My latest project was borne from being unable to part with it because nobody wanted a somewhat scruffy kona sus that was lying in multiple pieces. Not even on gumtree for a song. Plenty interested in the fox shock, but not the bike 
So if im stuck with it, might as well put it into order.
Its a 2007, the blue/white/black paint. 4" i think.
Plan -
Strip old paint
Fill dents/damage
Repaint high gloss black, preferably an epoxy based
Dress up in Hope gold(Pro 2,monos etc
Sell. Unfortunately but it is a medium, and as per usual i seem to end up with medium bikes despite being 6'3" I got it for pennies due to condition, so no loss really.
Paint off - Industrial thinners(pro use) -5lt = £14 car shop ,incidentally 500ml of thinners out of supermarket/B&Q seems to be about £7, so a hell of a saving and extremely useful for just about any painty or oily thing - Bike renovation 101.
I'd started using big gloves, 0 grade steel wool and copious amounts of thinners, but found the thinners about liquefied the gloves, and you needed to scrub to get through the initial top coats.
SOLUTION - I wrapped individual sections with an old towel, then liberally soaked in thinners, wrapped the area in plastic sheeting to stop the thinners evaporating, then left it about an hour.
Result is the paint becomes soft enough for you to scrape away easily these outer layers using nothing more than a small Stanley window scraper., which actually was far more effective than any other removal method id tried, from the steel wool to a brass wire brush, 'skinning' it off worked best.
It literally cuts through without going through base undercoats, which took a 2nd wrapping. Softens it all up very effectively that i suppose the entire lot was done in 2 afternoons, with lots of sitting down waiting for the thinners to work.
A couple of tiny dents* to fill, then ill need to find out about heavy basecoats prior to painting.
Before -
After -
* Dents.
Though small, thats not the reason for this add. Reason is that when i got the original factory finished paint off i found a number of small dings that they has filled prior to base and top coats. So I dont think theyre a problem at all, if it were they'd reject such but dont and these bikes really get abused, so if they've no concerns, then why should we :?
So if im stuck with it, might as well put it into order.
Its a 2007, the blue/white/black paint. 4" i think.
Plan -
Strip old paint
Fill dents/damage
Repaint high gloss black, preferably an epoxy based
Dress up in Hope gold(Pro 2,monos etc
Sell. Unfortunately but it is a medium, and as per usual i seem to end up with medium bikes despite being 6'3" I got it for pennies due to condition, so no loss really.
Paint off - Industrial thinners(pro use) -5lt = £14 car shop ,incidentally 500ml of thinners out of supermarket/B&Q seems to be about £7, so a hell of a saving and extremely useful for just about any painty or oily thing - Bike renovation 101.
I'd started using big gloves, 0 grade steel wool and copious amounts of thinners, but found the thinners about liquefied the gloves, and you needed to scrub to get through the initial top coats.
SOLUTION - I wrapped individual sections with an old towel, then liberally soaked in thinners, wrapped the area in plastic sheeting to stop the thinners evaporating, then left it about an hour.
Result is the paint becomes soft enough for you to scrape away easily these outer layers using nothing more than a small Stanley window scraper., which actually was far more effective than any other removal method id tried, from the steel wool to a brass wire brush, 'skinning' it off worked best.
It literally cuts through without going through base undercoats, which took a 2nd wrapping. Softens it all up very effectively that i suppose the entire lot was done in 2 afternoons, with lots of sitting down waiting for the thinners to work.
A couple of tiny dents* to fill, then ill need to find out about heavy basecoats prior to painting.
Before -
After -
* Dents.
Though small, thats not the reason for this add. Reason is that when i got the original factory finished paint off i found a number of small dings that they has filled prior to base and top coats. So I dont think theyre a problem at all, if it were they'd reject such but dont and these bikes really get abused, so if they've no concerns, then why should we :?
