obrentharris 

A powdercoater can provide you with any of 2,540 RAL colors. Many of the shops have extensive RAL color chips. I'm sure you can find a color you like.
Brent

dedhed

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ste-color.html

​​​​​​https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ste-again.html

zandoval 

Now you are talking!

Use Aircraft paint remover to strip everything off to the metal. This not only gives you the opportunity to sand down the dings but also inspect the frame inside and out. If your going to treat the inside of the frame I would suggest 50:50 Linseed oil and denatured alcohol.

For an indestructo paint job consider Rustolium Gloss Enamel in the color OSHA Safety Green after a rattle can Rustolium etching primer. Your mix for a Hand Brush Paint job is 80% paint with 20% Penitrol. Use a good 1" enamel brush. Now hang it to dry and don't look at it for a long time... Ha

Here is a big question. How is your parts bin? Wheel set, bottom bracket, crank, brakes, bars... And Lions and Tigers And bears. My advice in this quest is do not be afraid. You want something to ride! So mixing up components and brands is not big deal. Plus you can always upgrade as you find the components you want. In the mean time you are ridding.

Here is a link for a Peugeot Dolomites that I assembled. I did have intentions of doing a restoration. But after the frame was primed it sat around in my garage for years waiting for me to acquire the correct components. I the long run I finally told myself I did not need a wall hanger, I need a decent ride. So I put the thing together with what ever I had and could get as cheap as possible. Its my favorite ride now...

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...mites-80s.html

CrowSeph

find a 10v cheap groupset and make it a good gravel!
if the fork is missing no problem , trow a carbon one so you have the excuse to put a brake disc too..

definitely a good starting project

58Bianchi

Thanks for all the recommendations! That Peugeot came out great!

Yes, indeed, I know exactly what you mean by fun bike. Most of what will go on the frame will come from that Univega. That bike went everywhere. It has DuraAce shifters, XT derailleurs, Campagnolo cogs & triple crank, and a bunch of other passed down components. It was a fun build right down to the Boston & Maine reporting marks.

58Bianchi

Yep, I read them all. Back in April I was hit by a car on my gray 2003 Pista. The settlement enabled me to have Handz Bicycles, a custom builder here in New Hampshire, check the frame, add water bottle mounts, and get it painted. After all that reading, I choose the “dark Celeste” from the 70s/80s. It is this experience that tells me I do not want a professional paint job on a cyclocross frame. It came out so gorgeous that “it’s not for riding; it’s for looking at.” I cannot imagine covering that frame with the dirt/mud/gravel in the Univega picture.

That said, the Celeste pearl is consistently one color.

58Bianchi

Hey all, thanks for all the great help and tips. I am going with Option 2. Spray Max 2k High Gloss Clear is on order.

I am probably not going to try to touch up the bare metal spots & dings. The intact part of the paint is in such poor condition. I like the idea of preserving its history for all to see. The bike was clearly raced hard at one point.

I will for sure post pics and comments on my progress in the forums here.

staehpj1

Good choice. It allows use and doesn't damage it for restoring later if that ever is desired.

fishboat

Prep is everything. Remove/convert the rust spots, scuff sand up the entire frame, tack cloth & wipe it down with mineral spirits. Wipe cloth in one direction only and only one time..new frame section..get a new cloth, wipe one time and one direction. The blue, smooth (no embossed design imprinted on it) disposable shop cloths are clean and don't shed fibers.

When you spray it (one can is enough for one frame at 2 coats, but you need to keep moving and don't repeat areas or you'll need a second can..and repeating good looking areas while wet just makes it look worse. Spray at a rate that the wet finish just nicely forms a continuous gloss without showing orange peel. If you do less than this you'll have some orange peel in the final finish(it'll still look nice)..more than this and you risk a run. If you get a run, leave it alone as trying to fix it while wet just makes it worse. The material has a fair amount of "body" to it and doesn't self-level out much at all. It levels to a smooth gloss via the right amount of material applied. It's not hard, but there's an in-practice learning curve. You can recoat in 5-10 minutes(at 70-75 degrees, 50% humidity). Shake the can often while using it. If you spray over new decals, "dust spray" with a very light coating to seal the decal without really wetting it, let it dry 5 minutes, then spray for final coverage. Spray outside if you can and use a vapor mask..this is a reacting 2K spray..you don't want to breath it. Wear a long sleeved shirt and disposable (latex, nitrile) gloves too.

SprayMax is great stuff. To get superior performance you need to use less friendly materials(2k stuff like SprayMax). Same as your kitchen/bath cabinets coated with a reactive conversion coating, garden equipment, your car...etc..

Read the directions and data sheet (msds) and follow the recommendations.

mstateglfr 

Glad to hear you are recovered from being hit. As for this Pista- just chiming in with - it is super cool! Love the Ritchey fork in black and the mix of black accent/components with the Celeste frame color.
And I would usually silently cringe at a silver stem on a bike that otherwise has almost all black components and accents, but I dig it here. Maybe its because its a Mutant stem and its just so quirky/retro that its a cool touch?

Anyways, nice bike.

mstateglfr 

More suggestions since this is the route you are going.

- use Evaporust to touch up the bare metal spots. Go to an autoparts store and buy a couple pints of it or the larger size(forget the amount) and do the following...
- Build a cardboard trough that is 2' long and 6" wide, but doesnt need to be exact. Cut a large industrial garbage bag so it opens and expands large. Lay the bag in the trough and pour evaporust in.
- Submerge the frame tube by tube so the entire tube is under the liquid. Let each tube sit in there for 40-60min, then pull it out, drain, and dry off. Use some canned air to spray dry any small bit left in the top tube.
- Do the same with the fork.
- Try this when it is above 60deg and the warmer the better for the chemical reaction. Evaporust is totally safe to use in a garage, so do it there if that helps keep the temp higher.
- If after 60min there is still some rust on the outside of tubes, wipe the tube down(simple friction from a towel pulls a lot of rust off) and dip the tube again. There is no harm in a second round.

