Best Rattle Can Paint I Have Found Yet!

[Retmachinist]

I just had to start one more build this winter. There has been alot of talk on here about different paints. Someone suggested Automotive Store Engine Enamel since it is gasoline resistant. I picked up a couple cans of Dupli-Color Engine Enamel with Ceramic at the local Autozone. It is the best rattle can paint I have ever used. Goes on so smooth dries really fast to a beautiful gloss. I have been wanting to do an all orange bike so this Chevy Orange is perfect, specially since I will be doing part of the engine. I have a nice spray gun, but for small jobs like these bikes it is so much easier to just use the rattle cans.

John

 

[Weedylot]

Thanks for the tip! I have some touch-up I need to do on the Whizzer, she gets her fork tubes scraped by bicycle racks.

 

[2door]

John,
Thanks for the tip. If I ever find the bike I'm looking for, and decide not to go with a powder coat job, I'll certainly try your paint. That fork looks very nice and engine paint might stand up to rock chipping a little better than enamel. Oh, and John, that fork is red, not orange. Must be a P***er, getting old and color blind.
Tom

 

[Retmachinist]

John,
Thanks for the tip. If I ever find the bike I'm looking for, and decide not to go with a powder coat job, I'll certainly try your paint. That fork looks very nice and engine paint might stand up to rock chipping a little better than enamel. Oh, and John, that fork is red, not orange. Must be a P***er, getting old and color blind.
Tom

Does look red in that picture. It was darker when I took that picutre. You can see in the first pic. the cans are orange. Guess the sun went under. Say's Chevy Orange on the can anyway. I painted the frame today, came out pretty sweet. I like that paint!

John

 

[fm2200]

On that note of good spray can paint, a lot of them not just dupli color are really good these days, you might have a point about it being more durable,(harder finish), but even Krylon- can't spell it, makes really good spray paint as well. I use to do bodywork & paint cars and from my experience with that, not that I'm big expert, but I can tell you most off the shelf spray cans are not like they use to be.That miiiight be ORANGE?

 

[Retmachinist]

John,
Thanks for the tip. If I ever find the bike I'm looking for, and decide not to go with a powder coat job, I'll certainly try your paint. That fork looks very nice and engine paint might stand up to rock chipping a little better than enamel. Oh, and John, that fork is red, not orange. Must be a P***er, getting old and color blind.
Tom

Since the fork looked red in that picture, I took a picture of the frame for ya. Now this is Chevy Orange. The fork is the same.

John I am OLD not color blind yet

 

[2door]

John,
Mine ain't exactly Chevy Orange, more of a hurt-your-eyes-day-glow, but I'm a fan of orange bikes.
That looks good; always liked that color. Have you given any thought to some contrasting pin stripes?
Orange with beige (Sounds weird, but looks good together)
This is an older pic, pre springer fork and fender, but you get the idea.
Tom

 

[Retmachinist]

John,
Mine ain't exactly Chevy Orange, more of a hurt-your-eyes-day-glow, but I'm a fan of orange bikes.
That looks good; always liked that color. Have you given any thought to some contrasting pin stripes?
Orange with beige (Sounds weird, but looks good together)
This is an older pic, pre springer fork and fender, but you get the idea.
Tom

Very Nice Tom. I love the Orange and Black together. I had planned on getting some of the thin blk. pin striping tape at the parts store to put on the bike. I have the blk. alloy wheels, and some blk. alloy pedals on the way. Will be in your area tomorrow. Have a change of planes in Denver on our way to Arizona. One of these days I will have to visit you. I have a good friend that lives in Golden.

He is also a gear head. Has an original 1 owner 64 Corvette his brother bought new, and also has a new 2008 Corvette.

John

 

[Graham]

Is any one a fan of yellow and black? got the idea to do the frame yellow with black fenders, kinda make it look like a yellow jacket.

 

[jasonh]

Do they have that paint in a clear?

I have a nice metallic charcoal on my bike by Rust-O-Leum, but I used a clear lacquer and it's already beat to ****. That lacquer ended up being really soft. Would be nice to clear with a good heavy duty paint that is gas resistant (fancy paint job on my tank is already ruined)

 

[FileStyle]

did you know , you can get any paint color you want from napa and they can put it in a rattle can!

 

[bikebum1975]

Is any one a fan of yellow and black? got the idea to do the frame yellow with black fenders, kinda make it look like a yellow jacket.

