Can I repaint a stem?

[Bradford]

A few previous threads have me thinking. I hate black and I don’t like all the writing on stems, so I was wondering, can I paint a stem? It seems with people like Musgravecycles and BlastinBob, we have some expertise on paint.

I have a Newton that I’d love to paint something other than black. If so, what is involved: chemical stripping? sand blasting? What prep would be needed? Can I just get some nice PPG paint somewhere? What about clear coat? Would I need an airbrush?

Is this something that bike painters do, and if so, how much do you think it would cost?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . to match the yellow on my frame. Serotta quoted me $100 to do it, so got the PPG paint matched at the local auto body & paint store. Look in the yellow pages. Mine mixed me a pint of paint and filled a couple of spray cans for about $35.

You'll need to sand the present paint lightly with some fine grit paper to get the logo off so it doesn't show through, then primer and paint. Use several light, thin coats rather than one thick one. The thicker you spray it on at one time, the more chance it will run and look bad. Don't hurry. Give it 24 hours to dry between coats.

Be careful to get matching primer at the paint store! If you by chance mix enamel primer with laquer paint, or vice versa, it will crackle and look awful! Mask off the inside of the handelbar and steerer tube clamp areas carefully. You can clear coat the whole thing if you want, or if you want protection for any extra decals you put on, but be sure to get compatible paint for that, too!

BBDave

[Dave]

A stem's just a hunk of alumimnum. The amount of work involved depends on how fancy you want to get. I wanted a high gloss black stem to go with the high gloss black head tube of my Jalabert edition LOOK, so I just sanded the writing off, applied a couple of coats of sandable spray-can primer, sanded a bit more with 400 grit, then applied several coats of spray can black lacquer.

Lacquer isn't the most durable paint, but it's cheap and easily repaired.

You could have a stem powder coated or painted with any of the modern urethane paints. Urethanes are quite expensive however. Most bike painters don't charge a lot extra to paint a stem when painting a bike, but to just paint a stem from scratch might be a bit pricey.

Here's a place that sells urethane paint kits, but $60 for a 1/2 pint kit is a lot compared to cheap spray cans.

http://www.cyclecolor.com/order_paint_here.htm

[Marron]

A few previous threads have me thinking. I hate black and I don’t like all the writing on stems, so I was wondering, can I paint a stem? It seems with people like Musgravecycles and BlastinBob, we have some expertise on paint.

I have a Newton that I’d love to paint something other than black. If so, what is involved: chemical stripping? sand blasting? What prep would be needed? Can I just get some nice PPG paint somewhere? What about clear coat? Would I need an airbrush?

Is this something that bike painters do, and if so, how much do you think it would cost?

Any advice would be appreciated.

One of the kids working at my LBS powdercoated a couple of Salsa stems for me. He had access to the equipment at his HS shop and charged $20 a piece. They came out looking just like salsa stems in blue and white. You might not get as good a deal, but I suspect that a local powdercoating shop would charge much less than $100 for just the finish.

[dirtdigger88]

Many years ago I had the lower legs of my Rock Shox powder coated they came out great- never scratched to color off in all kinds of trail riding

Jason

[Jeff N.]

Send your stem to Joe Bell (JB) in San Diego (619)469-4312. He has custom painted many stems and forks for me over the years, and for a stem he usually charges me 75 bucks. He can apply decals( see one I have on EBAY now)after the color coat and "bury" them under clear coat or whatever you want. His work is absolutely SECOND TO NONE! Consistently flawless and worth whatever he charges. Trust me on this. I'm lucky that I have him close by and walk right into his shop. He chuckles when I come in..."What...another stem?" Jeff N.