Home › Forums › Open Discussion › What's the Best Way to Paint a Bike?
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June 14, 2013 at 4:24 am #607897
WorldCitizenParticipantI just got a bike for getting around locally and it’s decent…not great, but good enough quality to be targeted by thieves. I’d like to make it look inconspicuous. I’m open to suggestions, but I was thinking about either covering it with stickers or just painting it flat grey.
Anyone ever paint their bike before? Is there a paint which works best without chipping all over the place? Do you have any other ideas to make it not necessarily ugly, but “invisible”?
June 14, 2013 at 5:55 am #791780
Jeff HParticipantHere’s an example of a ‘rattle-can’ job I did on an old free bike. I used 2 cans of flat black, 1 can of clearcoat, and some reflective clear. Roughly $20, and I just prepped the surfaces with a quick fine grit sanding and cleaning. This bike doesn’t get ridden much outside (less than 1,000 miles since July 2012), so can’t say the paint job has been through enough to claim it’s durable.
http://jnsadventures.com/2012/07/new-old-road-bike/
I’ve had other frames powder coated, which is much better quality than a spray-paint job. Cost should be $60-100 for a frame. It’ll be more durable, and you could specify pretty much any color (i.e. something ugly). Just search ‘powder coating’ and call around for estimates.
Custom stickers are relatively cheap, and reflective ones would be useful. They also help identify a bike if it were to be stolen.
Hope this helps and gives you some ideas. Bikes are so much fun! :-)
June 14, 2013 at 5:26 pm #791781
WorldCitizenParticipantThanks! Where’s a good place to get custom stickers that fit a bike frame?
June 14, 2013 at 5:40 pm #791782
cjboffoliParticipantI’m with Jeff. There are some places in Seattle that can sand (or plastic bead) blast the old paint and grime away and then apply a gorgeous, durable new electro-powder coat finish.
June 14, 2013 at 6:41 pm #791783
JanSParticipantcarefully?
June 14, 2013 at 7:42 pm #791784
Jeff HParticipantWhere’s a good place to get custom stickers that fit a bike frame?
DieCutStickers.com is in Georgetown and would be a good local resource for stickers.
For vinyl die-cut lettering, most places won’t do anything under 1″ since it just won’t come out good. The stickers on my bike were 1″ lettering and will fit well on most bike frame tubing.
Google Fonts is a good place to find a custom font for lettering stickers. You can download the font files and then install them on your computer where you can use them to create a graphic.
There’s also plenty of online sticker shops that will let you upload a graphic file and get a quote…just need to search.
An alternative to spray-paint or powder coating would be to get your bike frame sprayed with Line-X or Rhino Liner. I’ve had vehicles with Line-X, and it’s durable stuff…you won’t have to worry about your bike getting scuffed up and I don’t think anyone would want to steal it. And I’d bet that the coating would help dampen vibration, but add a little bit of weight. ;-)
June 14, 2013 at 9:15 pm #791785 -
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