option.

2K Aero-Spray? Paints ? Aerosol Paints & Coatings - Eastwood

Tornike

Many thanks for the extensive explanation of the process and the tips. I will consider powder coating first of all methods.

rms13

Why not consider the $450 full carbon frame first? It's surely a big upgrade, cost will be similar and you'll be stripping and rebuilding the bike either way

rpenmanparker 

Not to mention the recovery of the value of the Al frame when it is sold. That would make the Workswell an even better deal. The obviously best plan!