Lightning Bolt : renamed to SHAZAM!

[jklier]

My 12 year old daughter is ready to upgrade from her 16" bike. She's easily tall enough for a compact 26" as she rides some of my shorter bikes. We decided to have some fun and rather than buy a new one we'd build one up together.

We went to a local bike salvage shop and found this frame which was originally from an electric mountain bike by Tidal Force. The frame isn't as shiny as shown in the picture, it's wet from cleaning and prepping for primer.

She wanted the bike to be blue and gold so in sticking with the electric theme we drew up a few quick ideas that resemble lightning bolts. I'm not an artist or expert painter so these are within my current skill level.

This one's not a lightning bolt but looks nice as well.

I got it primed last night so I hope to put the first color on this weekend.

We are planning to keep it as a 21 speed as it originally was. I'm using all salvaged components with the exception of the shifters and rear derailleur.

 

[HotRodHocke]

Re: Lightning Bolt

Not really the right colors, but IMO this looks "electric":

Håkan

 

[jklier]

Re: Lightning Bolt

Yes it does. I like that and will show it to my daughter. I'm sure I could mask that off without any trouble. Not having to go around the curve of the tubes makes it easier. This sides are fairly flat on the two big tubes.

 

[HotRodHocke]

Re: Lightning Bolt

Yes, it wouldn't be too hard to mask. Hope your daugther likes it too. Here's a more "golden" version:

Håkan

 

[jklier]

Re: Lightning Bolt

Thanks for that!

I've got a question about masking. I've painted a lot of bikes in the past but generally all one color. When masking something that has finer points would you generally tape it off on the bike then carefully cut back the unwanted tape or create the mask off the frame and then put it on?

 

[jklier]

Finally completed the rebuild this weekend. Here are photos of the progression.

Gold base for the lightning bolts

Lightning bolts masked ready for blue paint

Blue paint added

Built up and ready to ride

I've got one happy 12 year old. Now my other daughter is ready to build one up.

 

[noodlenoggin]

That paint job is AWESOME! When I masked off the points on mine, I stuck painter's tape to wax paper, cut our the shape, then peeled and stuck it to the bike.

 

[mrfritz]

FUN!

 

[jklier]

That paint job is AWESOME! When I masked off the points on mine, I stuck painter's tape to wax paper, cut our the shape, then peeled and stuck it to the bike.

Thanks for the compliment! Instead of wax paper I cut my stencils on a large Teflon cutting board. It worked very well. I had a lot of problems with that blue paint. The gold stuck like glue to the primer. Even though I prepped the gold layer before painting the blue I still had a number of issues with the blue pulling up with the tape. I tested it on a piece of scrap metal to try and determine the right time to pull the tape and it really didn't seem to matter if i did it right away or waited until it was dry to the touch. Fortunately I've got a decent hobby airbrush and with some light sanding and very careful spraying I was able to fix the defects. I am little concerned on how the blue will hold up since it didn't appear to be adhering very well. Both paints were Rustoleum so I would think they'd be compatible. I did shoot a bunch of clear on top so we'll so how it does.

 

[HotRodHocke]

Sorry that I never answered your question about masking, but judging from the pictures everything turned out great! Hope your daughter likes it also!

 

[jklier]

Yes it did go well except for the issues with the blue paint. I appreciate the help you provided!

Now I can start on the next bike for me!