Saturday fun, part II

So with everything ready to go, the question remained: how exactly to hang this bastard somewhere paint wasn't going to get all over something important? I had a few ideas in mind; with the fork still on, I could have locked the stem to the fence and used the fork to prop the frame out from the fence, but that might get into the neighbor's yard. I could have tried newspapering the garage and working there, but the heat was making the trashcans in there smell unbearable. The backyard was the best option, and since I was already wrapping parts in grocery bags and masking tape, why not go all the way and just white-trash it up. Out came the dry-cleaner hangers and gaphers tape. One hanger in the fork's wheel-wells, another around a tree branch and plier-ed into shape. A little more tape, and voila: one bike hanger. Far enough away from the house and deck that I could spray with impunity. Itching to begin, I gave the primer a quick shake and away we went. Now was when I actually started to get nervous about the project. Cleaning Frankenbike, sanding, even hanging, all those things were important but if they hit a snag it was early enough in the project that I could probably think up a way around it to keep the bike ride-able. The paint going on was the point of no return.

Fortunately there was no need to worry. The sanding seemed to do it's job, and the primer held to the bike really well. The entire can ended up on the bike, but by the time it did the bike was pretty much unrecognizable.

First coat on!

I did get a little over-zealous at points, leading to some drippage, but all in all the bike looked really good at this point (I actually liked it better white than I did with the silver on at the end of the day). BTW, the dog loved this project to the point I was a little concerned for her. I couldn't go outside without her each time, and she'd tear ass around the yard, blissfully uncaring about the heat or the sun. She practically collapsed at the end of the day she was so tired. It was great, as long as she's recuperated today.

Primer was on a little heavy at spots.

A little sanding over the drip spots, and it was time to try the silver. All in all, the painting took a little over 2 & 1/2 hours. I waited around 20 minutes between each coat, sometimes longer if I was playing with the dog. 3 primer coats, 2 silver coats, 2 clear coats. A lot of painting.

One of the silver coats; the second I think.

By the end of the day things looked pretty good. I was glad everything seemed to work out, even though I did like the bike better just plain white vs the silver. But now that I know it works, nothing's stopping me from sanding back down and re-applying some white gloss. Things are a little rougher-feeling than I thought they would be with so much clear coat on, we'll see if it requires more clear coat for the paint to stay on the bike and not on my pants. It was probably a little too humid for this yesterday, but some things you just can't control. I can always hope for better weather if I try this again. The real test is an actual ride, out in the elements with clothes rubbing and salt spraying. Hopefully it's a good long time before I get to try that for real.

Paint definitely didn't make the welds look any less awful, but all in all not a bad touch-up.

For now Frankenbike is waiting for reassembly, possibly even a re-christening once everything's back on. We'll see. Suburb days always go longer than expected, so by the time we got back there was only time to get ready for work today and that was about it. Re-assembly is probably tonite, with a pic or two to come. For now, I'm happy basking in yet another hare-brained idea panning out relatively well.

Current beer-scale: 3.0