painting my bike seat

[dixiesdad]

So... the check has been sent for the Pegoretti Marcelo Baci which is the one that looks like it has been vandalized at a inner city playground. (alot of good spray paint and grafitti.) I am getting the fizik seat with a white leather base and the red stipe down the middle but wanted to have a local artist put on the black marks like the frame. Any suggestions on what to use to accomplish this?

[mike p]

I don't think anything you apply to the seat will last for long if you ride the bike much. I've seen carbon shell saddles like the flite evolutions painted but I think it's just done mainly for shows. If there ridden it's going to come off.

Mike

[chuckred]

Go for the real thing and let the seat display the effects of long serious rides!

[AndrewS]

You could mask it and see if a shoe repair guy could dye some spots on it. Leather die is how the seat got the red stripe in the first place.

[martinrjensen]

Unless the saddle is leather, it's pretty unlikely leather dye will stick. I know because I used leather dye on my Fizik Alanti thigh pads. The dye does stick somewhat, but need refreshing every few trips (I changed the color from yellow to brown). I moved the saddle over to a different bike (my winter rain bike) where aesthetics are of lower importance and don't bother with it any more. I don't know what the material is on the saddle you have but if it's the Fizik "microfiber" material, then I can tell you the results to expect. For changing the thigh pad colors, it's passable as long as you don't mind a little maintenance once in a while, but for adding a complete color, I am a little skeptical.
I think you are out of luck unless you have a complete new saddle cover made for the frame by a leather maker. I'm thinking they should be able to do that but I'm betting it would be pretty expensive, several hundred dollars I would think.
You could mask it and see if a shoe repair guy could dye some spots on it. Leather die is how the seat got the red stripe in the first place.

[AndrewS]

I keep forgetting that nothing that looks like leather is these days. Sorry, my bad.

[mosca]

You can get vinyl spray paint at most auto parts stores that is used to refinish vinyl car seats. It's really durable stuff, but please test it on something else so I don't feel like I've helped you ruin your beautiful new saddle...

[that guy]

.... and ruin whatever shorts you're wearing. :crap:

[mosca]

.... and ruin whatever shorts you're wearing. :crap:Ya gotta let it dry first... :rolleyes:

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . of El Marko marker and have at it. The ink may not last forever, but neither will anything you have a "pro" apply to it, either . . .

BBD

[that guy]

I'm just saying, even if it is dry, that paint/sharpie/whatever is going to rub off on whatever you're wearing.

There is a reason you've never heard of anyone doing this.

If you really want to change it, you can probably find an upholstery shop to recover the saddle.

[mosca]

The vinyl paint is not going to rub off on your shorts. Did you read the part about how it's used for car seats? It's basically a sprayable, air-drying form of the plastisol inks used for screen printing.

I would be more concerned about how well it would adhere to the saddle material, and how well you could mask the boundaries. Some testing would definitely be required.

Personally I think that seat/frame combo would look plenty hot without additional graphics, but I'm always up for a good experiment. :)