Matching the drapes to the rug
As a longtime titanium bike owner, I’ve always been jealous of a beautiful painted frame but Ti and carbon frames don’t need paint like a steel frame needs paint. But I want some painted beauty. It’s like buying a white car; I can’t do white, need some color. So between a Ti frame and a carbon fork…I got nothing.
Well, a little knowledge is dangerous and throw in a compressor and an automotive spray gun and the potential for mayhem goes up. You want to paint your fork celeste green? Good luck with that as you go into your local auto refinishing paint store and try to describe Bianchi’s celeste green or De Rosa pink – blank stares. They will hand you huge stacks of paint samples all related to cars. Celeste green is a big problem, the nearly celeste green of a 1981 Fiat, no problem.
I found a used, top-end Trek Madone frame on eBay a few years ago, to bring my wife out of the Ti age and into the Carbon age. It was a project one frame, meaning it had been custom painted at the Trek factory. When we had the frame in-hand someone pointed out it was Subaru Forester green. Yep, that is correct. Who wants a bike painted Subaru Forester green? I was not ready to take on that repaint so I had it done somewhat professionally, at the local surfboard fabrication and repair spot. Years later the front fork needed to be repainted and I knew I could handle it. I practiced on an old alpha-q carbon fork and decided the Merlin’s fork was going to get it too.
Who wouldn’t want to match the stem to the fork? There are no Rules about this, but visually I think it works. Stems like paint. If I was going to paint forks I was absolutely going to paint some stems too. I think the secret to this might be the clear coat that goes on after the color coat. It is a catalyzed product, tough and flexible. It’s why your car still looks good after a few years on the road.
You can do all this with a rattle-can of color paint from the hardware store but you can’t spray a catalyzed clear coat on top so it might not hold up well. And this spraying is nasty but fun when it’s done, if it goes well.
Carbon Fork paint production
I want to like the green and pink combo. I really do. But I just can’t. I’m sure we can extend the rules regarding matching of bar tape and saddles to that choice of paint colors. Because it’s a slippery slope.
On the other hand, the red/grey combo looks the balls.
To each his own. My wife and I both tend toward the, how to say, overstated. But even a white bike with a white fork and stem would be pretty cool.
Side note, don’t tell @Haldy that this sort of thing is possible. I can’t imagine the paint job he’d come up with.
Nice jobs on the new colors. I painted the stem on my graveur Velominati orange and in comparison to your stellar work, it looks shite. And no, I won’t post a picture!
@Gianni
Hey, they’re your bikes, to be sure. All-white bike sounds fun, but it’s a bitch to keep clean, and care must be taken with choice of kit such that it doesn’t appear that one is the winner of the best young rider jersey.
@Owen
As a rule minimalist, I think that the basic rule is there- bar tape matches the saddle. Period. I can attest to this truth as I am testing out some saddles right now and my LBS doesn’t have all-black demos and the look is horrifying since I’m not swapping bar tape on every ride to match a demo saddle. (Merckx forgive me). Believe it or not, a white saddle on a black and white bike with black bar tape still looks wrong. The Keepers knew this.
Stems are interesting- I think of them as non-disposable part of the bike (unlike bar tape or brake pads) and therefore fall under rules governing the paint/look of the overall bike. Therefore, any color you like as long as it looks good. I want to like this look, but it should be carefully employed rather than precisely regulated.
Bit of misinformation in that pre-mixed paint–I.E. spraypaint–is not catalyzed, as spray-finish enamels are batch mixed prior to spraying, the shelf-life of a catalyzed paint is quite short; how long depends on the paint and catalyst and mix, but it is between minutes and days, not months or years (spraypaint.)
Spraypaint has volatile solvents to evaporate, so the paint then air-cures. To cure closer to the durability of commercial finishes, finishes need to be cured in an oven. The hardness of spraypaint that has air-cured is not sufficiently durable held up to repeat contact compared to commercial finishing.
That said, powdercoating is pretty inexpensive for any metallic parts!
