How To Paint A Bicycle
Paint Your Frame
Painting a bicycle frame is a simple way to spruce up an old bike. It's amazing what the human eye picks up: any nicks, scratches, impurities or discolorations are very noticeable.
Unfortunately, painting a bike frame is a complicated procedure, and even if you can find a bike shop willing to do a paint job for you, chances are it will cost hundreds of dollars.
If you're planning to spray paint your bicycle yourself, these are some tips to make sure you do it right.
Sand On, Sand Off
Sanding properly is the most important part of painting a bicycle frame! You want to make sure that you rid the frame of every trace of the former paint job. Any little bits of paint, rough areas or bumps will show up once you've painted, and it can look terrible.
Likewise, your custom bicycle paint job won't look so good if you've got bits of the old color scheme peeking through your paint. Make sure that you eliminate every trace of the former color.
You can get specialized paint stripper to do the sanding work for you. Where I'm from it's called aircraft stripper, and it'll take the paint off in no time with little effort. Just be careful where and how you apply it, it's very caustic!
Tape It Up
You need to cover up or remove anything you don't want coated in paint. So in other words, disassemble your whole bike, and paint the bits you can't remove.
This may seem like too much work, but you cannot protect your bike properly from overspray without taping and disassembling. It can ruin your components. Picking bits of paint out of a derailleur is not fun.
Make sure that you label your parts as you remove them, so you can put it back together in the correct order. A diagram as you disassemble might help too. If you're building a bike from scratch anyway, this is a good opportunity to paint.
Primed and Ready
If the title didn't make this obvious, then here goes: prime your bike first! It makes a big difference in the quality of the paint coat if you lay down a coat of primer first. You can find this in rattle can variety too.
It ensures that your custom bicycle paint job is nice and even, with no color discrepancies. Even if your frame is sanded down to bare metal, not having a coat of primer can make your color look very zebra.
Also, primer is a perfect surface for the paint to sit on. It helps make sure that your paint will dry evenly and not run all over the place.
Layer Your Coats
Ok, I'm going to get a bit perfectionist here. Do a few layers of your color. Leave time for it to dry in between coats, and sand down any runs, drips or bumps in the paint. Spray paint on a bicycle is not perfect. It's a funny shape to paint, and you're bound to get some drips and runs.
Use a very fine grit sandpaper, as course grit will rip your paint up and you'll have to start from scratch.
Keep in mind that spray paint doesn't have the greatest hardeners, so unless you use a heat gun or hair dryer on it, it'll take a while to cure. Your paint may be tacky even after a month.
Additional Tips
-Use a nice clear coat on your frame once you're done, and it will help protect your paint job and give the bicycle a nice shine too.
-If you use an undercoat of silver or gold paint, and then use a bright color over top, it can give a bicycle a sort of depth and luminescence. For example, use red over silver, and you'll get a candy apple effect. Beautiful!
Yes
No
Flag
Comments
I painted a bicycle for my daughter a year ago. It came out pretty good. Certainly not a professional job, but it was fun tearing the bike apart and putting it back together. For the cost of a rattle can it was fun entertainment. It could not have looked any worse than it did when I started because it was an old bike. That gave me the confidence I needed to give it a try.
Thanks for the details!
You must be logged in and verified to post a comment. Please log in or sign up to comment.