Repainting a bicycle

Ever found a nice old bicycle laying around and said, "Thst would be a nice bike if the paint was redone." Well look no further here is how to repaint a bicycle to its previous glory. This is a good way to save a few bucks, why get a new bike if you can fix the old one good as new.

Step 1: Getting it all together.

You well need

---

-a bicycle to paint
-some basic hand tools to disassemble the bicycle (wrenches, screw drivers, ect)
-sand paper (for removing rust and scuffing the old paint up)
-razor blade (helps when removing old decals, if present)
-masking tape
-a piece of stiff wire to hang the bicycle up with
-primer(about 2 cans for a large bike)
-paint of desired color(again about 2 cans for a large bike and also it is a good idea to use the same brand as the primer
-clear coat if desired
-and a clean place to work, with good ventelation and a fan

Comments

[Mike73]

Yeah, a couple of light coats instead of just a vew heavy coats. I learned that earlier, but it's still really hard to be patient when you want your project to proceed. But this project is one I wanted to do for abou the last 9 months for my old bike. There were just so many other projects, too ;-)

But good job!

Maybe I'll repaint my bike, too. If so, I can post some pictures.

[earmenta50]

At the sand paper stage, what type of sand paper do I use?

[bassbone_mh]

Good information; however, "will" is not spelled "well". On a positive note, good pictures. Thanks!

[blackhistorymonth]

check out what i did:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b15/goth_pyro666777/magic008.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b15/goth_pyro666777/magic007.jpg

two words...spray paint.

[BtheBike]

two more words .. Looks Stolen =D

[dmiller-1]

This looks like something Satin would sell you..but yeah whats ur fixer luk lik?

[sharlston]

did ypu dissasemble the bike before painting?

[white.jtw]

Oh hot damn. That bike definitely got the midas touch. I really don't think that's gonna last long with paint on all those moving parts. Wait. Did you really paint your chain? What?

[gnatcage]

That's a pretty bad paint job. But I guess nobody would ever want to steal your bike. That's a plus.

[lilscskater]

2 more words ...no comment

[davmaldo]

which is funny, b/c you are...

[elescape]

IS that a destiny? B/c it looks alot like mine but i did mine in silver and left the green in the back :)

[Mr Random]

pimpin man!! :P

[wishes]

lol, love that bling!

[James (pseudo-geek)]

pretty sweet man.

[bigbrett]

that looks so so rank why would you ruin a good bike like that

[blackhistorymonth]

well, it was a twenty dollar bike...and long ago in the fog of heavy opiate usage...i wanted to spray paint everything i owned gold. but now i have a fixy. and it run gud. and i treat it rite.

[dyarberry]

This guys spelling needs help

[t_menace]

i'm painting my bike and it seems that after the priming, the surface is rejecting the paint. the surface being handlebars and paint being rustoleum metallic gold, it just wrinkled up like foil almost. does anyone know what that means and or how to fix it?

[al9595]

well clear coats have that effect on some paint i.e rust-o-leam paint and tremclad clear coat it might have the same effect with different brands of primer

[al9595]

the "gooseneck" is also called a stem

[sunny342]

Could I paint all the colors of the bike and let them dry for a day, then use a heat gun to cure the paint? Would it be harder? What is the cheapest clear coat that you guys suggest?

[vent6902]

Would using a normal primer be alright? Or does it have to be an aluminum primer for an aluminum bike?

[vent6902]

I know there are two kinds of primer Aluminum and Regular.... If you sand enough would using the regular primer be okay ?

[Yerboogieman]

if i taped up everything i have to take off and do separately ( handle bars, pedals, tires, etc.) could i still sand, primer, and paint like that?

[CWP]

I painted a few bikes once and found that you could make the paint a lot harder to scratch if you backed the frake in an oven. Sounds funny but it works. I just turned on my oven and would place half of it in at a time for a few minutes (obviously the whole frame would'nt fit at once) and I noticed that the paint was much harder in general. Be carefull though.