When done right it can look the business.
-Eddie
@EBruner
yeah baby, that’s what I’m talking about. I did lobby Brett to get his stem painted when he got his jaegher. Crimey, they painted the bars too. They get IT!
@BacklashJack
Yes, exactly. I’m not promoting more Rules. As long as it’s awesome. That’s my motto.
Dear god, what have you done?
Even I, who once chose the kitchen color that shook a neighborhood, can see you’ve committed a heinous crime.
I love my white bike with white frame, white for, white stem- but although it originally had white wheels and white bar tape (white saddle stays) I figured I was bascially riding a Ghost Bike and that’s bad juju. So it now has black wheels, blue tyres and blue tape.
And the next time I get a new bike, I’m going colourful. But not lime green and hot pink. Ewwww.
@Al__S
That ghost bike comment got me thinking about my newest bike (although it’s five years old now), but i reckon there’s enough red and black on it to keep the juju positive.
P.s. I am fully aware that the above photo clearly shows my flaunting of rules #29 to 31, but in my defence I will say that the Lezyne saddle pack and pump are at least colour coordinated.
It’s a slippery slope……..
@Steve Trice
I don’t have strong feelings about the pump (you’ve hidden it pretty well), but just think how MUCH better the bike would look if you ditched the EPMS.
It’s tiny, anyway, you can fit that stuff in your pockets. Obey the Rules.
@RobSandy
On short summer rides maybe, but on longer rides on cooler/ wet days when I’m carrying food, clothing and an extra spare tube, it’s a struggle. Moreover if the kit’s attached I ain’t going to forget it. Last week I was 5km down the road when I realised I’d not taken my bidons out of the fridge. I probably wouldn’t have missed the saddle pack gear until (if) I needed it.
@Steve Trice
Rule #3!
Ha ha, I stand corrected but, by definition, Rule #3 is the one that I (and most other transgressing adherents/ non-adherents) break the most frequently. It remains top of any list of “other offences to be taken in to account”
@Steve Trice
That thing is not tiny. It’s huge. What have you got in there? A full dining set?
Food in an EPMS does not compute. You can’t eat on the go. A little and often is preferable in my book.
Jelly Babies are great for this and I make my own energy bar and wrap easy bite bars in Rice Paper so I have nothing to unwrap and no rubbish. You do need to keep the bar in a waterproof bag otherwise the Rice Paper descends into a soggy mush. I have a waterproof zip bag that I put in my jersey pocket with the top unzipped for easy access.
Dang how did this get to EPMSs again!
It’s not that big, contains one tube, 2 levers, multi tool with chain breaker, spoke key, patches. Food goes in pockets, but for longer rides I just use Hammer Perpetuem formed into a paste which means I can carry 700 to 900 calories in a small, soft plastic flask. Only on rides up towards and above 150km though. Never bother with solids on rides, in fact if I start craving solid food it’s a certain indicator that I’m about to meet the man with the hammer.
Nice shot of your wife’s bike. What about yours?
what’s next, the right haircut?
@EBruner
you need to send them that Garmin mount!
@Teocalli
I can’t really comment on the EPMS is question as either the internet or my computer appears to have been so disturbed by it that has removed the picture.
Homemade food is definitely the way to go, you know exactly what you’re putting in and you can tailor it to suit what your body likes/deals with best.
@chris
I thought it was just me being on a mac. Must be @fraahhnk’s new Rule filter.
@Teocalli
Saw this on Cycling Tips this morning. Doesn’t matter whether it’s any good or not but being 3D printed titanium makes it automatically awesome and great value for money.
@chris
Mrs Sandy has obtained the British Cycling recipe for flapjacks. Highly recommended. I think I’m now 85% oats.
@Teocalli
Sadly, if there is such a thing it hasn’t picked up @Gianni’s stubby erectile stem issues in the lead photo. Is that thing off a mountain bike?
