Repaints

[Buck Flagg]

Hello, group! Help needed!

I am getting to the point with my RivBike that I will soon be needing a repaint. My fifteen year-old Rambouillet is a four-season commuter with around 55K miles on it, 99% racked up on NYC streets and bike lanes. With all that, not to mention daily chaining to a bike rack, it would be impossible to maintain a frame in pristine condition but now my periodic inspections are starting to turn up evidence of corrosion causing wee blisters in the original paint in a few places.

The Rivendell website page on repaints lists a couple of shops in CA and Waterford.

Anyone here have any wisdom/experience/opinions on this subject they'd care to offer regarding these or any other paint shops? Ideally, I'd love to find someone with mad skilz in the greater NYC area who has experience with the Rivendell product and access to the Rivendell decals.

Very grateful, in advance, for any help!

[Roberta]

Wow, 55k miles in NYC and it hasn't been stolen?  What is your secret?

Bilenky in Philadelphia.  Never did work with them, but they have a great reputation.  https://www.bilenky.com/

[Joe Bernard]

Is Hot Tubes in Mass. close enough? They've been doing custom paint a long time and Mike Flanigan (ANT Bikes) works there, he's a Riv guy who would know the vibe of these bikes. Hopefully RBW still has decals they can source. 

https://www.hottubes.com/

Joe Bernard

[Michael Morrissey]

That’s impressive. You could ask Johnny Coast. He is in Brooklyn. 

On Monday, April 12, 2021 at 3:20:23 PM UTC-4 Buck Flagg wrote:

[Paul Brodek]

If Johnny Coast in Brooklyn isn't doing resprays, he should be good for leads. Great builder, swell guy, can't imagine he wouldn't be helpful w/recs if he's not doing that work.

On the Jersey side, Bruce Risley at the Color Factory in Waretown, NJ, "down the shore" as we say in Jersey, has been painting for decades and has a great rep for excellent work at reasonable prices. He doesn't have a lot of web presence, but will email you price sheets and color swatches and stuff.

I've also seen happy reports from Chelsea Bicycles in Union City, NJ. Chelsea used to have a NYC location, in Chelsea, natch, but they closed that and are in Union City now. Supposedly they do their own paint.

A little further north, I think Carl S. at Vicious Cycles in New Paltz, NY is still doing resprays. Last time I peeked his website info looked a little dated, might be worth both a google and a call. 

FWIW, I can't think of much unique to Riv that would favor a painter with previous Riv painting experience. Rivs are steel tubes, sometimes lugs, sometimes welds, nothing really different from other traditional steel frames. The double top tube frames are probably more of a pain, but anybody who's been painting for a while has done tandems and mixtes, and they can have a whole lot more tubes to cover.

I don't know what Grant does about decals, whether he stocks/sells them to painters/anybody, only specific painters, etc. There might be repro decals available. Painters oughta be able to tell you what they can/can't source.

Good luck, let us know how it goes, and before/after photos would be fun to see!

Paul Brodek

Hillsdale, NJ USA

On Monday, April 12, 2021 at 3:20:23 PM UTC-4 Buck Flagg wrote:

[Joe Bernard]

It's the decals that would have me looking for a painter familiar with the Riv aesthetic. I've seen video of Rick Stefani putting a cream panel on a seattube and it's quite astonishing to watch him eye it and then nail it in exactly the right spot. That guy knows his stuff. 

Joe Bernard

[ascpgh]

Michael M. and Paul B. stole my thunder. I was also going to aim you toward Johnny Coast and Coast Cycles too, not because he paints but because the painter he uses has done some really nice work and he may be able to help you with your reshoot with some sense of budget.

I have an Orange Rambouillet that was repainted once by Josh Bell after warranty replacement of rear dropouts (DS cracked, RIv replaced both) in the first couple of years that included a cross country ride. When my rear brake bridge came unbrazed I got it repaired but artfully rattle canned the affected area with the contrast color, introducing a non-stock panel on the stays.  Pricing from Joe Bell and estimates from several list members lead me to seeding the step into a custom which Johnny built. I've been to his shop, My friend and I manned he and Brian Chapman's booth at the last Philly Bike Expo while Brad Quartuccio photographed them with their show bikes. I got to see lots of details up close and the Coast paints, especially metallics were eye candy. The lavender and green ones were really alluring under the lights. 

Part of why my wife and our friend chose the French Vanilla color of my Coast when we were all in his shop was the ease of any future reshoot. The orange Rambouillet finish is complex and it is tough to touch up. I also figured (rationalized) that after dropouts and brake bridge repairs the cost of a reshoot was better spent towards a bespoke frame. 

