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Re-paint an old (loved) frame. Results, what I learned and how you can too.
Hi everyone. I don't post here often but thought I could try and make a contribution to the community. If this topic has been covered before, then please forgive me. Otherwise, I hope someone can learn from this. Decided to post details so anyone embarking on this journey can have a reasonable reference and starting point.
Lately I've been appalled by the quality of carbon frames from the large manufacturers. I've always loved my Colnago C59 and CX-1 and the thought of losing them just to 'upgrade' to disc and 'aero' unnerved me to a large extent. This would be a serious investment and given that I'm semi-retired and working on my own startup, it was out of the question. Besides, both C59 and CX-1 were still riding exquisitely. If the C59 was good enough for Tommy Voeckler to break away in the TdF, then it's still way more bike than I need. So I decided to refresh, revitalize and rejuvenate an old(er) frame.
So the theme of the winter lockdown became: resurrect old (but good) things that still have intrinsic value to the owner. Re-fret a Fender strat, save a rescue dog, refresh a great frame.
I decided to repaint the C59, polish the cranks of my DA7800 SRM, repaint my 2014 Sram Red group, slap some Vittoria tubulars on my trusty Zipp 303s and drop 3 kg from my body instead.
So let's start with the results:
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I wanted to share the journey with you and hopefully inspire someone else to do the same. There are so many great frames out there that still have terrific life but just need a good home. We also got a rescue dog - keeping true to the principle. Here is the result in photos and words.
So, is this achievable by an amateur and how do you do this at home and still get a great result? What lessons did I learn?
Bottom line: You can totally do this with tools and supplies from Amazon. You can achieve a pro level result. But it takes a lot of effort, patience and time.
The process:
1. Strip the bike: Take off everything and clean everything. Every part must be cleaned to perfection before assembly. So get doing this now while you are deliberating design, colors etc. is a good idea.
2. Sand your frame: This is one of the hardest parts of the entire process. It takes lots of time, effort, patience and deliberation. DO NOT SKIMP ON THIS STEP. It forms the base for everything you do. I had the military mat green Italian Army paint job and it was challenging to get off. Sand with 320 wet at first. You will think you cannot progress but just keep sanding keep working. Eventually the clear coat, paint and base gives way to carbon. Do not sand the carbon obviously. It can be tough because in my case the base coat was black and so it was difficult to tell where the base ended and the carbon started. Some base will be left on in places. You can see this as it dries. I was going for color on naked carbon, so I wanted to get off as much base as possible. This is challenging. Keep your head down. After the 320, move to 600 and redo the entire frame. Then finally finish with 800 wet. This is good enough for the base coat. Budget for about 10-12 sheets of each sand paper. Also buy 1200 or 1500 wet paper for polishing the clear coat much later. Budget 2-5 days for sanding.
You can see some of the black base coat in these photos. Also, Colnago tube shapes are difficult to sand due to the indentations.
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3. Preparation: I taped over all of the threaded parts (bottom bracket, headset etc.) and the water bottle holders, brake caliber mounting points etc. You can mask off the area where the skewer meets the frame to avoid paint chips over time. I did not remove the riveted hanger. I opted to mask it and I actually left it with some original metal and paint just as a reminder to the former bike.
4. Choose your design, colors, paint, base coat, clear coat, masking materials etc. Honestly, this is infinitely variable. I was looking for a design motif of stylized falling leaves peeling away from the head tube. I wanted that to set up a dynamic that introduced movement to the composition (so the bike looked moving standing still). Look online for inspiration but also just follow your gut too. This is the fun part. So indulge in it and enjoy the creative process. Have a VERY clear image in your head about the end result and consistently strive for it.
5. Masking: The pros cut sticky vinyl, tape to the frame and then spray over and remove the vinyl. This creates perfect edges and yields a better result. But you need a vinyl cutter and they start at around $1,500. So out of range for this project's budget. You can create lovely curvy and straight edges using fine line tape for the edge (I used 2mm width) and then masking tape over that. Then you use a scalpel or xacto knife to cut the masking tape away in areas you want to expose - leaving the fine line tape to demarcate the edges. This took a LOT of work (at least a day). I later found an easier way: using shelf protector (sticky plastic sheeting) you can create freehand masks of shapes and forms, stick the negatives (or positives) on the frame and spray in each object as you go. This would have been faster and I actually used this method for the stem and for some 'fixing' of the bike before and after clear coat. I chose a design that I could get away without using a specialized cutting machine. You can find stencils online too.
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6. Base Coat: I chose a urethane base coat for car bumpers. It worked fine but I'd rather have used a 2k epoxy base but could not find one in Japan where I live. They are available on Amazon US for about $20. Spray in a ventilated area (my balcony) and use a mask! Not a COVID mask, but a real mask that protects specifically against volatiles. Please don't skip this. Some people sand the base and then spray again. I was using a clear base for the naked carbon. If you are doing light colors (red, yellow, white, silver), then get a white base. If you are spraying darker greens, blues, purples, then buy a black base. Trust me, you will save time and layers of paint because it takes so much more paint to make white on black for example.
