Spray.Bike and other paint methods

[easyE]

Originally Posted by gngroup

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Beautiful bike! Love the green sparkle touch, great call.

[easyE]

Just painted my fork with spray.bike. Pretty happy with how it turned out! I thought the light blue would be a little closer to the blue accents on the frame, but that's cool. Totally unique! Fun process too. Highly recommended.

[johnniecakes]

Originally Posted by easyE

Just painted my fork with spray.bike. Pretty happy with how it turned out! I thought the light blue would be a little closer to the blue accents on the frame, but that's cool. Totally unique! Fun process too. Highly recommended.

Pics?

[doomridesout]

There's a local auto refinish place that will put auto paint in a rattle can for you- thoughts on pros/cons for doing this versus spray.bike?

[unterhausen]

make sure you understand the safety implications of the auto paint, particularly if that includes a clear coat

[ultraman6970]

I tihnk I have to step on this one...

The paint the guy will put in the can will be a lot better than other thing you can get in the market, never used that bike paint so cant tell about that one but doubt will be closer to even the worst of the polyurethane paint in the market. So if somebody wants to send me a can of that bike paint to test... that would be cool...

Now the bad part... polyurethane is a 2 part paint.. the paint and the activator, the can will have (i'm assuming things here because theres's more than one canned polyurethane ok?) or might have like a tab under it, you click the tab and the activator (hardener) will mix with the paint leaving you maybe a window of 24 hours to use that can, after that the paint will start getting harder or drying if you want to think it in that way. Polyurethane doesnt need ait to dry and cure, it does it chemically.

So if you know sort of how much paint you need and you have no compressor or a gun the canned paint is a good option.

Hope this helps.

ps: forgot this... you will need to get the same paint in clear coat, dont dare to put rustoleum clear coat on top of polyurethane because the paint will start bubbling because the polyurethane will try to gas out and the rustoleum stuff doesnt have porous, the gas will try to escape and will start bubbbling big time.

Originally Posted by doomridesout

There's a local auto refinish place that will put auto paint in a rattle can for you- thoughts on pros/cons for doing this versus spray.bike?

[papa bless]

I can share some experience with spray.bike paint, as I've done two frames with it. One frame I stripped the original paint before repainting it, and the other frame I just painted right over the original paint.

I had an old Ciocc that was beat, so I stripped it, primered it, and used close to three cans of spray.bike paint. Then I applied some Kierin sparkle spray.bike clear coat, then some SprayMax 2k automotive clearcoat. In my experience, I had some pretty bad durability issues. It seemed like the paint didn't bond well to the steel of my frame, and I could almost scrape it off with my fingernails. After about a year, there were scratches all over it, and the bare metal started to rust. It was a good learning experience. I wasn't disappointed that the paint didn't hold up, I was just happy with the learning that came with it.

The second frame was a Crosscheck that I bought on Craigslist. It had some dents and scratches, and I used the spray.bike framebuilder's putty to fill the scratches in before painting. Then I just sprayed the frame, and didn't use any clearcoat. To my surprise, it held up surprisingly well. I could scrub the bike down after cross races without any damage, throw it the back of my car, lock it up to railings and bike racks, and generally abuse it. After a year there was hardly any damage.

If you're going to use this paint, be sure that it bonds to your frame. I don't think I primered my first job correctly, or I did something else wrong. I know the Squid Bikes team has all their raw aluminum frames painted with spray.bike paint, and their bikes look crisp in all of their photos.

One other thing to note: the spray distance is critical. If you hold the can too far away from your bike, the paint dries before it reaches the frame, and you get a very textured finish (almost like sawdust is stuck under the paint). I had to do some serious sanding before I learned that I needed to spray closer than I would with Krylon or other department store paint.

Feel free to ask me for tips. I didn't do a perfect job, but I learned from the vast amount of mistakes I made, so maybe I can save you from making them.

