I want to paint my bike...

Actually, my friend does.  Powder blue.  It's an old Schwinn and they're looking for a spring makeover.  Anyone have any ideas as to who can help out?  They say that a "powder coat" is their goal as that would hold better.  This is all foreign to me, so thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on March 16, 2011 at 2:46pm
UV Metal Arts does terrific powder coating. He did a touring frame for me 18 months or so ago. I think others will vouch for him as well. He's on this site.
Permalink Reply by Michael A on March 16, 2011 at 2:59pm
UV does great work, it is usually around 200 bucks, but then you have to factor in the disassembly and rebuilding the bike, is the old girl worth it?
Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on March 16, 2011 at 3:08pm
Better not let her hear you talk like that...

Michael A said:
UV does great work, it is usually around 200 bucks, but then you have to factor in the disassembly and rebuilding the bike, is the old girl worth it?
Permalink Reply by PJ on March 16, 2011 at 3:21pm

Definitely assess whether it's worth it or not. I decided to take apart my Raleigh Technium to give it a new paint job and it ended up being more hassle than it's worth. In fact I'm still working on it and started the project a month ago. After taking everything off the bike, enough parts were rusted out that you couldn't see originally, that I'm spending more money than I planned, and I'm having a harder time getting paint removed that I expected, even though I've read of methods that seemed to work for others. 

 

The upside, is that I'm getting those rusty parts replaced, and since the frame isn't worth a ton to begin with, I decided I didn't need to be such a perfectionist with the paint removal. So, I think it will be better in the long run.

 

Point being, I wanted to chime in since I've been questioning whether it was worth it or not to start the project. The verdict is still up in the air.


Michael A said:

UV does great work, it is usually around 200 bucks, but then you have to factor in the disassembly and rebuilding the bike, is the old girl worth it?
Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on March 16, 2011 at 4:14pm

I have over a dozen bikes to UV, but it is more like $300 for stripping, treating and powder coating and extra if you need repairs.  If you don't need it done to exacting standards, it can be a lot less.  Some places in the far burbs do it for $99 a bike including stripping, but having done that as well, you get what you pay for.  (Try http://www.cpcpowdercoating.com/page1.html)

 

If it was a crap frame and I wanted a durable finish, i would do a $99 powder coat.

 

It it as a nice bike and i wanted a very durable finish that looked amazing, I would go to UV.

 

It it was a crazy-super-special-show-piece bike, I would get it painted, not powder coated as i think that paint at its best looks better than powder coating at its best, but this is easily a preference-based thing.  Chester Cycles or someone like that do amazing work.

 

Having both stripped and painted frames on my own, I am never, ever, ever, ever going to do either again and consider it well worth paying someone for it.  I am all about the DIY, but screw that.....

good luck

 

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on March 16, 2011 at 4:59pm
It is a well known fact that I hate powder coat but if that is what you want go quality or you will pay for it in detail and durability later; UV is the only powder coat I would recommend, period.
Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on March 17, 2011 at 12:43am

OK, so I posted this drunk and neglected to ad the useful information I should have when commanding people to use UV to powder coat...

I would not even think of using anyone else for two important reasons:

1. I know a lot of people who have had bikes powder coated and in every case when I ask them if they are happy with it they tell me it is, 'Great except...'   They all have some little spot where they is a sag, the coatings light, the coatings thick or there is some general flaw, except the ones that come from UV.  This is because painting/coating tube structures, especially bikes, is very difficult and even a good powder coater is going to have trouble with it unless they do it a lot.

2. UV is a bike person and knows how to treat a frame.  He gives careful attention to the areas that need to be kept clean and, I think, even chases the threads for you.  The extra money his work costs is for the extra care he puts into the job.


notoriousDUG said:

It is a well known fact that I hate powder coat but if that is what you want go quality or you will pay for it in detail and durability later; UV is the only powder coat I would recommend, period.
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 17, 2011 at 1:18am

Keeping powder coat out of areas that you don't want it in is BIG.  If you have to pay a mech to chase the BB threads and face it or you need to mess around getting it out of the seat tube and maybe end up with a seriously stuck seatpost down the road  then the price is going to go up.  There are many places in the bike you don't want that powdercoat in.  Do you have both a taper and bottoming tap in all the sizes needed to clean up threaded bottle cage, brake braze-ons, and other threaded spots of the frame if they get goobed up?  Do you know how to use them properly? If not then pay even more money to get that work done too.   Most, if not all, of the cheap powercoat guys will not care about this kind of thing.

 

Personally I don't give a rat's knees about what a bike "looks" like as long as it doesn't rust.  If a rattle-can paint job were strong enough to do the job that'd be good enough for me.  One way to get a really tough rattle-can finish is to use high-temp paint and bake it -problem being finding an oven big enough to bake an item as large as a frame isn't easy. It's much easier to do on a smaller scale.  It is very durable though once it has cured.  Normal rattle can is fragile stuff even if you do a really good job and make it look nice.  

 

The nice thing about powdercoat is that it is durable as hell and for those of us who care about the utility of a bicycle over it being beautiful piece of living room furniture to gawk at but never take out and actually ride lest it get a tiny chip and ruin that perfect gorgeous finish.   This is even more important if you ride it in the salt of winter.   Sags and runs aren't a big deal to me as long as the frame is protected from the nasty elements.  That's what powdercoat does well. It's a utility finish with the emphasis on the utility and less on the finish.

 

Mostly I think it's best to salvage the original paint if at all possible.  Soak it in oxalic acid and scrub all the chips with barkeeper's friend until they are all down to bare metal.  Rust is funny stuff.  It holds water and just painting over it will not stop it.   It can grow on its own even if it is sealed over like cancer and just keep growing.  

 

OA does a great job of getting rid of it and it is easy.  Once it is gone just fill the clean chips in with halfway-matching model paint and wetsand with 2000 smooth.  Buff the finish with rubbing compounds  to take out any swirls and then clear-coat to seal it all back up.  This sounds like a lot of work but is a LOT less work than stripping/repainting.  

 

Use the frame-saving compound of your choice to make sure it doesn't rust from the inside. I like boiled linseed oil but framesaver is good stuff if you can find it these days.  I'm cheap and like stuff that just works.

 

Put it back together and Ride It. 


notoriousDUG said:

2. UV is a bike person and knows how to treat a frame.  He gives careful attention to the areas that need to be kept clean and, I think, even chases the threads for you.  The extra money his work costs is for the extra care he puts into the job.

 

Permalink Reply by Joe Willis on March 17, 2011 at 3:21am
I just had mine done with main over of urban powdercoat. Just the frame was 70 and frame and fork is 90. Nice guy and a solid his. I am happy with the results. If you want his email let me know. You can see his stuff on Facebook or in my Flickr.
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Permalink Reply by leyzdoo on March 17, 2011 at 4:42am

I've learned quite a bit from your replies and had never even thought of doing this myself.  It seems like you've got to be pretty motivated to do this (right).  Thanks all!

 

I just remembered when I was a kid, maybe 8 years old, I decided to paint my bike, a small, black bmx style kids ride.  I was into airplane modelling at the time and decided that the cherry apple red paint I had would look best.  I tried painting that bike with the fingernail polish sized jar of paint and quickly realized that I seriously undercalculated the volume (and type) of paint needed to tackle the job.  Until now, I figured that I was just a silly kid and that a can of spray paint would have been the way to go.  Just shows, I still have things to learn.

Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on March 18, 2011 at 3:35am
Urban Powdercoat really needs either a webpage, or some SEO on that page. I can't find it, anywhere.

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