Respray - when? what? who?

Slightly idle enquiry but wondering how you know when to respray, whether you go for direct restoration or something else (in which case what?) and who you go with (expect Argos, Vaz, Mercian and Jackson to feature heavily)?

Any before and after shots and an indication of price would be great.

it's always a hard question that.

i tend to use argos and bob jackson depending on the finish i want.

i think argos finishes are tougher but bob finishes tend to be a deeper finish. although being in Hereford i would go straight to Argos and see Mark, explain what you want, they can colour match and they'll sort stickers etc.

as far as original versus new design, it depends, i wanted original on my 92 kona but with my 93 clockwork i went similar to a later green finish c16r because i felt the orange white fade had been done to death and i already had that paint on my 07 clockwork. so sometimes it depends on the bik being painted.

prices vary, expect £100 for a one colour finish, a bit more if you want the fork doing aswel, £20ish for stickers, another 20 for fitting, extra tenner for each extra colour etc.

hope that helps

Faux-ing something up Mr Edwards?

Anyhow a local chap has basically everything that comes to him repsrayed by Argos. They've done some good work on the frames I've seen (Merckx, Colnago, etc.)

Used Bob Jacksons and Woodrups in leeds.

Woodrups did my Roberts Genesis, before & after shots on way (if I can find them)

Edit: lots of afters on the link in my signature, the only before shot is crap and you cant see quite how rough it was. (lots of paint chips,scrapes & scuffs, grotty peeled decals, the usual heavy used frame look)

Perhaps surprisingly the answer is "no", just really liking the Joe Waugh Columbus Max gate and it's certainly on the cusp of needing a respray so thought I'd see if anything particularly struck me.


Argos did the work on that Tequila Sunrise Yo that you so like and agree that finish is top drawer, if pricey which leads on to.....



...which are the Argos prices I paid before, or near enough. So single colour respray with decals is likely to be of the order of £140 (including buying the decals) and when frame with Record headset was only £85 you start to wonder if it makes sense as with a respray you never can realise what you've spent if you do decide to move it on (and I tend to be a bit flighty with my bikes).

Hmm, but what colour (currently white to blue fade)? Khaki perhaps?

if you are gonna be a bit "flighty" try bob jackson, they tend to be cheaper than argos, get them to do a one colour job, get some stickers off Gil then apply them yourself. might save a bit.


i tend to only paint them when i'm keeping them

I've had 2 frames done by Atlantic Boulevard - quality is top-notch and Neil is a stickler for detail. They did my Gios and a Colnago - both are way better than any 'factory' finish. I did look at Argos but were put off by their indifference - got the feeling I was just another punter to be processed. Years ago when in the trade we used to send stuff to Bob Jackson and they were always getting it wrong.The downside with AB is the price, so really depends on whether it's a 'keeper' or not. The Gios is actually proper transfers rather than reproduction stickers - photos don't do it justice.

Fair play, the finish on the Gios is very tidy - what sort of damage was it?

But if its cheep frame what do you think to powder coating. I had my On-one mtb done for just under £60, I am very happy with the finish. A mate is getting his 80s Falcon done in gloss black for the same sort of cash from tripple S in Bingley.

Nothing wrong with powdercoating a cheap frame, I suppose it depends on the level of finish you require. Its not exactly keeping things 'original' though I suppose.