Yeah I like yellow and black actually toying with the same scheme for a Schwinn continental 10
speed I am going to convert. I haven't thought out the exact scheme yet but something yellow
and black keeping with the original frame color. Mine I am thinking more of doing some hot rod
style scalloping on the frame and tank.

 

[Upshifter]

I live near the ocean, and everything rusts and corrodes quickly. I've found that "Hammerite Rust Cap" is the best paint for a hostile environment like this salt air. It costs about 7 dollars per can, but it really works well. It has microscopic flakes of glass in it. That provides a shield against the salt air. Also, you can paint over rust, and it won't rust anymore. They have both a hammer tone finish, and a smooth. There is not a large selection of colors, but I haven't found anything that beats corrosion and rust like it does. I've used it for about 15 years with no problems.

 

[a_dam]

BikeBum1975:
"Yeah I like yellow and black actually toying with the same scheme for a Schwinn continental 10
speed I am going to convert."


I did my old motorized continental 10-speed with a yellow and black scheme. The old baby-blue paint was so gouged up and covered with reflector tape, that I needed to completely strip all paint and sand the steel. I figured a motorized bike was likely to get plenty of rock chips and such, so I wanted a finish that wouldn't show chips and scratches much.
I used Krylon X-metals paint. It's like a candy apple finish over shiny bare metal. They also have a "chrome-looking" base coat that you can use, but I got good results on bare metal.
It looks like the cap on the can, a nice shiny, chrome-y, effect. Photos don't do it justice.
I don't know if I would really recommend it. It's very runny, especially the first coat. You have to just dust it on. A minimum of three coats. In my opinion, it won't do as a finish coat; must be clear-coated. If you want the same effect, a quality candy apple color might be better.

 

[drhofferber]

what kind off motor is that...nice job...great looking bike...lots of speed...and how do you prep tires, rims and tubes...thank you...Dennis

 

[a_dam]

what kind off motor is that...nice job...

Thanks, drhofferber (I hope you were talking to me )

Motor is from a leaf blower 25cc two-stroke, $10 garage sale.

Prep? Old Schwinn steel rims hold their chrome very well. Just shine them up without scratching. I replaced the spokes with good stainless ones - DT and Wheelsmith.

Cheap tires - no liners. Front tube is a "thorn resistant" (bottinger?). Those tubes are thick and heavy, you can really feel the extra weight in a wheel with one of those tubes inside. I had one in the rear also, but got a flat (go figure) and that tube didn't want to hold a patch right, so I yanked it out and put in a regular tube. No flat problems since.

 

[a_dam]

Since I got off the "rattle-can" topic...

In my experience, those Dupli-Color type of nozzles spray in a nice fine, even mist. I like that. I don't think they are removable, though. With the other solid plastic nozzles, I always pull them off and flush em with some solvent, then put them back on before I store the unused portion. I know the can says to spray upside-down to clear them, but sometimes I don't agree with the directions.

BTW. Has anyone else tried epoxy appliance paint on your bike parts?

 

[drhofferber]

Thanks for the response...i work in special effects for a casino interior sign company and we use Dupli-color paints alot but we use the base coat first that they reccommend...if we need to use epoxy or urethane paint we just get the color we want mixed at Allied auto paints and have it put in a spray can for us...its cheap to do...but there is a minimum...by the way how much faster does that 25 cc engine allow you to go...that is one **** of a set up...catch you later...Dennis

 

[a_dam]

You'd think by now we would have cheap super-paints in a can. "We can put a man on the moon..."

Drhofferber, thanks. "By the way how much faster does that 25 cc engine allow you to go..."

Here's how it went. I like riding a bicycle, maybe a few thousand miles a year. But a couple years ago as I was riding against the wind again (like half the time) I thought, "A little helper motor would be nice".
So I searched online about "motor assisted bicycles" - and here we are.

Compared to most setups, my 25cc motor is actually small and weak. But human-power is suprisingly weaker. So instead of the motor helping me, the motor usually does most of the work and I help the motor when fighting wind and hills.

I'm a casual rider who would consider a 50-mile leg-powered ride pretty long.
Without the motor, I think I averaged about 12-14 mph. With the motor about 20 mph. That's with so much less effort that I feel the motor is making me lazy.
It's easy to get used to cruising along; like you're on a little slow motorcycle. I don't mind that my setup often requires pedaling.

 

[Egor]

Krylon and DuplaColor clear. It has held up well and matches the bike OK. The silver is Stainless Steel coating in a can. Have fun, Dave