1983 Raleigh road bike- what paint?
Discussion
Just picked up a 1983 531 road bike with the intention of riding in this years Eroica Britannia.
Anyone know what's the best spray paint to use? Fancy a nice green or yellow frame rather than the bland 80s silver and black.
Already ordered tyres tubes cables and pads.
Very excited after not riding something like this for 30 years!!!!!
Mike
Ps it was 15 quid from local charity shop!!!!!!!
Anyone know what's the best spray paint to use? Fancy a nice green or yellow frame rather than the bland 80s silver and black.
Already ordered tyres tubes cables and pads.
Very excited after not riding something like this for 30 years!!!!!
Mike
Ps it was 15 quid from local charity shop!!!!!!!
Any car `cellulose` or acrylic spray cans will give a shiny finish but it isn`t very durable - if it`s a nice frame it`s possible to get just about any Raleigh transfers & the 531 ones from http://www.hlloydcycles.com/ for not much. Worth doing if you want it to look nice. Last frame I did up was powdercoated for £30, the finish really was good & is very tough. Otherwise give it a very thorough rub down & chat up a sprayer at refinish/accident repair place & hope he`s doing something in a colour you like - the 2 pack stuff is tougher.
I literally just finished painting my old frame tonight with standard automotive spray paints, I have to say that I'm not overly confident of the durability of the finish but we'll see...
Banana Boy Project Single Speed: Painted, Pin Striped and Laquered! 
by Ben Magee, on Flickr
The frame and forks were brought from ebay £22 delivered but they were also fully stripped and sand blasted which appealed to me. I have absolutely no idea of the make or age of this frame but it's not very light (2kg's for frame and fork) and judging from the three holes I filled in the head tube I think it will have been an old Raleigh from when they riveted the badges on... if that's any indication of age?
If you go down the paint route it's easy to under estimate the amount required! I managed to empty about 500ml of each coat to achieve full coverage! I went: Grey Primer, Silver Base, Red Pearl (Pug Diablo Red) and then a final high gloss clear lacquer. Total cost has been about £28! So not that much cheaper than powder coat and certainly not as durable!
Banana Boy Project Single Speed: Painted, Pin Striped and Laquered! by Ben Magee, on FlickrThe frame and forks were brought from ebay £22 delivered but they were also fully stripped and sand blasted which appealed to me. I have absolutely no idea of the make or age of this frame but it's not very light (2kg's for frame and fork) and judging from the three holes I filled in the head tube I think it will have been an old Raleigh from when they riveted the badges on... if that's any indication of age?
If you go down the paint route it's easy to under estimate the amount required! I managed to empty about 500ml of each coat to achieve full coverage! I went: Grey Primer, Silver Base, Red Pearl (Pug Diablo Red) and then a final high gloss clear lacquer. Total cost has been about £28! So not that much cheaper than powder coat and certainly not as durable!
Sheldon Brown's site is useful for all this sort of stuff. Your bike may be identifiable from the serial number:
Raleigh Database
Raleigh Database
uncinquesei said:
Sheldon Brown's site is useful for all this sort of stuff. Your bike may be identifiable from the serial number:
Raleigh Database
Lovely, thanks for that. Looks like mine is likely to be a Handsworth factory bike built in March 76! Raleigh Database
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