Night Bike!

Step 6 Assembly/Finish

Using your pictures you took as an aid reassemble your bike!

Be sure to add a front and rear light... the bike can't be too bright after all.

Charge it up and then.....

You're ready for a Night Ride!
 
If you want to make the bike even brighter, and last even longer... you can invest in black light LED strips to place on the frame of the bike.  Now that would be really cool, and you wouldn't have to worry about the glow fading!  Here is an example of some convenient LED black light strips that you could use.

Comments

[or_ford98]

VIDEOOOOOOOOOOOO

[or_ford98]

VIDEOOOOOOOOOOOO

[arthurelizondo]

2 Questions. 1) Won't the bike pickup light from street lights and recharge the paint during your night ride? I also believe that if you ride it in the daytime it will charge with sun light.

2) If you use the black lights, What size battery do you need to turn them on, 6 volt 12 volt, portable batteries?

P.S. If you used a headlight and pointed it to the bike frame that light should recharge your paint as well. Does it?

Thanks for your great project.

[jlaw7]

I painted a bike last summer and found that using an industrial paint stripper takes all the stock paint off very easily, that is an option as opposed to sanding

[RocKiN Ranen]

Would this work with a mountain bike?
The bike itself is white and black (white frame with black letters, shocks, and spokes). The bike is kind of glossy, so I don't know if it will work on it, and I'd prefer not to paint it, but I probably can paint the white frame white if needed. I wouldn't paint the shocks, because that would probably make it not work as well, and the paint would probably wear off, but I don't want to paint some on the spokes (the wire parts of the tire) so it will make an animated pattern when I ride.
So if I painted it would I have to spray paint it first, or just apply the phosphoresent paint?

[Adobi]

I think it would be a good idea spray the frame white before paint it with the phosphorescent, because the flat white is kind of rough which helps make the paint stick. However, you could try painting a sample on the glossy white you already have on the frame and if it doesn't work then spray the frame white. Same with the spokes. I hope this helps, good luck!

[benetnasch]

thats EPIC. Did you use solvent based paint or water based paint. which would you recommend glowinc. or glonation...is it very durable because i want to paint over my bike that i use for boy scouts. thx

[amandat0913]

THANK YOU!!!!! My daughter wants a night bike so badly thanks to that Blackberry commercial - I'll make her one!! :)

Curious, though - how long does the glow seem to last for?

[chuckr44]

The glow lasts about 8 hrs each time you charge it with light, but it depends on how far away you are. It should be clearly visible for at least 4 hours but gets more dim as time goes on.

To reuse, simply expose it to a bright light, or a black light for 5 minutes.

[icanhaszombie]

On the first page or so of the 'ible the author mentions that the glow can last up to 12 hours on a full charge :)

[GreyP.]

so it only lasts 12 hours? or 12 hours after the sun or a type of light shines on it?

[Adobi]

Yes, you only have to paint the bike once. After the charge diminishes, anywhere from 6-24 hours depending on where you buy the paint and how well you charge it, you just have to charge it up again. Kind of like rechargeable batteries, once they die you just rejuvenate them, so to speak.

[tamurlane6]

I'm pretty sure it lasts 12 hrs per "charge" I think it would get really expensive if you had to paint it every 12 hrs.

[amandat0913]

Gah - thank you. That's what I get for skimming. :/

[SporkyRat]

I've got a question about the pain. Is the paint itself clear and it just glows various colours? I've got a very nice paint job on my bike that I don't want to paint over (kinda sentimental, I am) and I want to make sure that I can keep it while still being as safe as possible.

[Adobi]

Yes, the paint itself is clear (but not crystal clear) and glows the various colors. I will warn you that unless you can find a spray super phosphorescent paint it does not exactly go on smoothly, so it might mess up the paint job. Also, if you are concerned about weight, it does add weight, and a tinge may be seen if you use a brighter color, like green. I think that you will be able to tell you painted over the bike, unless you can find a spray phosphorescent glow paint.

[extrordinary1]

why can't we use an air brush to paint it? Beats waiting for the airosol to come out. Exactly where did u find this paint you display?

[Adobi]

Well the paint we used was rather thick so I don't think it would work in an air brush. We found our paint at Glo Nation (be sure to check exposure times as it differs for each color) however, Glo Inc. advertises to be 3x brighter than other online competitors and advertises a 24 hour lasting time. It is slightly more expensive (a few bucks more per ounce). So I would look around online at super phosphorescent paint (get strontium based as that base makes the paint last the longest).

[dread]

this page discusses air brushing (but for the other supposedly brighter product from glowinc): http://glowinc.com/glow-in-the-dark/glow-in-the-dark-painting.aspx

[Spoonmeister]

You could, theoretically, use the paint in an airbrush as "normal" airbrush paints have thinners added to get them fluid enough. HOWEVER, you'd have to check whether or not the thinners would adversely affect the structure or the paint or its glowiness. If you have an airbrush already and you get some paint it may be worth trying it on a small piece of scrap material and analyse the results with & without thinning & spraying - I for one would be interested in the results.

[jolshefsky]

One of the problems with airbrushing that I read on the glow paint sites is that the way the paint is brighter is that it has particles that are pretty large — too large for an airbrush. If you use the finer particles that will not clog an airbrush, the glow is not as bright.

[SporkyRat]

I have a hybrid cruiser so weight's not really a problem and as long as it doesn't hide the paint color there now I'll be perfectly happy.

Thanks so much for all the information!

[Advar]

"Brilliant!"
;))

[Adobi]

Thanks!

[icanhaszombie]

This would be a killer ride at Burning Man

[Popobumm]

I'm definitely going to try this next burn! Not only awesome, but waay more environmentally friendly than LEDs or EL wire :)

[mikeinbellingham]

When you put on the glow paint. Does it leave brush marks in the paint? If so, did you figure out a way to make it smooth ?

[Adobi]

Yes the glow paint does leave brush marks, and I think the only way to prevent this would be to find a glowing spray paint, which I have not yet found, but there may be a technique and/or brush that works better than ours. Also on the spokes we purposely laid it on REALLY thick, as the blue is a bit dimmer than the green.

[Zinked]

lovin' that charging station, priceless.

[Adobi]

Thanks!

[greg.hartley]

Love the shot of the bike surrounded by light bulbs. Useful and artistic simultaneously. Looks like a professional advertisement.

[Adobi]

Hey, thanks a bunch!