New color scheme on my wife's bicycle

[The_Eric]

It's an old Schwinn Sprint that I bought to modify after she couldn't find comfort on her old Raleigh Revinio. I modded it with some 700c sized wheels and 35mm Panaracer tires and fenders. Also added a Terry bike seat and a taller bar stem. Also freshened up the cables and housings.

She soon tired of the big tires, so I downsized them to at set of 28's, which made her pretty happy. After lots of adjusting, she was very pleased with the comfort, but not so happy with the shifting and gearing. So I added an 8 speed freewheel and bar end index shifters with a new rear dérailleur.

Once she thoroughly enjoyed riding the bike, she grew tired of the color- and I can't say that I blame her!

Here is a "before" shot:

And after I shot some green paint with a touch of gold pearl. I also added some yellow fenders and bar tape. She absolutely loves it- and I can all but guarantee that there won't be another on the roads and trails like it!

 

[AKhan87]

wow hard to please wife huh?
I guess it helps to have someone "handy" and willing to go through all that.

I agree it is one a kind and you def did a good job.

 

[The_Eric]

I know she sounds terrible, but she places a high level of importance on her comfort on that bike - I do too. Not only because I care about her, but what's good for the goose is good for the gander! And while she's no pro, she does typically get 1500+ miles a year. Enough saddle time that she has to like the bike she's on.

The bike needs to have broad enough range of gearing that she can negotiate the hilly road terrain she rides. Crisp shifting from the new shifters is a big thing to her too. These are all features she enjoyed on the Raleigh (except for the burning sensation she experienced) and wanted to get back. I suppose I've probably spoiled her a bit too, being both handy and willing to change her bike (and other stuff) to suit her whims/needs. I build and/or modify all kinds of stuff for her. In fact if you look in the background of the first picture, there is a rack for all her dumbbells- I made that for her too. Yeah... I've spoiled her.

 

[daves87rs]

Very nice!

 

[CourierDriver]

wow,,looks good, you should custom paint bikes...............

 

[tomcat27]

Very creative! Great job!

 

[kkreit01]

That looks cool. Very nice job. Retro.

 

[The_Eric]

Thanks guys! I thought that painting a bike frame would be really hard- and it's definitely harder than shooting a flat piece of metal, but it's not near as bad as I thought it would be. Actually fun.



Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
wow,,looks good, you should custom paint bikes...............


I'd certainly like to do more, but the problem is that no one wants to pay the bill for a custom painted bicycle. Paint alone will run 60-100+ dollars a pint, with a pint usually being the minimum- and those are just the basic colors. Reds and oranges are more expensive also. Get into the custom stuff with all sorts of effects and the sky is the limit! Some of the colors that my wife was looking at would have been about $200/pint!

That also doesn't include surface prep costs (sand blast usually), primer and clear coat (all of which are comparatively cheap). Then there would be labor to strip/assemble the bike if applicable, and of course, labor to shoot it. Heck, even if I stripped, sprayed and assembled the bike for 50-100 dollars, they would still have that plus paint costs...

 

[CourierDriver]

Market them to folks who want something besides factory stuff,,hey, folks pay 200 bucks for shoes and belts,,a bike with custom paint would be different,,,,,,,,,,when I see a 6000 dollar bicycle in a shop, unbelievable..

 

[JustinH]

Reminds me of a John Deere, cool!

 

[The_Eric]

An update to the project: She wanted to put some graphics on it- I said "I'd spring for them, just let me know what you want".

Here's her choice-

She tells me that she couldn't be happier with the bike!