I suggest practicing a little on something similiar (find a bare piece of metal, sand it down and then practice your stroke. It's all about the "stroke" and the amount of "pressure" you apply with the pen in your hand. If the tip of the pen starts drying out or appears to be going on uneven (ie: stripes), I switch to another pen and prop the other one up so that the ink moves back down to the tip. The secret is in the stroke/pressure applied and a bit of old fashioned patience. Oh, and multiple coats. You'll know it's right because it looks like it's been painted on when you are finished!

I sold about 300 of those exhaust system modifications (above) for jet-skiis over a 6 year period. I'm really good at it. And yes, if you think about it, that's 300 hours of practice!

Granted, if you get gasoline on your chain rings or crankarms, the finish will come right off. Just repeat the process again and it looks like a brand new part again. When I clean my rings and chain, I'll just wrap a micro-fiber towel around each crank arm just incase the citrus chain cleaner I use will remove it. Otherwise, it's ALOT tougher than you'd think...

Ok, this is completely hilarious and enjoyable. Awhile back there was a thread about using a Sharpie, which I used to modify the color on my cycling shoes and to change the logos on my wheelset. Now this, I like it. I have an old crank for a commuter that would look great in black, I may try this. haha, thanks!

Yeah, it is pretty funny but even though it's insane, it also WORKS, which makes the whole concept even more amazing!

I "repainted" the spokes on my Bontrager Race X Lite wheels last week and they look brand new again.... maybe even better than brand new <grins>. I just sanded them down to the metal and then made them nice and black!

I've used them to make my hats black again too! Sometimes when I'm out in the sun alot, they start to fade. In about 20 minutes time I can make my hat look brand new again!

Sharpie permanent markers won't give the results on metal. Be sure to use Avery Marksalot pens.

I've also used Marksalot pens on personal watercraft (ie: jet-ski) seat covers, mats, cloth seats in cars and even to black out sponsor names on black bicycle jerseys... hahaha

If you're interested:

^^^ Damn that thing is pretty.

+1

Yeah, it should be for $1,300.00

hehehe

That was the only thing I was dissapointed about when I got my x-lites, the spokes were silver, instead of black, like my old race lites.

How difficult is it to make them black, as you did? Do you have to bake them after you are done?

It's fairly easy blacking out the spokes...

Just lightly sand the spokes. Use NEW pens. It will take about an hour to do both wheels and mine look really nice. You have to do both sides od the spokes AND the top and bottom of the blade.

Don't have to bake the spokes or wheels. If you get a knick in the spoke, just touch it up and it looks brand new again!

Then if you're really creative, you could pattern it so it looks like carbon fiber.......

"Creative" indeed, but then it would be more of a piece of art, than a bike part!

Well, here is an update:

It appears that the Marksalot "blueing" will work WITHOUT having to sand the crankarms! I did a test on the back side of the drive side crankarm and what do you know, it sticks just fine AND looks fabulous.

It's looking like I can do the whole process in about an hour and a half.

Here's what I started out with:

Picture #1: Brand new Shimano Dura-Ace FC-7800 crankset
Picture #2: What you will need to do the job

Mask off the "Dura-Ace" on both crankarms with electrical tape.

Using short squared swipes with the pen, work in ONE direction (I started at the rear of the crank arm and worked my way out torwards the pedal threads...

At the end of this stage, it should look like this:

Carefully peel the tape back and completely off. Use a straight edge to make it neat and even and fill in any uneven areas...

Looks like this when done:

Now I'll let the ink dry and harden, then I'll pop it in the oven.

It doesn't look like I'll even need to remove the drive side crank arm from the ring(s). I'll go do that one now.

Ba-Da-Bing....

The final result!!!

Not bad for my first one, but I can do much better after doing a couple more. I can make the "Dura-Ace" "box" look better. I did that essentially with a straight edge and alot of freehand. I can also just black it out and then put some really nice silver reflective "Dura-Ace" stickers (same size as what's on the crankarms now). I haven't decided yet...

I went with gloss black because it's easiest to do.I'll stick it in the oven for 5-6 minutes and it'll be ready to bolt on to my bike.

Not bad for a mod that costs less than $5.00 if you are looking for something different.

Now... I'm thinking the outside ring (the satin part below the teeth on the big ring might look kinda groovy black as well). I think I'll just put it on my bike and see what it looks like.

Here's a few finished pictures:

Nice job, that looks really good!!

I think I may do that to my spokes, but instead of doing them all, I may alternate and do every other one, so I have silver and black.

That's hot. Give us some before/after pics of the whole bike. I bet it looks awesome now. The masking job on the DA logo looks really good. Good on ya.

I didn't take any pictures with the Dura-Ace crank on the bike before the install but I will definately snap some pictures of it after I install it this time.

Wow, that looks awesome.
I was pretty skeptical at first but that looks great.

is that black or blue? i can't tell

It's black...

Couldn't you put a light clearcoat on to seal the finish?

That would make touchups a PITA