Evaporust does not damage paint color and does not damage decals(I have used it on water slide under clear coat as well as vinyl atop clear). Submerging the tubes will help stop any internal rusting too. Just take a cut up towel or shirt and shove it into all the tubes to dry them(in addition to canned air).

^ this sounds like a lot of prep, but having removed rust from a lot of frames thru the years, it really isnt much work. Its actually very little work, you just have to have a block of 5 or so hours available to check the frame every now and again.


Further prep-
- Use some fine sandpaper(like 300 or higher even) and light scuff the entire frame and fork so that the clearcoat has something to stick to.
- Plug up any brazeon holes, the BB shell, and the head tube. I sometimes use painter's tape and cut out little circles for the BB, but honestly a paper towel that is folded down to 3" and then rolled up will fit perfectly in a BB shell and protect the threads.
- Use rubbing alcohol and a no-lint cloth to rub down the entire frame and fork which will remove any oils or grease.
- You can hang the frame by a dropout, but that can get wonky sometimes. I take a 12" dowel, wrap it in some paper towels that make the wrap a bit larger than the headtube, and twist it all into the inside of the headtube. The paper towels keep the dowel in place and I can then hang the frame using string attached to both sides of the dowel. The other option is to hold the dowel firmly and balance the frame on the dowel by putting it partially thru the head tube and letting the frame rest at an angle on the dowel. If you do this, be sure to plug the top of the headtube.

Clearcoating-
- Use an actual respirator with replaceable filters and not just some cheap one use n95 mask.
- Shake the can for a couple minutes. Really for a couple minutes.
- Keep your hand moving steadily. Dont start spraying at the frame, instead start spraying before the frame and move your hand to the frame. That helps keep large blotches of clearcoat from forming.

mstateglfr 

Since you mention both spray.bike and 1" forks, I figured I would chime in.

I have painted 3 bikes with spray.bike and while I like the results, they arent nearly as good as the inexpensive powdercoats I have had on 3 bikes. The spray.bike process was still worth it to me because I did 2 of the frames with my kids, so it was a fun project. The results were fine for what we needed, but having painted a bike with Montana Gold spray paints with 2k clearcoat, there is a definite increase difference in end product with the spray paint and 2k clear.

As for your comment about not taking on a project unless it has the 1" fork, that made me laugh because I got desperate for a winter project in the late fall of '21 and bought a Cannondale CAAD3 frame off ebay that didnt have a fork. I wasnt finding anything that interested me besides that frame and I knew I shouldnt go down the rabbit hole of no fork, but did it anyways. It took some time, but I found a 1" threadless carbon fork with aluminum steerer from some website in Germany that had a long enough steerer for my frame(350mm steerer needed).
The project worked out great- I fixed a bottle boss that was broken, replaced a cable stop, stripped the old chipped paint, and painted the frame and fork. Its been my main road bike this year with mostly 11sp Ultegra on it, and Ive had a blast.
But yeah, that was a desperation move that happened to work out, even though I knew better!
Funny that you mentioned frame no 1" fork as a red flag too.

fishboat

...the above triggered a thought.. I used 5mm bolts..about 50mm x 5mm and threaded them into all the fittings on the frame. Leave them in while spraying..they keep the threads clear and, equally useful, they are good as hand-holds as you move the frame around without touching it (avoids oils or sweat from your hands leaving stuff on the frame)

Other things I picked up in my research..while the Spray.Bike paint looks really nice and can be fun to develop a design, it isn't very durable. Maybe a 2K clear on top of it(if possible) would help..no idea. Also, there's a German guy on youtube that uses Montana paints. Lots of colors, but I think (relying on memory here from 2 yrs ago..forgive me if I'm thinking of something else) Montana paints target customer is graffiti artists. I worked in the coating industry(chemist)..not only do I think graffiti painters should be drawn & quartered, but I wouldn't have much faith in paints developed for that use. With paints, you get what you pay for and little more. Box store spray enamels..well..they are paint, though about equal between decorative & durable. If you care about the bike, don't use this type of paint..if you don't care about the bike then left-over house paint and a brush might be as good. (only slightly sarcastic here)

mstateglfr 

Yeah, I chose the Montana Gold brand simply because of the ETOE channel(German guy) uses them for his 'DIY' video segments.
I have no idea if the paint brand is good or bad, I am not a chemist and am not passionate about graffiti, but the paint cans I bought had the colors I wanted and they worked. Thats about all I cared about.

fishboat

^^^
Bike looks really good. Nice paint job!

58Bianchi

Thank you so much!

58Bianchi

Thanks everyone for the top notch advice. I feel like I cannot go wrong (though I probably still will). But, hey! It will be covered in mud! :-)

Fredo76

For a bike that you don't want to worry about, it looks perfect to me as-is. Clear-coating it as-is to preserve its history seems funny to me, as in why bother?

Granted I can't see up close to look for rust, etc., but I don't see a reason to change a thing for a knock-around bike. Maybe you could find some turquoise nail polish close enough to touch up the chips.

For a re-finish, my powder coater charged $275 for a single color, including media blasting beforehand. Mine came out great, IMO. Who's doing it and their experience with bikes would be the variables, I think.