7. Color: I was originally going to go with regular acrylic spray paint in a can. But I could not find the magenta color I was looking for. I really wanted to match this magenta/dark pink Wahoo Bolt that I had. Ended up that the Bolt didn't work with the SRM. So I am still figuring that out. I came across a Liquitex airbrush magenta that I fell in love with. I paired it with silver for a stylized effect. Yes, I broke down and bought a decent airbrush and compressor. It was about $200 but I'm also starting to learn airbrush art so it's a longer term play for me. Essentially, I sprayed acrylic airbrush paint on top of the clear base coat. Note: I used silver on top of the clear (black looking) base. This contravenes what I said in point #6 so I had to layer on a lot of silver to get the result.
7.1 Decals (post edit): I bought some vinyl decals from eBay. You can find some negatives here as well so you could spray the logos on (preferred) but I couldn't get what I was looking for so opted for the C60 decal set (no C59 sadly) and just selectively chose a few decals. I decided not to over-logo the frame. It's a Colnago. Everyone knows what it is. No point in going overboard. Stick your logos directly to the base coat (they can be removed and repositioned with care). Then you will clear coat over. Not optimal. But I think it will be OK for a while.
8. Spray your first color: Clean the entire frame with alcohol (ethanol). Take off your oily finger prints. Also, practice on the seat post or fork because you can easily remove the paint, quickly re-sand and start again until you get your design, color and technique right. I probably did this about 5 times. Removing paint is easy. Removing clear coat is not. So don't clear test areas at this point. When I was ready, I laid down silver everywhere and then splashed magenta on the tips of my leaves for added effect. Be SUPER CAREFUL. The finished airbrush acrylic paint is VERY DELICATE and scratches easily. It's difficult not to accidentally brush against it or scratch a part. You can wipe it off with water or alcohol at anytime and respray.
9. Once you have completed all the painting and it is as smooth as you can get it, you can strip off the masking. It's incredibly exciting to see your hard work come to life. Make sure the paint has dried. One tip: When removing masking or fine line tape, pull the tape back so that it makes an acute angle to the surface (i.e., low to the surface). This helps the tape not to pull up the edges of the paint but rather tear it more neatly. You will get some edges that build up paint. You can brush the edges carefully with a soft paint brush to remove this. It's tricky though.
10. Clear coat. I picked a 2k epoxy clear. Urethane clear is not deep or tough enough for our sport. This is a 2 component system with hardener. You mix the two together in the spray can and then go. You only have about 12 hours to use it. Note that you cannot sand the airbrushed work. It will come right off. So you can move directly to clear at this point. Start by clearing the fork or seat post so if you mess up, you can learn and recover. Messing up the frame at this point will give you a heart attack! Right now you have many many days in you frame. With all other spraying, they tell you to work lightly and from a distance - dusting the paint on. Do not do this with epoxy. The first time I did this, the coverage was terrible and it produced orange peel effect and the requisite heart attack! Eventually I worked out that you need to get aggressive with it and layer it on thick - but not too thick that it runs. Here's the cool part: You can totally sand epoxy and then polish using an automotive polish to a mirror-like finish. So don't be scared here. Go all in.
11. Sand and polish: You will find that your clear coat is not shining like glass at this point. Generally, you need to sand again. Some people say 800 is fine but I found that I could easily sand through the clear coat and into my lovely color! This caused rework. Avoid! I ended up using 1500 and even 2500 to sand down the orange peel until it was flat. You can easily feel this with your fingers as you are sanding. It will suddenly become smooth. Do not go hard. You can mess up your design. Take it easy and get the feel of it. I put on a second coat of clear at this point (2 cans $36). Finally, once all the sanding is done, get a nice car wax. I used a 3 step buffing wax which starts with one that is actually abrasive and ends in a smooth polish. Take your time, pour beer, listen to podcasts, do whatever you need to do to stay in the game. You are nearly there. You can get your frame to a gorgeous clear finish with some elbow grease. Put in the last bit of effort.
12. Other parts: I also sprayed the stem, brake levers and the rear derailleur cage. It was super easy: sand, base, color, clear.
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12. Re-assemble your frame. Hopefully you know how to do this.
Well, hope that helps. I would LOVE to see if any of you out there have done this, could share tips or even post your results. I found this to be extremely rewarding and I fell in love with my C59 all over again. It's a great bike.
If you are wondering, I did not weigh the frame prior (kicks himself) but it was 1,040 after paint. Not too shabby. Total bike weight with pedals and cages is 6.8kg. Fine for me.
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Originally Posted by Azikara
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