Road Bike - Paint

This was an experiment with DIY painting with rattle-cans (and perhaps the value and place for a professional finish).   This is not meant to be my rattle-can success story, or recommendation for the method, just what I did, and how it worked (and didn't).

First I used Duplicolor grease and wax remover on a rag.  This may have been a mistake.  There were a few places where I got paint on the rag.  I wasn't prepared to sand down to bare metal, so I just wiped with a rag once dry, and proceeded.


For primer I used Duplicolor etching primer, and Duplicolor high-build primer.

The etching primer because there were some bare spots, but I ended up coating the whole frame...  After the etching primer (I used the whole can, with about 5 minutes between re-coats), I sanded with 400 grit, and again cleaned with the degreaser.  After the high-build primer I didn't sand.  I kind of liked the flat/coarse texture, so I decided to leave it.

For the top coat, I used a can or Rust-Oleum flat white, covered with Rust-Oleum Pearl Mist (can't find a pic of this).

I really like the look.  It's kind of shimmery, not as "clear" or "fine" as the pearl white on my Toyota van - it's kind of creamy silvery...  There are a few spots with small runs, a few spots with some rough texture to the finish, and a few spots where dust is in the paint.  If someone is interested I'll give some thought to what I. could have done better.  For me, my tests are:

1. Does it look better from a distance:  Yes!
2. Does it look better up close:  Yes!

I didn't like the old paint, so from a distance wasn't hard.  Up close, my few scratches, drips, rough spots, etc. are better than the scratches, peeling stickers, etc. that preceded them.

Bike Light - Concept

Related Posts:

• Bike Light - Experience
• Bike Light - Assembly
• Bike Light - Parts

Going to build a approx. 10 W LED (ridiculously bright) light for my bike.  Interesting, and perhaps unique features of my light:

1. Strong thermal connection between LED/Driver, entire housing, AND bike.  Most lights don't seem to take advantage of the fact that the bike can sink some heat too - using plastic mounts, not-very-conductive-looking paths to the mount.  Face-plate and upper bar-clamp will be 1 piece aluminum (2" square bar or 2" hex bar).
2. Uses recycled (free) Northbridge (from a PC motherboard) heat-sink, that packs a lot of fin area in a lightweight package (>20 sq. in, 1-5/8"x1-5/8"x1", <40 g).
3. Should be easily machined with access to files, band-saw and drill-press (so, no lathe or mill required)

Here's a concept sketch, a picture of the LED/Driver module I've ordered, and a picture of a Northbridge heat-sink:

Source:  Lux-RC Labs

Road Bike

Faithful readers who followed the S.U.B. bike build know that I have a racy Dolan cyclo-cross frame set aside.

It seems to be a nice frame.  It weighs 3.0 lbs (60cm), has a couple of non-round tubes - top tube is round at head tube and morphs to elliptical (wider than thick) at seat-post, down-tube is tear-drop-ish with reinforcement at the head tube.  I understand some/all of the tubes are double-butted, but that's not something I can see...  What I read about it suggests I have a pretty stiff and light frame.  To carry on this theme, I plan to spend a little extra here and there to keep things light - not so much that it will make me faster, but it seems to fit the frame's purpose.  

I started looking into forks, and choices seem to be (with brake bosses, 700c):

• Steel (lugged or welded), around $100, 2-2.5 lbs
• Carbon with aluminum steerer tube, over $200, 1.5-2 lbs
• Carbon with carbon steerer, over $300, around 1 lb

I really like Ritchey stuff, but it's expensive, so I "referenced" their forks when looking for something more value priced.  I was about resigned to postponing this build a few months while I saved for and/or justified over $200 for a fork that "fit the frame", and then thought I'd check ebay.  I found a new 2010 Ritchey Comp Carbon Cross Fork for $140 (1.5 lb), with free shipping - that's about 2/3 of retail, and too good to pass up.  

The paint job on this bike is awfully busy, fancy, and too much like my mountain bike (similar colors).  There are also a few nicks and scratches.  So, I got out the sand-paper, steel wool, and elbow grease (although I found a picture of a product called "Elbow Grease" I didn't actually buy or use this - apparently it's a "personal lubricant").

Now the frame looks like this:

Logos are off, scratches are gone, and the whole frame is 400 grit smooth.  Next I'll have to prime, and then paint.  I'm undecided on the paint, so any ideas are welcome.  To get the juices flowing, here's the ideas I have so far:

• School bus yellow, leave the fork black (maybe with black bands on the down-tube and/or seat tube)
• White, leave the fork black, with "Bicycle" on the down-tube
• Black
• Brown metal flake with black candy 
• School bus yellow base, yellow metal flake, red candy