PAINT

Hey,
I’m just about to repaint an old bike frame and I was wondering if anybody out there could throw me some pointers to aid this attempt.
I’ve never done it before. But, I’m thinking a decent sand, a base layer primer and then some spray paint. My experience in the past with aerosol paints is that they mark and chip away easily.
What about powder coating, is this expensive?
Does anyone know of a professional in Melb for such a job?

Cheers.

do a search of the forum, then ask questions

I think powder coat would be the way to go. As you said, spray paint isn’t all that durable. If you want to save some money you could easily strip it yourself with some chemical stripper and then clean if up with some sand paper or a wire brush fitting for a drill (thats what I do). That way you wouldn’t need to pay for the sand blast, just the powder coat.

nah bollocks. Paint isn’t all that durable if you like to regularly throw rocks at your frame. But if you look after it, it lasts many years just fine.

Powder is preferred by many because it’s cheap (I reckon). Paint always looks better (I reckon).

Re: Snowflake

And how ‘cheap’ is a powder coat exactly? I was under the impression that it was rather expensive…

I recently did the whole de-rust with sandpaper and that drill attachment thingo and that worked out well. I sprayed it which also came out well. However. First ride after it was built up I rode over a slight gravely patch and chipped all up the bottom tubing. Spraying doesnt last but is cheap and easy. Having said that id probaly go the powder coat from now on.

Painting yourself can yield good results if done correctly. If done poorly…well it can look pretty average :cry:

If you use aerosol it will inevitably get chips here and there, depends on the type of riding you do really.

Powdercoat is seen as a more durable and tougher finish, which is I guess why most people who ride their fixies on the streets tend to opt for it. Powdercoats are generally less vibrant, but it depends on what colour you want to begin with.

My advice: Give aerosol a go, its cheap and fun…if it looks crap or gets wrecked too easily then go for a powdercoat…you will not have lost much and probably learnt something along the way :wink:

Cheap compared to paint. Powder is probably around $100 or less for a blast and finish. Paint will cost something like $300-$700, for a professional to do it for you that is.

The other thing you could try is marine paint. You can get it in a lot of hardware stores, it comes in a small range of colours and it costs not much more than a can of enamel. It’s a one-pac, gloss, polyurethane, enamel that you can brush on. Use a good brush and you get minimal brush marks. It dries really smooth. I used some recently on a set of forks and the end product looks better than a bad rattle can job.

yeah, powder coating is cheap (cost me $70 for blast and coat) , easy, and quick!
i think a professional paint job will look better, but a hack paint job will look much worse.

also, as pointed out somewhere around here, powdercoating will ‘fill’ somewhat around the lug work, so you will loose some detail.

Mate all these points are valid and the beauty of fixies is that you can do it cheap as dimsims or as pricie as caviar but if you wanna do it on the cheap read the following.
this is what i have done and works fine.
first step step belt sand it nothing to rough just enough to remove any paint and if any (rust)
get the trusty old wire brush out and clean it up abit.
then a nice light hand sanding to get it smooth.
second step i take is get a can of that rust proofer spray from bunnings and do a coat with that it also gives you a nice mat spraying surface for the next step.

then do yourself a favor and go to your closets hip hop shop or anywhere that sells graffitti spec spray cans (motana krylon and beltons are really high end paits that will last and come up nice. if you use shitty cans you end up with a bike that looks like its been tie dyed. do at least 3 to 5 coats and do it over 2 days so the paint sets well.

and last get some clear high gloss (if you want a nice shine) clear coat stuff also from bunnings and do 2 or 3 coats. . it will cost about 40 bones and will come up mickey mouse.

I definately second the use of krylon or belton…or any other high quality paint

NOTE TO SELF: Spend money on the clear coat if your canning it. Shitty clear coat yellows/cracks etc etc.

My 2c take your time with a rattle can alternatively ring around a few powdercoaters, you can get a blast/powder + Gloss if you try hard enuff you’ll get that done for under $100 easy.

A bad powdercoat will give you balls lug definition.

When rattle canning - get a nozzle with a fairly wide spray - too narrow and you’ll get drips and generally just too much paint on too fast. Hiphop shops sell better nozzles than the standard issue.