Painting kids' bikes the cheapest way
Pat
kids' bikes for the Bikes for Tykes program. Now that I have them, I want
them to look exceptional when I turn them back in to the program. These
bikes look like they have never been in a garage---their entire life being
spent on their sides in the gravel. Not only is the paint scratched to the
max, but it is faded, as well. I want to paint them but I am cheap, so what
is the solution? Krylon paint is expensive when you think about it....how
about enamel house paint? Would that work? I thought I would buy a quart of
shiny black paint and go to it, but then I wondered, "Will this actually
work?"
Anybody have any experience in this area?
thanks,
Pat
Zoot Katz
<105x7.6168$7B1.3...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net>,
"Pat" <sylda...@SPAMyahoo.com> wrote:
I'd opt for a paint formulated for painting metal.
Rustoleum or Trem-Clad rust paints.
--
zk
NYRides
steady supply of brand new frames from various manufacturers out here in NY for
the past several years. As colors or styles go out of fashion, the
manufacturers often trash them - but would rather give them to you. Give it a
shot if there's a manufacturere or distributor in your area. Painting is not a
feasible option, in my opinion.
Low-Impact, Off-Road New York Rides
http://members.aol.com/nyrides
B. Sanders
great. You could also brush it on - it looks pretty good that way, too.
I fixed-up a bunch of bikes and donated them to a local orphanage and a
men's shelter a couple of years ago. I used metallic aluminum spray paint.
I prepped the areas to be painted with steel wool and some paint thinner to
get the grease off, let it dry and sprayed the paint right over everything.
I only masked off the tires and wheels. The bikes looked great! Total time
needed per bike: about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. For chrome-plated parts and
raw aluminum parts, I just scrubbed them with 00 and 000 grade steel wool.
Works perfectly - just a few minutes of scrubbing makes the parts shine like
new. It's amazing what half an hour, a $2 can of aluminum paint and a pad
of 00 steel wool can do for an abused bike.
Don't worry about painting over components - the aluminum paint blends right
in with the color of aluminum components. It sticks to anything. If you're
going to replace cable housings anyway, just paint the bike before you
replace the housings.
By not disassembling the bikes before painting, you can fix-up a lot more of
them for reasonable cost and time expenditure. Unless the recipients are
extremely picky, they'll think the shiny silver bikes are great.
Hope this helps.
B
"Pat" <sylda...@SPAMyahoo.com> wrote in message
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Zoot Katz
<kA6x7.51620$My2.26...@news1.mntp1.il.home.com>,
"B. Sanders" <bsand...@home.com> wrote, in part:
>I used metallic aluminum spray paint.
>I prepped the areas to be painted with steel wool and some paint thinner to
>get the grease off, let it dry and sprayed the paint right over everything.
>I only masked off the tires and wheels. The bikes looked great!
I saw one of those except the painter didn't bother removing the wheels.
Even the tires were silver. "Great" is debatable though I'll admit it
did look "silver".
--
zk
Andrew Fish
wrote:
<text deleted>
>
>max, but it is faded, as well. I want to paint them but I am cheap, so what
>is the solution? Krylon paint is expensive when you think about it....
You might try going to your local mega hardware store (Home Depot,
etc.) and asking for a donation. Tell them what your are doing and
there is a good chance that they'll donate the paint to you. A lot of
the Eagle Scout candidates that have volunteered to do projects for my
employer have done this. They typically get a good donation.
Just a thought.
Andrew Fish
Pat
Thanks everybody. When I think about it, the shiny aluminum does probably
look better to a kid than shiny black. I'll try the other tips, too.
Pat
buck
paints in good shape takes quite a bit more work than Krylon. It's best to
remove all the hardware, including the bottom bracket and headset cups,
before you start roughing up the old paint. Hang it from the garage ceiling
with an eyehook and an old wire coat hanger bent to hook through the head
tube. You could even hang some plastic drop cloths for a makeshift paint
booth if you were really worried about overspray. All in all, it shouldn't
take too long to finish a couple of kids bikes.
Good luck!
-Buck
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B. Sanders
"Zoot Katz" <zoot...@operamail.com> wrote in message
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Yeah, it's definitely a trade-off. I've even painted a couple of bikes
without masking anything. They turned out surprisingly well. There was a
little bit of overspray here and there; but not bad overall.
I look at it this way: Very few people would even fix up bikes for
charities. Asking them to completely refurbish a bike (including stripping
all components and properly repainting the frame) further limits the number
of bikes that will get put to good use almost to zero. So one has to be
scrappy and do the best you can without going overboard on time and money.
Pulling loose the cables and masking them, masking tires, wheels,
saddle/post, handlebars, cranks/chain, etc is about the best one can ask
for. The rest gets painted. A bit of overspray here and there is probably
not going to be noticed much. With aluminum paint, a brush can be used for
the detailed areas that are hard to get with a spray can.
B
B. Sanders
news:9q4hln$cpb$1...@news.tamu.edu...
> Stick with the Krylon paints for kids bikes. To get the automotive
touch-up
> paints in good shape takes quite a bit more work than Krylon. It's best to
> remove all the hardware, including the bottom bracket and headset cups,
> before you start roughing up the old paint. Hang it from the garage
ceiling
> with an eyehook and an old wire coat hanger bent to hook through the head
> tube. You could even hang some plastic drop cloths for a makeshift paint
> booth if you were really worried about overspray. All in all, it shouldn't
> take too long to finish a couple of kids bikes
Buck, your heart is in the right place; but do you really think someone
should spend what will inevitably turn into a full day's work or more to
refurbish a rusty, abused cheap-quality bike to be given to charity? When I
had a basement full of (mostly cheap) discarded bikes ready to refurbish a
few years ago, I pondered this. I reached the conclusion that it was better
for all of the bikes to be given away after a few marathon days of work than
for me to never be able to get to them because of my own picky aesthetic
requirements. I noticed that many college students here in town had painted
their bikes all over with one color of spray paint. I realized that, while
certainly not ideal, such an approach would produce decent results in
minimal time. Avoiding stripping paint and components was the biggest
factor in the refurb process. Most of the bikes got no paint touch-ups,
only steel wool treatment to remove rust. I'd like to have done a better
job; but it's just not practical when you have 10+ bikes to get through.
B
buck
repainted several bikes and given them away. I've also sold a couple. I
believe that if you are going to give a kid a bike, it's better for it to be
something to be proud of instead of looking like someone else's garbage. I
believe this pride will carry over later in life and keep the kid cycling. I
might feel differently if I were doing 10 at a time. As it is, I still look
for the fastest way to do it and still achieve the best results. For frames,
I use a sanding "flap wheel" for a drill and strip the frame to the bare
metal. This gets me through the paint quickly and removes any rust. For nice
bikes, I shoot a primer, then alternate sanding and finish coats. For
"charity" bikes, I just use a couple coats of Krylon and call it good. Let
it dry, clean the parts, regrease, and reassemble, replacing broken parts as
needed. For charity bikes, it's a few evenings of work. For nicer bikes,
I'll spend a few weeks. If you do this as a hobby, it really isn't much
work. If you are doing just to get rid of bikes, it can be a real pain in
the patoot.
-Buck
"B. Sanders" <bsand...@home.com> wrote in message
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