How do I recolour a bike frame temporarily?

[san0]

I have fallen into the fixie/single speed craze , but i'm keeping my gears for now...
I started to get purple Halo Twinrail tyres to match my TransX bars. I don't want to respray the frame as it is a nice 90's Nigel Dean, but i do want to recolour it - in a nice solid colour - maybe black, orange or yellow, to go with the purple trims.

Is there any way to apply some color cheaply and will last for a year or two? I don't want the finish to look like a 'Blue Peter' bodge job either.

[MikewsMITH2]

I don't want the finish to look like a 'Blue Peter' bodge job either.

Sticky back plastic?

[thirdcrank]

I did read somewhere that commercial passenger aircraft are often painted in some sort of temporary paint so changing livery is easier.

In the absence of anything from somebody who really knows, I'll suggest gentian violet. Before the general availability of antibiotics, this dye was used to treat impetigo, and the skin of less-fortunate children used to be mottled purple. It would match your tyres and bar extensions, but on reflection, I've no idea how easy it would be to remove. 'Test on a less prominent area' as it often says on the instructions of stuff. For the warmer weather, you could do your legs to match (but some of us BOFs might give you a wide berth.

[steady eddy]

Get some of the plastic film used for sign writing on vans etc. It is not sticky backed but sticks well to a clean surface, you spray the surface with a mist of water first and then squeeze it out from under the film. Big range of colours and you can probably blag some roll ends from a sign company. I've used it to sign write racing dingies and provide suface protection in areas of wear.It stood up well to the rigours of sand and salt water. It can easily be removed with a low temperature heat gun when you want a change of colour.

Alternatively children's poster paints but dont go out in the rain!!!!!

[hubgearfreak]

I don't want the finish to look like a 'Blue Peter' bodge job either.

i understand. it'd be awful to ruin the good looks of that bike

[Mick F]

Are you asking to paint the frame on top of the original finish, and then in a year or two remove the temporary coat to reveal the original?

If so, I don't think you can do it.

Whatever paint you use will have to got off by mechanical means. There'd be no point in using wash-off-able paint coz it would come off in the rain. Emulsion paint could do it, but you'd have to scrape it off and you'd damage the original finish.

[neilob]

So how does the fixie/single speed thing work if you can keep gears?? If matching is the issue why did you buy purple bits in the first place?? Wouldn't it be easier to have bought black tyres, black bar ends and black tri-bar grips to match that excellent frame?? Unless we are all missing the point of the question......

[bensonboo]

I could be wrong (wouldn't be the first time) but the whole fixie / singlespeed thing in this case appears to be all about the image. I've seen various luridly painted bikes with mis-matched grips / bar ends / tyres etc. I've also seen the use of what looks like innertube wraps around the frame which this bike looks like having.

[thirdcrank]

I could be wrong (wouldn't be the first time) but the whole fixie / singlespeed thing [in this case] appears to be all about the image. ...

No matter what your track record, the only correction I'd make would be to omit the the words between the square brackets [ ].

[san0]

Yes indeed - it's a fashion thing - yet its a fun project to be doing - especially if you were into BMX in the 80's where you would get hold of all sorts of colour matching items. The Fixie/SS theme is and also about using what bits you have, and sometimes having a vintage frame like mine, gives you pose points. Well no single speed conversion yet as my goal was to create a useable commuting CTC ride machine, that is both striking and nice to ride.

I like the idea of the signage vinyl, but not sure how that would work around the forks or bend around the welds and joins.
The bar tape wrap was just something i had, and didn't want to waste as it came off my old drops.

The purple look i was stuck with as a few years ago i bought on sale in Halfords the purple flat bars and ends very cheaply and was thinking of building a bike up at the time - but it made its way onto this bike.

At some point i would restore back to the original colours and paintwork, that's why i want to preserve it somehow, so paint is not the way to go from your feedback.

[snibgo]

Nail varnish?

[DaveP]

Lets step back, calm down, and take a fresh look at the problem.




I have it!
Change the tyres and bar ends. It'll be cheaper, quicker and easier and it wont look like a bodge


Ok, I know my sense of humour isnt what it could be, but, actually, thats a serious suggestion.

[steady eddy]

I was thinking more of contrast panels - in purple - if that's your chosen colour - leaving the drop outs and frame joins as they are - slash cut the ends of the vinyl for effect perhaps, or use bands of deminishing size spaced to let the underneath colour show through. It will be fiddly but could work. Alternatively mask off the drop outs and frame joins and lightly air brush them with some purple acrylic to give a spatter effect - when you are tired of purple you can polish this off with t-cut if you are careful, especially if you put a couple of coats of laquer on first as protection forr the existing paint work.

Alternatively just leave it as it is and get some sun glasses with a purple tint.

To the rest of you leave the boy alone - I themed a racing dingy once in flourescent pink. Ropes, cockpit floor, sail nos, foils etc - looked great till the ultra violet attacked the paint pigments and turned them all a shade of purple.

[Edwards]

I actually like the look of the bike as is. The purple makes it stand out from the rest.
The only way I can think of to temporarily change the colour is to use bar tape or something similar.
There are lots of different colours available and the scheme can be changed easily.

I would not like to alter the bike permanently by changing it to fixed.
At my age I like my knees to much to be always in the wrong gear.

[byegad]

I don't understand why you want to do this. If the colour(s) are 'wrong' why not just have the frame powder coated in a colour of your choice?