@RobSandy
I base mine on John Torode’s recipe but vary the fruit. At the moment I’m on a high Fig/Date content. One great thing about homemade is that you can make them less solid than the commercial ones so they take less chewing.
http://www.wheelsuckers.co.uk/forum/topics/john-torode-s-flapjack-from-last-weeks-cycling-show
Wrapped in Rice Paper I cut them into easy bite bars as below.
@Teocalli
Nice hob. Induction?
@RobSandy
Radiant – H did not fancy buying a whole new set of pans.
@Teocalli @RobSandy
Do you know anybody who has ever tried one of those Bora extractors? They look great in the commercials on Eurosport.
@Steve Trice
In a word. Nope. I can’t help wonder where the outlet goes. If you have solid floors then you will have to route the outlet through the kitchen units to exit the wall at ground level. Seems much easier to go through the ceiling space and if you have an island unit you’re kinda buggered. Plus I like the lights above the hob with a ceiling extractor and I kinda like the spaceship hovering over the hob in the middle of the room.
@RobSandy
I make my own gel & I’ve been considering mixing up my own chamois creme. While the gel saves tons of money and lots of trash, not sure if the creme will save much. But, it might be fun to mix up!
Oh, and I’ll second homemade food both on and off the bike. I don’t really like going out to eat. Such a waste of time, in my opinion. And I can’t sit still for that long. And I’ve been a server and a sous chef, so I know what does/can go on back there.
But, more importantly, most restaurants, even fancy ones…put so damn much salt and butter into things. I go home feeling like I’ve been walking in the desert.
Teocalli – I feel much better about myself when I eat Gummy Bears, as opposed to Jelly Babies. You weirdos over there!
Gianni – only a Velominatus living in HI goes to a surf shop…to get a bicycle painted! You nut.
@Ron
I’ve no idea about the cost aspect of making your own chamois creme, but not being a fan of gels I suspect it would be possible to make your own chamois creme that tastes better than most commercial gels.
@chris
Chamois cream? I use drugstore Vitamin A&D ointment. Does the job just fine. As for how it tastes, no idea and no desire to find out! Somethings are just better bought commercially.
@Ron
How do you package the homemade gel? Flapjacks I can understand – some aluminum foil or greaseproof paper. But gel? Do you use one of those wee squishy bottles meant for your shampoo etc when you fly? That might work.
Standard on my custom Shand Skinnymalinky, the latest steel pave, rain and winter bike – matching painted frame, forks and stem. Quality. Reynolds 853, Columbus mix, Wound Up carbon forks. I wasn’t sure I would like the painted stem (or that Brookes Cambium C17) but I was wrong.
@chris
Hey! Hey! That’s my wife’s erectile dysfunction stem. Actually with that angle one couldn’t call it E.D. and it’s 90mm, could be worse.
Thank god you didn’t read the post. It’s a Madone with a somewhat short headtube. Wife didn’t want to be too slammed on the stem. Maybe I’ll flip it and see if she notices.
@Gianni
I saw the short stem, was going to comment, but read the post. Thought better of it !
@Gianni
Come on get serious. What article?
@Owen
What makes you think I don’t know about these possibilities!
@RobSandy
” Nice Hob ” spat beer all over key pad !
Is black still a good thing?
Black, but with a bit of bling?
you are a horrible person, nowhere does the colour of your headtube match the bartape.. I’m very disappointed!
@wiscot
I have two bottle that I use. One is a Hammer Nutrition Gel “flask”, around 5 oz. It’s flexible plastic with an up/down nozzle like older bidons and then a clear cap that goes over that. Very small, easily fits in a pocket.
If I’m doing a monster ride, I have a flexible bag type bottle. It’s more like a tube of toothpaste. You can roll the plastic up as you consume the gel. Pretty big though and don’t often need that much gel.
I have no interest in jamming a sticky gel wrapper in my jersey pocket, so the bottles work well for me. No mess, no trash.
I can also recommend the Hammer gel flask. Used in paste form I can get close to 900 calories of energy “drink” in one.
http://www.hammernutrition.co.uk/a–hammer-flask-111-p.asp