[ultraman6970]

The reason the "paint over" held was because the base paint had been there like since forever... the older the paint job the better base for the new paint job the issue is that you can do that in a car or in a monocoque carbon frame but in steel if you add 2 more coats to a bike the paint job will look like powder coating.... but resuming the reason was the old paint that was under it.

As for the 1st paint job, well a lot of things could be going on, since the primer did not work too well then the metal probably was not sanded good enough, some primers are stickier than other ones tho. Hard to tell what happened.

Either way, primer choice is a must but with this bike stuff paint who knows, the other detail is curing... those can paints dry and cure by air and they take a very long time to cure if the paint is not cured the thing will nick super easy.

Wonder if a polyester primer could have worked better than the one they sell....

[TREEfool]

I have been waiting for somebody to do a proper write-up and durability test of spray.bike

I wanted to repaint a gravel bike but after emailing them and asking about durability from getting pelted by rocks I decided to just try some spray paint that I found a locally. After a lot of prep work I was impressed with the results and I saved quite a lot of money over the spray. Bike stuff. I have some chipping in a few spots which doesn't bother me much because a bike is meant to get scratched up but if somebody can prove to me that spray. Bike stuff is more durable I will use it for my next paint job.

[Doug Fattic]

If I wasn't already a professional painter and wanted to paint a frame without all my fancy equipment, (but still know what I know), I would find a local automotive paint supplier that sells Spray Max. It has already been talked about on this thread. This is a product where the local store puts into a Spray Max aerosol can the 2 part epoxy paint that you choose that they already sell. There is a button on the bottom of the can that you push to place the activator into the paint. Of course once activated there is a window of time before it hardens by chemical action (it doesn't air dry).

I would use House of Kolor Paint. I would use the primer color (it is available in 6 colors that can be mixed for any number of variations) that is similar to the top coat color unless for effect it needs to be black or white. I would need to work fast so after sanding the primer I could apply another coat to act like a sealer. Next I would spray probably 3 coats of one of the many Shimrin Kolors (the 1st initial of the name of the creator of the brand started with a K). And finally my 3rd can of Spray Max would be the final polyurethane clear. I wold spray at least 2 coats.

There has already been a discussion of using Spray Max on a subject thread on Paceline a year or more ago. Several Paceliners had decent success with this product.

[ultraman6970]

Never used Spray max but just from the comments and content of the can worth the money spent, the other secret could be the nozzle in those cans, I imagine sprays really close to a spray gun.

I've had mixed results using the preval thing, the issue with those units is that the pressure and the nozzles arent all the same, some cans come with less pressure than others, same the darn nozzles but if you dont have a spray gun and is not that much what needs to be sprayed the preval units arent a bad idea compared to rustoleum POS stuff.

Rustoleum has a paint line for Cars... please dont paint with that Ever.!!! OK?.. the paint is like a latex type of paint, never understood why they put that POS in the market.

[joosttx]

I bought some spray.bike and did some masking over regular gold rattle can and some fades on my daughter's bike. I had to do it twice because the first time I held the can too far away and the paint dried before it got to the frame leaving a powdery mess on the frame. The second time is turned out great except I used a sparkle gold clear which frankly made it look a little dirty. It is not as good as a powder coat but it is much better and easier to work with than a rattle can. Here are the results.

[duff_duffy]

Looks great! Bike of the day in my opinion. getting inspired to paint my kids bikes now...

Originally Posted by joosttx

I bought some spray.bike and did some masking over regular gold rattle can and some fades on my daughter's bike. I had to do it twice because the first time I held the can too far away and the paint dried before it got to the frame leaving a powdery mess on the frame. The second time is turned out great except I used a sparkle gold clear which frankly made it look a little dirty. It is not as good as a powder coat but it is much better and easier to work with than a rattle can. Here are the results.

[ultraman6970]

I have to agree, looks great...

You have to keep us posted with the durability of the paint...

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by ultraman6970

I have to agree, looks great...

You have to keep us posted with the durability of the paint...

Will do. She is dropping the bike about every time she stops so it’ll be a good test