Bike painters

[Jeff Weir]

It's about time to repaint my Colorado II...pink and orange are getting a bit tough to look at! I'd like to get a high qualtiy, one color job. Any suggestions regarding painters that aren't quite as pricey as Joe Bell? Or, is it a case of "you get what you pay for."

Thanks in advance,
Jeff

[dnovo]

You get what you pay for. Joe Bell is worth everything he asks for, and then some. If you don't want to go there, try Cycle Fantasy, who does the work for Dave Kirk. Very nicely done as well. Dave N.

[Dude]

Just know that repainting a Serotta at somewhere other than Serotta will void the warranty. On something like an old Col. II that may not concern you but just wanted let you know.

[djg]

are very capable, experienced folks who do sound work for less. I'm not saying that you don't get something extra with, e.g., Joe Bell, or that you shouldn't value that something extra. But there are lots of choices out there that, while maybe not the best, are still very professional.

I shopped around a bit when repainting my CSi (bought used, and, sorry folks, but my number two if nonetheless well appreciated bike). I ended up using a Michigan framebuilder named Matt Assenmacher whom I'd heard of years ago when I was living in Chicago. He did a nice job. Sky blue frame. Contrasting head tube and seat tube panel in deep blue. Hand sanding and painting of a new ouzo pro fork to match. Decals and clear coat. And the whole deal, including shipping (prep, removal of the headset b/c I didn't have the tool, etc.), was less than Serotta's charge for a single color on the frame alone. It looks good.

I've also heard good things about the color factory, northeast custom color, and some other places--although I haven't used them.

[gt6267a]

a while back, i was going to buy an older serotta to use as a rain / nasty weather bike. I was going to have it repainted. it did not work out, but i was seriously considering powder coating. not sure what your use is for the bike, but you might consider the powder. it is much tougher than paint and less likely to chip.

one downside is the logos designed for paint are not able to handle the temperatures used in powder coating(heat tolerant logos are made, but not for Serotta). therefore, they are applied on top of a clear coat(powder clear). i am told this works well, but i have no experiences.

the most highly recommended company was http://www.spectrumpowderworks.com/ as a reference they are used by anvil bikes.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . considered sacrilege, but don't ignore the possibilities available with local auto body painters. Your local shop may be able to do a great job on a one-color (or even more) job, with high quality paints, at very reasonable cost, and there is no shipping involved.

I am considering doing this with my '95 Fisher mtb . . . get custom decals from a place I found out west (victorycirclegraphics.com), and then put the decals on myself between the paint and clear coat phases.

BBDave

[Bruce K]

There was a custom painter displaying his wares at the Ride for the Roses Expo. I think his primary focus was motorcycles, but the bike he had on display were eye-catching.

AMAZING paint schemes (flames, barbed wire, clouds, etc.) for what seemed to be pretty reasonable prices.

He was even showing a Cannondale with painted logos in metallic colors.

I will try to dig out his business card and get you his website.

BK

[Bruce K]

How about checking with Hot Tubes?

I think they are not too far away from you and their pricing does not seem astronomical.

BK

[mef]

I'm very happy with the paint job on my custom bike. My friend, Pat Barron owns Sofa King Bikes and here is the link to his website & photo gallery. My bike is the steel lugged ERO. I'm sure he could tell you who he uses to paint his bikes.

http://chainwheel.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=340

[woolly]

They did the "New Cosmic Blue" that's on my Anvil Chisel in the Custom Bikes image gallery. It has the heat-tolerant graphics under powder-coat clear. It's truly amazing what they can do with powdercoating these days, and I've been very impressed with how incredibly durable it is.

For a lugged bike, I personally do see one downside to powdercoating - the thickness of the powder can make the "lines" around the lugs appear somewhat less "crisp".

As always, YMMV.

- Chris

[bulliedawg]

These guys have a good reputation down here in the southland:

http://www.koolbikes.com/

[PaulE]

The first time the frame was painted at the same time and the same color as my car was being repainted. The second time the same frame was being repainted by itself. In both instances, the frame came out with some runs, and this was from a pretty good body shop.

I'm sure some guys can do it, but it's a lot different spraying big body panels and whole cars than it is to evenly spray all the way around those long tiny tubes without missing spots or putting on too much paint and getting drippy runs, especially if it's not the kind of painting you are set up to do and you don't do a lot of it. If there's a local paint shop that specializes in repainting motorcycle frames, they may be a better choice.

I would check out the classifieds in Velo News and find a frame painter that fit my budget and quality requirements.

[csb]

Since you are in CT you might wanna call Peter Weigle
(JPWeigle). He repainted an old Serotta of mine.
That was years ago so I can not say if he still paints
'others' frames.
Tom Kellogg over at Spectrum-Cycles in PA paints
beautifully and sprays 'others' frames.

regardez

[shinomaster]

On the west coast go to acme paint in POrtland OR. He paints Vanilla bikes after all. ANd we know what those look like!

[oracle]

do they paint the wiley coyote's bicycles as well?

[shinomaster]

no..just the road runners!:beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:

[IFRider]

I have seen a couple of D+D paint jobs and they are top notch. Not Joe Bell but very nice indeed. I know Rivendell has a reference to using them for a repair on an Atlantis, so they can hook you up with them. They were the painter for Fat Chance bikes for quite sometime.

On using auto body painters. I know when I was looking a couple of years back I asked in some forums. The big warning was around painting tubes vs. flat areas and the thinness of bike tubing being damages during sandblasting. Not sure if those are really valid reasons though, I ended up using Waterford as it was an older Paramount I was getting painted.

Warren