Tough Paint

peter nap

I picked up a Giant frame at a police auction recently and am going to build it as a commuter/general purpose/cross training bike. The biggest reason is I hate swapping wheels on my mountain bike all the time and have just lost interest in riding my street bike.

Like most stolen bikes, this one has a thick coat of white paint over the original paint. I'm going to strip it and paint it black. I forge knives and on some of the river knives, I use spray truck bed liner as a handle material. It is almost indestructible and if put on correctly, not bad looking.

I was thinking about using it on the bike on some of the hard wear areas. I haven't ever seen it used on a bike frame. I could powder coat it also but the liner may be a little tougher.

Any thoughts pro or con?

Thanks
Don

Jeytown

paint

oh no please

try powder coat for a kickass effect

havent you seen american chopper

spend the cash on powder and try an new look

peter nap

It doesn't cost anything other than the material, I can powder coat it myself. Are you saying powder coat the whole thing or just the high wear areas?

The reason I was considering the truck bed liner on the high wear areas is that it is tougher than powder coat.
Here's what the liner looks like when it's fine misted.

gt3413

If you're buying the materials at cost you're probably not out much either way. Would the bed liner material be too tough to strip if it doesn't look good? I'd say go with the bed liner material just for something different. You'd get a lot of looks and it sure would be unique. Do a small section, if you don't like it, strip it and go with powder coating. Post pictures when you're done. Greg

peter nap

This week is always slow at work so I stayed home and worked in the shop. It's raining like blazes too. Anyway, I decided to try it.
It looks a lot better in person but the whole job came out with good clean lines and sharp fine texture.

I think I'll keep it. I also primed it with ospho. That makes it almost rust proof. Next it will get about 10 coats of metallic charcoal Grey and clear coat, on the bare metal.

gt3413

It looks great! Heck, I'd have done the whole bike in it. I've got a 2006 matte black GT avalanche 2.0 disc and I love the color of it. Keep up the good work. You might start a trend. Greg

peter nap

Thanks for the encouragement.

I'd have done the whole bike in it

The thought crossed my mind but my wife thought the charcoal Grey would look ...."So Nice". Since I'm going to spend about $600.00 on parts for this I try to keep her happy.

I have seen some of the riders here post about painting their bikes flat black to discourage thieves. If I were going to do that, I'd sandblast the whole thing and use the liner on it. You'd never have a scratch or ding.
This is a learning experience for me. I've been fooling with bikes for years...ever since my son joined the Signet racing team. It was either learn to work on them or starve....But, components have changed over the years and I haven't kept up and I have used scavenged parts.

This forum is a great help learning about compatibility and performance.

gt3413

We've got a charcoal gray metallic Chevy Tahoe and it looks great. So, I'm sure your bike will be a success. Hmmm, maybe I can talk the wife into a little bedliner material sprayed on her new Tahoe.......