Need to repaint a bicycle

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Crash-n-Burn

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My three year old son's great wish for Christmas is a Mickey Mouse bicycle. We have a perfectly acceptable Cars-themed bicycle, so I'm looking to change up the theme. I'm looking for some advice and tips on changing the paint scheme and decals over. I found some articles on the internet but I trust all y'all rocket hooligans over the pintrest crowd.

Rough plans in my head-

First step will be to sand down the frame. I don't think going to bare metal is necessary but a decent clean and scuff-sand will help new paint application. I should be able to get through the clear coat somewhat easily. The challenge here is that I don't know what to do with the existing decals. Scrape them off? Sand the edges to blend them with the frame and paint over?

Next step is to paint. I guess I wouldn't need to shoot primer unless it would serve a greater purpose (adhesion?). The thing about painting is that I don't know what paint was used on the frame and I am just barely knowledgeable to recognize that paints don't play well with others (acryllic over lacquer over enamel). I think I could reasonably assume (but let me know if you think otherwise) that the base coat of the existing paint job is enamel. It would be my plan to shoot enamel over the bike... maybe I should test a spot to determine compatability.

Once base coats are done I can have my wife print some decals. Or I could just go with stickers. Either way, I will need a top coat. I could shoot some Polycrilic product or polyurethane itself... really not sure what to use here. Any idea for a top coat?

All advice is welcome, thanks all for bailing me out on this one.
 
forget the paint, cover the bike in vinyl retroreflective film...

Here's my tutorial from Bikeforums.net.

I took my bike from this...

6149466416_57074a99ed.jpg


to this...

6149466726_b946231279.jpg
 
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I never did this, but remember this was quite a topic of discussion back in my bicycling days (which predate the internet).

Would this link be useful? I'm sure your 3 year old son won't be interested in the painting details, as much as the stickers/decals and general Mickey Mouse theme:

https://sheldonbrown.com/paint-prep.html
 
Most bikes are painted with automotive paint. If you gotta cheapy and you just want it painted, if you have the technical know-how to strip it down to the frame, take it to Maaco or some other body shop, tell them what you want to do and offer them a couple of twenties. You could really go crazy then (my best bike, a full custom Mavici, is candy apple red, and Serotta painted on all the "decals" including my name)
If you're gonna DYI, at least take the wheels & drive train off. It would be good to pull the bottom bracket but these generally take special tools. The other part to worry about is the head set - both upper and lower cups, (this is where the fork and frame meet) Again special tools are needed so if you don't have them, careful taping would be of importance
 
A heat gun/blow dryer/ torch held at a distance should remove the decals. Just heat and peal. Any glue left over should wash off with a little lacquer thinner.Use a scuff pad to sand and spray your chosen color. This might be the one thing Krylon paint is good for !!!
 
Being an Autobody Tech and Custom Painter for 2 decades I'll say this. Anything worth doing is worth doing right to make it last.
That said, sand blast, powder coat, decals. Powder coat will be the most durable finish.
However, you could probably buy 2 or more new bicyles for what that will cost ya.
Take in consideration, you will have to remove everything so all you have is the frame left, for any which way you go.
Tapeing up is going to restrict you too much from getting to all the needed angles you will need to do.
I've did a few frames in the past, they are nothing but tubes and a real pain in the back bumper to prep and paint.
 
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