Cycling Adventurer: How To... Paint a bike frame

The Cycling Adventurer
How To...	Paint a Bike Frame — Intro

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The satisfaction of reviving an old bicycle

Stripping down an old bike frame and refurbishing it with a new paint job is very satisfying. The painting can be done without specialised equipment such as spray guns and compressors, sand or bead blasters, powdercoaters, or expensive automotive two-part paints (which tend to be too fragile in a cycling environment, anyway).

In fact, very good, durable results can be obtained with off-the-shelf spray cans of coloured and clear enamels.

I gained some spray painting experience back in the 1980s when I built two rally cars and spray painted them both from sandblasted bare metal. I achieved quite good finishes, even if I do say so myself. But I did learn, too, that paint and thinners are a pretty bad combination to inhale, so any warnings about wearing protective gear such as paint masks should be considered seriously when using them.

I have painted a couple of bicycles over recent years. The first was an old steel lugged mountain bike frame that I painted yellow. It was not a great job, but it was enough to make the bike look distinctive. I also found out that what others had stated would happen — yellow is very difficult spray evenly and to achieve depth.

The Mongoose MTB reborn into my "Cycosys" livery.

The handlebars and stem were refurbished; the bar extensions and grips were new.

The second bike was another MTB frame, this time retrieved from a tip (rubbish dump) shop in Hobart. It was an early Mongoose Cro-Mo frame with Shimano Deore bits hanging off it.

The top tube had a slight dent and the frame a small twist that I cold set (with some difficulty, I might add). Because the frame was Cro-Mo steel, I had no qualms about the strength of the top tube with the dent, so I filled it with solder and finished with some bodyfiller.

I used the cheapest spray paint I could find, under the Export brand, from Chickenfeed, an Australian equivalent of the North America dollar store (which means the paint cans cost AUD$2). After final coats with clear paint, it came up a treat, as you can see by the pictures.

I lent the bike to someone who was a little less than careful with it over the 12 months she had it. The paintwork stood up reasonably well, even after saltwater was dripped over it (from a triathlon). An area under the top tube was the most worn, from being loaded on to the rack on the back of a vehicle. I am not sure whether a professionally painted bike would have survived any better.

I started another project with an old department store bike that I want to build into a fixed gear. I will post photographs as the project progresses. But the priority has bee the refurbishment of an old child's tricycle, and I have used it to demonstrate the step-by-step progression to a good paint job.

So, here is what I have learned about painting bike frames as a do-it-yourselfer and with spray cans.

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