Spray painting?

I'm about to embark on doing up my old Raleigh Ravine, probably taking off all the old components, since the drive train is well worn and neglected (including the BB and the old Tange threaded headset will need to be replaced), the wheels are knackered, and the other contact points pretty tired. Basically I'm probably looking at only using the frames, speccing mid-range parts over the time in stages as a labour of love project.

As much as I liked the original irrdescent purple paint, this is chipped and scratched, as well as being covered with flaking off decals and some old MBUK stickers of my then wishlist of desired upgrades (stuff like Pace, Royce).

Is it feasible to get some spray paint from eg Halfords, then follow this up with some hardwaring clear varnish, or would this be a waste of time? I did look at the Argos Racing website, and it looks like the cost of a brand new paintjob will be about £100, plus transportation costs, so probably more than the frame is actually worth. Alternatively, I remember an old MBUK where someone got their bike done at a local powdercoaters with some colour they happened to be using on that particular day, so might this a realistic possibility?

thanks,
Iain

hey, its good to do up an old frame. Will look like new again

For that sort of frame, I would look for a local powdercoaters for sure. There is a local one to me that has a min order of £45, but will do more than just a frame for this as most of time is in the setup. Huge range of RAL colours for that too.
Guess it could be cheaper if you get a 'whatever left over' type of colour too..

I've had entire frames powdercoated for around £30. frame needs to be properly prepped before hand

aerocoat.net costs £55 for frame and if you go throw the botm this month you will see how good a job they do buddy as i had m prestaige done by them ask for adam if you ring he can do some really cool stuff hope this helps http://www.aerocoat.net/

For £45 they would do all the masking/prep too, which doesn't sound too bad then.
Theres a guy on ebay who does it too, but the postage makes it a bit more costly then.

Well, I've gone all misty eyed with a lump in my throat 'cus my first proper MTB BITD was a Raleigh Ravine

I wouldnt advise doing it yourself unless you are completely confident in your abilities, otherwise it could end up looking ropey.

I have had full/touch up jobs done by custom frame builders to get a decent finish, but I dont see why a quick trip to a body shop shouldn't be considered.

The Ravine is a good Reynolds mid-range frame so deserves a bit of TLC. If I was you though, keep the colour original and replicate the old green graphics.

Please post some pics in Readers Bikes before you strip her

Powder coating

Hull is a dump, but its not a complete loss. A few months ago I completely re-did my '99 Orange evO2 frame for a grand total of £40. This was originally a black and silver custom job from Orange and was quite a looker. Recently I'd noticed a couple of spots where the frame was oxidising under the powdercoat, resulting in bubbles which burst into white powder when you bothered them.

Not wanting the frame to die I had it media blasted. This took a few phone calls to arrange as nobody was willing to strip aluminium. I eventually had the work done for £10 + VAT in an anonymous looking factory unit somewhere in one of our mysterious industrial estates (you should have seen it in there - like an Aladdin's cave, old cars getting stripped and painted). More phone calls brought me to the attention of "Ben", the chirpy sales rep from a powder coater literally ten minutes down the road. Two days later, and it looks like this -



- and -



Check out the chainstays too, while I was at it I removed the canti mounts and welded up the holes. The powdercoat cost me £15 + VAT - it looks gorgeous and the guys at the powdercoaters could not have been friendlier. The bike is a lot more complete now - Orange supplied decals for the downtube, a silver seat tube sticker and a new headtube badge (which cost me a tenner from an ace girl from sales called Rachel). The frame does not look like it has been re-done, even to me it looks factory finished.

This is the second bike I have powdercoated. I have already started on my next bike, which is a P7 from eBay (the red one that went for fifty quid, if anyone was watching). I have stripped the paint myself using harsh chemicals and this time I think I am going for a primered / lacquered spray job. I haven't started doing my homework on the costs just yet but I am not paying through the nose for it.

I've also got a Prestige to do but I daren't make a start on it yet, the paintjob is so pretty I am scared of ruining it - its a gunmetal colour with purple fades on the headtube, top of the seat tube and bottom bracket shell (I already have the decals bought though). I am sure I can get an immaculate one-colour finish done on the cheap but don't know where to start on a two-tone one. I'll post a picture of it if anyone cares.

that looks a top job for a bargain price

evo2

Cheers buddy...I was going to get the original stem coated in the same colour to make it look really cheeky (Orange were supplying matching stems the year I bought this) but *someone* stripped a thread so I ended up dropping it in the bin. Years ago I stripped and powdercoated a Kona Firemountain, it turned out looking A-1 too but this was before the age of digital photography so I can't prove it.

I wouldn't attempt to do any painting of any kind myself though. Amateur stuff is great (!) but paint jobs should be done properly. A few months ago I stripped the anodising off a pair of ruined Middleburns and filed them back to newness. I thought I could lacquer them myself with a can of "Clearcote" but how wrong I was, they looked awful then the "Clearcote" fell off.

GTRTS&AVALANCHE":j32aijae said:

Well, I've gone all misty eyed with a lump in my throat 'cus my first proper MTB BITD was a Raleigh Ravine

I wouldnt advise doing it yourself unless you are completely confident in your abilities, otherwise it could end up looking ropey.

I have had full/touch up jobs done by custom frame builders to get a decent finish, but I dont see why a quick trip to a body shop shouldn't be considered.

The Ravine is a good Reynolds mid-range frame so deserves a bit of TLC. If I was you though, keep the colour original and replicate the old green graphics.

Please post some pics in Readers Bikes before you strip her

Click to expand...

I totally agree, which is why I want to keep the old frame. Reynolds K2 which as I understand is essentially 501 with more elaborate butting. Lugged rather than welded, but totally bombproof. It's served me well, and like you say deserves some TLC.

Clearly there are some bargains to be had shopping around locally for a powder coating job. I don't know about keeping the original colour. I do like it, but it's like what else could I do...

I'll publish some pics as soon as I can. I'm working on getting my more modern (though still probably "vintage, as it's '97) Rockhopper back working now since it got poorly the other week :?
Project ravine will start in a week or two I think...

I'll keep you posted

1st stage: sort out frame painting.
2nd stage BB, headset: Wiggle do a Shimano STX threaded which I reckon is going to be perfect I think
3rd stage? we'll seee