# Bike Painting 101



## 37fleetwood

ok, here is a photo of my streamliner in primer. I got it in primer but had to re primer it anyway. the first thing in painting your bike is the most critical part. it may not seem like it but trust me it is. step one is the test fit. make sure you have everything and make sure it fits together correctly. Jr. can vouch for me on this one. there is nothing worse than getting everything painted and finding out that the fenders are from a different year, or that the body work you did left the fenders wider than the wheel opening on the frame. or any number of little details which are easier to fix before paint. always test fit everything!





here is the frame in primer:




and after much sanding the paint:




Scott


----------



## 37fleetwood

next thing is the trim paint. plan this out before you start! get it all planned and all things in order. the head tube was first on mine and mine happened to be white so no real drama there. I got the pattern off an original paint frame and taped off the head tube and along the other tubes:












Scott


----------



## 37fleetwood

I didn't take any photos of it but the fenders and chain guard were next. I painted all of them with the Opalescent Maroon and then masked the front and rear fenders. I used an old stand for tv dinner trays to set the fenders on but most anything will work. I set them on it length ways so the handle part sat inside the fenders and ran with the length of the fenders the other way they were too easy to bump and not very stable. again the patterns came off an original paint bike. remember the original paint varied a bunch from bike to bike so it isn't real critical if your not exactly the same as the original. don't get me wrong you should be really close but close is as good as you will find on the originals anyway.








here is a photo of the Godzilla project to give you an idea on masking the fender, this one was done on the bike which I would not advise on something nice.


----------



## 37fleetwood

next is the part most people think they can't do themselves, well if you are willing to put in the effort I can assure you that if I can do it you can! I got the other parts of the graphics off of the original paint bike. here's how (and it doesn't matter how complex the pattern is you can do it) first I used clear packing tape like you tape boxes shut with. stick it on the original pattern you want to copy. next i used an "Ultra Fine Point" Sharpie pen to outline the pattern. this is just like coloring when you were a kid. don't go outside the lines if you can help it. after you get it all traced out peel off the tape and stick it on a piece of white paper, I used printer paper. if the pattern is bigger than one piece of paper use as many as you need, remember you have tape in your hand it will hold the papers together and the tape is the pattern anyway. next I took my pattern in the house and scanned it into my computer with my old scanner. if you don't have one skip this step and just take your pattern with you to the sign shop which will be mentioned later. next I used my photo program to get rid of any oops marks and burned it onto a cd. from here it is off to the sign shop where they have a vinyl cutter. the local one used my pattern to make a line drawing and made my stencils out of vinyl for around $5.00 each. if you take them a peice of paper with your tape on it they can scan it in and do the cleanup for you but it will probably cost more though. here are is a photo of the finished stencils, remember to remind them you want a stencil to paint the inside and not a sticker also you need to have them put the release paper on top (mine was clear but i have seen some that looked like masking tape. you do need to be able to see through it so you can position it on the bike but they know this, they make signs like this all the time.



next clean the area for the stencil and carefully apply them. a neat trick is to use a spray bottle with soap and water in it and spray the area before sticking it on that way it will be moveable if you need to reposition it. once on where you want it press it on getting rid of the bubbles and water with a damp sponge. use the sponge with a fresh bucket of clean water and make sure you get all the soap off the surface to be painted. trick number two is dog ear a corner of the stancil, it will be easier to get off later.


----------



## 37fleetwood

next mask off everything you don't want painted:



then paint and peel carefully:



after this you can clear coat if you like or not. I usually go over the area with some really super fine wet or dry sand paper to knock off any edges, remember just a few swipes is usually enough, you're not sanding just rounding edges. then polish 
Scott


----------



## balloontirecruiser

I like the paint stand you crafted out of threaded black iron parts and an old wheel, that's clever. Thanks for posting this!


----------



## akikuro

Scott-
Fantastic post. 
Thanks for sharing


----------



## Strings-n-Spokes

Bumping    101


----------