[systemBuilder]

A friend of mine who is a professional bike painter uses ovens from a bakery to cure his paint. He bakes at about 150 degrees for about 2 hours. This doesn't make the paint any harder than the paint would EVENTUALLY be, it just speeds up the drying and curing process by about 3 months.

[radiorental]

thats a good idea, make sure the room is well ventillated though. A hot air gun would be an alternative you could use outdoors

[breakfree]

Any suggestions on using tool that may be lying around the garage to remove old road bike bottom brackets.... I have an old schwinn frame that I want to refurb... but I dont want to spring the 40 or so more dollars for the tools to take of the bottom bracket... Any help would be kool... or atleast a site with cheap tools???

[systemBuilder]

There are two sides to a bottom bracket : fixed cup (right side) and lockring / adjustable cup (left cup). On a vintage bike, here is what you do. For the fixed cup, I use a really gigantic crescent wrench, about $15 for a really cheap one. Remember that each cup of an English bottom bracket is designed to TIGHTEN as you pedal. Turn the cup THE OTHER WAY to loosen it. For adjustable cup, the best tool is the spanner that came with 1970's RALEIGH SPORTS bikes, it's a semicircle with a 'tooth' at the end. In a pinch, a screwdriver covered in duct tape and a hammer might loosen the lockring. Then, for the adjustable cup, you need a VAR or PARK or ATD pin-spanner. This is like a pair of tongs with 2 small pins that screw through the tips of the tongs, to open to any width. The pins (look like short 8mm long allen-head screws with pins at the end) can be purchased at most bike shops, or the whole tool is about $10.

[radiorental]

good question. You could try wraping it in a rag and putting it in a vise, making sure to not tighten it too much or you'll f' it up. Second suggestion is an oil filter wrench if you think it would bite the bracket. Third suggestion is to whack it with a hammer and chisel. Most bracket have dimples along the rim, if its not too ceased that should get'r'done (o; ts of wd 40 beforehand to get it as loose as possible.

[breakfree]

Those are pretty good ideas actually... i never thought of using a chisel... any suggestions on what to use instead of a crank remover/puller???

[radiorental]

search back in instructables, I think Dan posted some details on this If you can get any bite with cold chisel try putting a clamp on first and whack the clamp bolt

[britman]

i paint bikes all the time all iuse is rattle cans from walmart only about a buck a can for paint and clearcoat and cos it gets hot here in st louis my garage gets hot and it drys the paint fast and when its done go to a sign shop and you can get most of the stickers on the bike redone for a small price i take photos and it makes the bike look alot better

[Ranger63]

I just touched up a vintage leTour tourist with custom mixed enamel from Sherwin Williams auto devision. Anyone got any ideas on a good rattle can clear coat for enamel finishes. The gal at SW didn't think the enamel needed a clearcoat but clearcoat is what brings out the depth and shine (imho)and with the orig. decals in place and in good shape I certainly don't want to risk color sanding without several coats of clear coat. fwiw The touch up spray matched the spicy chestnut (origional schwinn)color to a 'T'. Not sure if PPG offers custom touch up in rattle cans but Sherwin Williams does (about$13. a 7.6oz can)

[skasbait]

this all sounds ok- but how long does this paint last? I've heard not so great reports about spray paint.

[neoJunk]

I did this to an old Stumpjumper I had. I used color changing auto paint. It's metallic green from one angle and gold from another- sweet. The only problem I've encountered is the clear coat chipping off. I painted the frame in the middle of a hot and humid Virginia summer so the humidity might have been a problem. Next time I'll try a heat gun and some higher quality clear coat. To get the crank off I went down to the local bike shop and gave 'um a few bucks to pop that sucker off.

[bellaflor7]

I scratched off the clear coat of my bicycle with a rough sponge and I don’t know what clear coat to add on it. It is really nice paint. Do you have any suggestions?

[Zep]

Good instructions but I have one problem. How do I remove the crank?

[Ohm]

I used plasticoke from an auto parts store, it seems to hold up good. I think any good brand well work just fine and the more you spend on preping the bike the better it well be.