Best of luck getting your Ram back in cosmetic trim!

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh  

[Paul Brodek]

Ooooh, yay! It's not often I get to steal Andy C's thunder. I AM THE THUNDER KING!!!!

This radavist article seems to say that Johnny Coast uses Bilenky for some painting. There was an earlier '07 Velo Orange blogpost that said JC used a local painter for regular finishes, and a non-local painter for the more upscale stuff. But this stuff dates back 10-14yrs, so who knows now?

https://theradavist.com/2010/05/the-atavistic-urge-johnny-coast-and-seth-rosko/

And I totally get Joe B's point about somebody like Rick Stefani/D&D having experience painting hundreds of Rivs means he knows where the decals should go. And if you live near San Lorenzo, CA, and can handle whatever D&D charges (I have no idea how much that is, couldn't find any web links with a quick search), that's a great option. But if you live in NYC and want to stay relatively local, a good painter can get decals right without having done hundreds of a particular brand.

Paul Brodek

Hillsdale, NJ USA

[LBleriot]

I found some blistering on my protovelo Romulus and after getting quotes from Coast and Waterford, I decided to have my local auto body shop respray the frame.  It’s a single color with no panel on the head tube and no decals.  For $75 I got a beautiful respray that matches the original color on the fork perfectly.  It took a day and I avoided the hassle of shipping.  Something to consider.  If it was my orange Ram, I might get on the Joe Bell list and go through the effort. 

On Monday, April 12, 2021 at 3:20:23 PM UTC-4 Buck Flagg wrote:

[RichS]

Agree with Andy and Paul on the paint work Mr. Coast has done for his frames. A Vanilla Shake Ram with the right accents could look mighty sweet! Designate the color as Sheepswool Cream, beige or off white!

Riv does not have Ram decals so you'll have to have them made. Bruce (Fully Lugged) on this list had decals made for his Ram. If Bruce checks in here regularly he can give you his contact. Of course the Riv folks may be able to connect you with a vendor who makes one off decals.

Best,

Rich in ATL

[ascpgh]

Here's a decal/sticker/transfer source to try for a Ram refinish:  https://www.sssink.com

Their site, if you follow the restoration links, brings you to this nice map: https://storage.googleapis.com/wzukusers/user-33557364/documents/5bbb55602e97eyjktBn0/2018%20SSSink%20painter%20map.pdf

In their alphabetic listings, Rivendell, Sheet 4, is this valued image: 

They were vendors at the last Philly Bike Expo and appear to have a deep catalog and multitudes of format types to satisfy your insignia wishes the refinishing. Nice folks and sounded like they were very experienced in their work. I do believe they will make one offs as well. 

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh

[ascpgh]

Make that Sheet 3. (duh)

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh

[R Shannon]

Good detective work Andy. Way back I recall Grant talking about decals and I’m quite sure he referred to SSI as Riv’s supplier.

For all those interested I hope SSI will accommodate one off requests.

Best,

Rich in ATL

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 15, 2021, at 5:31 AM, ascpgh <asc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Make that Sheet 3. (duh)

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[Peter Adler]

I had a long CR-ish conversation with the SSInk rep at NAHBS in Sacramento years back (2010? 2011? I can't remember). He said that consumers couldn't order decals from them directly; the order had to come through a retailer, a frame builder or a painter. This was intended to prevent scammers palming off lower grade frames as name brand items on unsuspecting consumers. Since several prominent CRers fit into one or more of those categories, I had speculated on the idea of having one of them act as a middleman for the production/distribution of decals from smaller defunct marques, but I never followed through with it. Has SSI liberalized their sales policy since then?

If you need Riv decals, I don't see any reason that Riv HQ wouldn't act as your go-between with SSI, assuming your painter can't get them directly. Or are you refinishing the frameset on your own?

[Dan Sullivan]

A friend of mine got his fatbike painted by a body shop and it is really nice.  I for one will never again ship a bike to a painter; last (and only) time I did that I sent my prized machine off and they destroyed the fork which was a key part of what made the bike special. They did replace the fork and it was OK but the bike was never really the same.  Still great but not the same.

[Maurice Flagg]

Hi! Sorry to be so tardy responding... Was called away. Wow! Much here to be considered and tons of practical guidance. So very grateful to all who reached out. I will post pix, maybe of a before & after nature, when I finally get this repaint done. Thanks, so much, RivBike people!

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