Friday, July 10, 2009

Red paint

This is a beautiful mixte I spotted in the city center. It seems abandoned because the rear fender is broken but was not removed (plus, I've passed the bike a couple of times by now and it still looks the same). The bike is all red, except the grips and the saddle. The lock is red, and even the rims and the spokes are! Well, the paint job wasn't carried out very thoroughly though and the color already peels off. But I really like the idea of having a bike in one and only one color. I find the metallic red particularly gorgeous.


Anybody ever repainted a bike? What do I need to consider if I want to do that, and what kind of paint should I use?

2 comments:

Sox said...

My roommate used Varathane Colours in Plastic for my nephew's bike and Tremclad Hammered finish
www.rustoleum.com/product.asp?frm_product_id=552&SBL=5
for the bike trailer.

CarFree Stupidity said...

Repainting a bike can be a pain. For the best results you'll want to take all the parts off and just work with the frame and fork, tape over all the wholes, and scrape off or chemical peal the paint thats on there now.

The faster way would be just to take the parts off and gently sand nicks in the current paint job and smooth out any other rough spots.

There are lots of choices of paint, I went with a spray paint meant for metals. Prime the frame with two or more layers, letting each layer dry for 30 minutes. Then the color you want at least 3-5 coats, the more coats, the nicer the color will come out.

hope that helps

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