Bike Respray

in message <[email hidden]>, crees22

(') said:

Im concidering getting my older racing bike up and running for the
winter months as i dont wanna use my existing bike in the poor weather
(trying to keep it in good condition) Its a bright yellow bike which
looks neat but want it another colour to go more with my cycle
clothing. Just a couple of questions >

1> What sort of spray paint do i need for a decent quality re-spray,
and is it something that can be bought from a average hardware/DIY
shop?

When we were kids we used to respray our bikes with car paint and it
worked all right. It doesn't cost that much to get a frame
professionally resprayed, however.

Quoted message said:

2> As a novice to bike building/maintanance etc.. Im unsure about
dismantling my bike as I dont know how complex its is to put back
together. Is it a case of just remembering what order everything came
off in, then just slapping it all back together. Or is it something
that takes time and is quite skilled? I dont want it to be a case of a
nice bike that I cant put back together again sitting in parts.

It's something you can do and even enjoy. If stripping down for a
respray you don't need to remove the bottom bracket bearing - just use
masking tape on it. You will need a crank tool to get the cranks off.
This will cost less than a fiver from your LBS. Everything else can be
removed with a set of allen keys and possibly a couple of spanners. Get
a copy of 'Zinn on the Art of Road Bike Maintenance' which will guide
you through all the processes:

<URL:http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1884737706/qid=1094
632673/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-0995454-1332454>
or <URL:http://tinyurl.com/4zjyq>

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; All in all you're just another nick in the ball
-- Think Droid

Simon Brooke said:

Quoted message said:

dismantling my bike as I dont know how complex its is to put back
together. Is it a case of just remembering what order everything came

Quoted message said:

It's something you can do and even enjoy.

The first more racer type bike I rode was borrowed from a friend and we
agreed that I would clean her bike in exchange. My flatmate who was the
more experienced bike mechanic told me to start taking it apart and then
he would stop by and help me out. When he came up he commented that taking
it apart didn't necessarily mean taking /everything/ that could be
unscrewed apart :-)
I had fun though.

Roos

crees22 said:

1> What sort of spray paint do i need for a decent quality re-spray,
and is it something that can be bought from a average hardware/DIY
shop?

It's not so much the paint (car paint can do), it's the preparation and
the way you apply the paint that matters. It's easy to get a job that
looks nice at first but making it last is another matter. The paint will
chip off all too easily unless you do a really good job. I'm not the best
person to advise on painting technique because I never managed a good
lasting paint job myself (although I know that you should NOT apply
too-thick coats, especially when previous coat is still wet). Just
posting this as a warning. In any case, it's got to be worth getting it
done professionally if it's a very nice bike.

Quoted message said:

2> As a novice to bike building/maintanance etc.. Im unsure about
dismantling my bike as I dont know how complex its is to put back
together. Is it a case of just remembering what order everything came
off in, then just slapping it all back together. Or is it something
that takes time and is quite skilled? I dont want it to be a case of a
nice bike that I cant put back together again sitting in parts.

Most of the parts can be removed and refitted easily. You'll need a crank
extractor tool to get the cranks off and preferably a torque wrench to put
them back on. Headset cups and bottom bracket could possibly left left in
and masked. Perhaps the cranks could even be left on.

~PB

Depends what you mean by respray. If you mean spray over what's there already you need to take care to find out if the frame is painted or enamelled. An enamelled frame will blister if you put car or cellulose paint over it.
I had wifes old bike shot blasted for £10 and then powder coated Blue £15 very nice.
Sniper8052

Thanx ppl for the advice, i posted this on another forum and had no response what so ever. I bought this bike a year ago at a complete bargain price, its a Carrera Virtuoso from Halfords. Its normally retails at £250-£300, but the one i bought was a forgotten one and had been sitting in storage for months, they sold it to me for a brilliant £150. I was expecting it to be a load of rubbish for that money, but if anything its been great.

Well its motivation i need now. Sounds asif it could be a fun job to do. I need to decide on what colour/s i want it, I think i might keep it simple and stay with one colour. I was concidering either a light blue or white. I know that you can get cheap tyres with pale blue sidewalls from online bike shops, thinking it could look quite nice if done correctly.

crees22 said:

Hi,

Just some guidance needed if possible >

Im concidering getting my older racing bike up and running for the
winter months as i dont wanna use my existing bike in the poor weather
(trying to keep it in good condition) Its a bright yellow bike which
looks neat but want it another colour to go more with my cycle
clothing. Just a couple of questions >

1> What sort of spray paint do i need for a decent quality re-spray,
and is it something that can be bought from a average hardware/DIY
shop?

Contrary to what other people have said, IME paint *does* matter. Proper car
paint for spraying with a gun easily costs £20 a litre, but that'd be
complete overkill for a bike. You can get paint mixed, in an aerosol, for
about a tenner. I'd expect an aerosol to do a bike - if not, just get
another mixed up the same shade. I once tried Halfords' aerosols for
touching up car bodywork, and my practice results on some sheet metal were
shocking. The tins of paint were nearly empty by the time I'd had a few
practices and laid down enough paint to rub it back (the paint was matte and
*very* orange peely) without hitting primer.

OTOH, paint from the Auto factors down the road came out with a bloody good
finish without any rubbing down or millions of coats. The thing is, you get
primer, paint and lacquer at Halford's for a tenner. At the autofactors, I
spent more like £10 for the paint, a fiver on primer and a fiver on lacquer.
If you compare the two, you'll see that Halford's paint has the same sort of
nozzle as you'd expect on a tin of hairspray or something. Proper paint has
a different nozzle. IMO it's easily worth paying a bit extra cash to start
with and getting a decent finish. FWIW, this was a pearlescent paint mixed
to the correct colour code for my car. I expect you can get decent quality
bog standard flat colours cheaper. If you can, go to place that mixes their
own paint, rather than just a motor shop that sells paint. The people will
have a clue, and tell you what sundries you'll need. Stuff like degreaser /
panel wipe to get the frame clean before you spray it etc. And if it's an
alloy frame, I think you might want etch primer rather than bog standard
stuff.

You should be able to spray the paint according to the instructions on the
tin, and get a good gloss on the thing you're painting with a bit of
practice. Wait for the paint to get fairly dry, and spray another coat.
Don't spray really heavy coats or it'll run, don't spray really light coats
either. And move the tin parrallel to the bike, rather than waving your arm
about whilst standing still. Otherwise, the top tube will get a load more
paint than the front and back end 😉.

Quoted message said:

In any case, it's got to be worth getting it
done professionally if it's a very nice bike.

I had my frame and forks powder coated for £20, have a look in Yellow Pages
you never know. They were really good, proper finish and everything. Even
put a laquer (sp?) finish on it for me. I had to use paint stripper on the
steerer thread though, as I had omitted to mask it. Glad I put wooden bungs
in the BB holes!

The point is though, I got a top finish for less than the price of the tins.
In fact, if you have a really nice bike, there was a pukka bicycle painter
in C+ recently (or somewhere, can't remember) that did a great job for fifty
quid. Decals and everything.

Tony B