Painting/Finishing your Carbon Chiner

[DirtyForks]

Hey folks, anybody have any experience in painting your carbon bike? Have you had it painted at source? What was your experience like? Did your supplier send a template to be decorated? What about painting it yourself? Adding decals, wraps, etc.

Share your experience and show us a pic of the finished project.

I know I'd like to add some personalization so please share your creative ideas.

[Carbon_Dude]

When ordering both of my frames from Peter who is now with XMcarbonspeed.com, I had them painted.  The work wasn't perfect but pretty good for what was charged.  Here are a few pics, the black areas are unpainted and both frames have a gloss topcoat:

[MTB2223]

A local painter did the job for me: http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,834.msg9171.html#msg9171

[DirtyForks]

When ordering both of my frames from Peter who is now with XMcarbonspeed.com, I had them painted.  The work wasn't perfect but pretty good for what was charged.  Here are a few pics, the black areas are unpainted and both frames have a gloss topcoat:

Love the 2-tone. Did you send Peter a mock-up or did he send you a file for you to place the details on/digitize?

[Carbon_Dude]

Peter and I discussed the color scheme, he sent a picture of what the frame would look like after painting.  Basically a bitmap file of the frame with the color kinda hand drawn.  Not the greatest picture but it did get the point across and we agreed upon what it would look like.

Two tone is nice, a single color is much easier for them since they don't have mask anything.

There is one other Chinertown forum member that chose the same color scheme as I did.  Appears to be popular.

[karstenhorn]

There is one other Chinertown forum member that chose the same color scheme as I did.  Appears to be popular.

I must admit that I got a "bit" inspired

[Patrick C.]

If you haven't seen 325racer's awesome woodgrain paint job, check it out-
http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,246.msg2720.html#msg2720

I had mine painted a solid color by the seller (Peter, when he was with XMIplay) - partly for simplicity since there is less chance for error, and partly because I couldn't come up with a design that I really liked better than a bright red bike.  I added a gold vinyl dragon sticker on the down tube- it does get covered with mud pretty easily.  You can find plenty of stock designs or sites that will print custom ones. 




In the future I could remove the dragon and add some chrome and white accents, like this-

[325racer]

If you haven't seen 325racer's awesome woodgrain paint job, check it out-
http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,246.msg2720.html#msg2720

I had mine painted a solid color by the seller (Peter, when he was with XMIplay) - partly for simplicity since there is less chance for error, and partly because I couldn't come up with a design that I really liked better than a bright red bike.  I added a gold vinyl dragon sticker on the down tube- it does get covered with mud pretty easily.  You can find plenty of stock designs or sites that will print custom ones. 



Thanks for saving me the trouble of finding a link!  I was about to post mine, but you beat me to it.  Mine was done by a local painter.  We talked concept and I let him go.  A few details I wasn't totally happy about, but the overall from 2 feet away is amazing.  Get's so many comments, even more than riding my Ti road bike on the trails.


In the future I could remove the dragon and add some chrome and white accents, like this-

[Roadie2mtb]

Hi, I'm undecided on two colors the pantone #382 & #389 found a pic of frame with 389 paint, but can't find any with confirmed to be #382 paint. Has anyone had there frame painted in these colors, and any pics?

[Carbon_Dude]

To my eye, Pantone 382 & Pantone 389 look almost the same, one is just a very subtle shade lighter than the either.  If that's the color you like, I don't think you'd be unhappy with either one.

If I were to order the 29+ frame from Workswell, I was going to have them paint it Pantone 320C, a similar green to what Yeti uses on their frames.  Since they said they could not do metallic colors, which would have been my first choice, a solid Pantone color was all they offered.

[Roadie2mtb]

Yes they very close in color. I want something like fluorescent yellow, a little neon green in it. Seen some frames that color.  I can't seem to upload a pic, says upload file full

[Carbon_Dude]

Yes, I know the picture upload function on Chinertown doesn't work.  I will send a note to Ned.

[MTB2223]

Yes, I know the picture upload function on Chinertown doesn't work.  I will send a note to Ned.

Or use an online image storage site like imgur => http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,196.0.html

[Roadie2mtb]

Actually I found the thread, How to post pictures on here. Use Imgur i guess, Thanks.

[Carbon_Dude]

Yes, using the attachment option seems to be causing problems.  I am working Ned on trying either to fix it or disable it altogether.