pimp my bike
 

okay, lame title. but anyway, i recently bought a new mercier fixie off ebay, and i wanna change some **** on it. basically i wanna strip off all the logos, and eventually get black wheels, hubs, cranks, chain, you get the picture. the paint is all black, i want the rest of the bike black too. but for starters, what's a good method to get those damn logos off? i mean, if they were just decals i guess it would be fairly simple, but they're not. so please... help me!

Try a do it yourself carwash. This has worked with decals that are not under the clearcoat for me.

so you just want the bike to look cool? yeah... real nice... If your gonna upgrade, why don't you try upgrading based on quality, not color. Stop worrying about what the bike looks like and ride it, it might help.

Are you kidding me? Have you not been paying attention? My God, most of the decisions everyone here makes are based on fashion. Why decide to arbitrarily pick on this guy? I started a thread about finding YELLOW GODDAMN KEIRIN GRIPS for no other reason than that they're yellow. Are you going to get all snarky with me too?

Dear, Original Poster, I applaud you in your quest to remove your decals. Sadly, I think they're under the clear coat. Just cover them with black electrical tape or something similar if they're bugging you. Those things do have a tonne of decals on them...

true dat.
Just ride your bike to the ground, and after a few weeks, I'm sure your logo's will be long gone and stripped from your knee rubbing skids and chainups to random things like fences and crap.

Sorry, didn't mean to pick on OP, just letting off steam, but really though, ride the bike and worry about the decals later.

mcatano, ITS ONLY GRIPS... GO WITH CLEAR AND PUT YELLOW PAPER UNDERNEATH!

Well first we're going to put a big screen cyclo computer that plays mp3's and dvds and makes coffee... ANDDDDDDDDDDDDD a snake skin saddle.

That bike seriously needs a backlit, clear lucite waterfall complete with running water on it.

no, sorry, i do not simply want the bike to "look cool". i like the way it looks fine, i just wanted to customize it and wanted some hopefully friendly ideas on how to do so. guess i looked in the wrong place.

i mean all i've changed about mine is a new wheel set, pedals, some electrical tape, and chopped bars.


if you want to get those decals out though, gonna have to sand blast

Big screen cycloputer, hmmm. People could get in the habit of spamming BFFG while riding. Sounds like the first fad of 2006

I have nothing to add.

http://www.spunk.nl/upload/pimpbike-toby3.jpg

put some foil in your spokes, bling bling

sorry, this is the lifestyle forum

i'm still looking for the ss/fg forum

Zing!

AHSHjkashdjksdhasdf

the real question is: what would bill hicks do with those decals?

i think the answer is: scrape them off the bike and smoke em.

if it gets you high, let us know.

-zach

you guys suck...

OP: I'm sorry, but mcatano is right... you cann't take off the decals without a lot of work. It might almost be easier to strip the paint and repaint it black again without the decals. Now that they make black sugino 75's, upgrading the cranks while sticking to your color scheme is possible, phil's or Iro/formula hubs are some pretty damned good hubs that come in black. Deep v's are an option of all black rims... they seem pretty popular... there are other decent quality rims that are also all black, the sun rims are the only ones that I can think of right now. Your chain should turn black if you lube it and ride it alot. It shouldn't be hard to get this whole bike black and upgrade at the same time.

You guys are really good a pissing on peoples parade and that is honestly my major gripe with all of you. I know the majority of people on this board that have the money to buy nice parts buy them both for function and for fashion that's the reason deep v's and phils and keirin grips and saddles and buhzillion other parts exist in a multitude of color options. If you think fashion isn't a factor in everything then you're an ignorant son of *****.

oh yah and a little birdie metioned to me that Nitto is considering releasing their gold colored parts line again in the next couple of years along with a black colored line either a year before or after. Yep folks that means black nitto bars, stems, and seatposts!!! and the return of the gold!

yeah, no kidding. wtf?

OP: not sure if you've searched the tape thing, but blacking out the frame
with vinyl tape is an excellent option. I did it to my pista a couple weeks
ago. came out great. I think there was another BF member or two that
discussed their technique of making templates and running the vinyl lengthwise.
works like a charm.

I did mine really quick just to get riding since I hate branding so much.
but my plan is to disassemble the bike completely, do a killer blackout job with
1-1/2 to 2" vinyl and build it back up.

another perk is that if you get hooked, it will only be matter of time before
you'll want to sell the bike to help fund a nicer ride. might be easier to sell
with the original finish / clear coat intact.

Personally, I find putting on electrical tape or an old tube to be a lot easier than stripping and painting. Plus, tape or tube = instant street cred.

I meant easier than rubbing off the clearcoat, removing the decals and then re-applying a clearcoat.

Don't be a sook. It only encourages us.

I had electrical tape on my Mercier for a long time and decided I'd take a fg/ss poster's advice and try Jasco adhesive remover to get the logos off. BIG MISTAKE. That stuff is the most caustic substance I've ever used. I put it on and within 20 seconds, the clearcoat, logo, and paint were all gone. The only thing left was the primer. So, I had to continue taking all of the paint off so everything could remain even. I eventually took the primer off with sandpaper and then rattle canned a clear coat on, but it seems that chips off quite easily when I lock with my chain or lean it up against something. It looks infinitely better with just a clear coat; I just wish it was a really good clear coat that wasn't from a spray can.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...r/IM000675.jpg

yeah thats why anything caustic shouldnt be left to saturate; work it, get it off, repeat.