Lightweight Standard Gen II - Painting Spokes

[philhul]

Hi,

I've just got some Gen IIs in great condition. I'd only seen Gen IIIs in the flesh previously and hadn't realised just how orange the spokes are on the Gen II so I'm thinking about painting them.

I've searched and there are some threads on painting but they are mostly about returning them to Carbonsports to have done. I'd be happy to do myself but I can't see any threads where people have done it and details of what paint they used.

Has anyone done it?

I'm not bothered about fooling people into thinking they are newer than they are, I just think they look better all black and until I get a new frame all black will fit in better with my current bike athestically (sp?).

Thanks in advance.

Phil

[adriano]

[shinyboy]

Marker works fine, maybe need to do a couple of coats but you'll get the desired effect.

[record]

I once read that Carbon Sports said it is absolutely ok to use marker to make the spokes black and it will not void warranty.

[philhul]

I'd seen reference to markers on the other posts but have seen no pics of the finished results. I thought paint might look better as the markers might be purpleish?

I've 'borrowed' a couple of sharpies from work so can have a go do don't really want to be the guinea pig!

[sharkman]

Take your bike and ride to the nearest Halfords, ask for plasti dip and you can paint your spokes in a lot of different colours.
The stuff works near perfect (looks a lot like the paint carbon sports use for their edition wheels) and it even is easy to remove.
I did numurous carbon wheel with the stuf (and complete parts of cars) and imho it is a perfect solution (and so much better looking than edding).

If you worry you can first spray a thin layer of Bulldog on the spokes (sticking enhancer) but this is not really nescesary.

Not really a bike but this is what it looks like after applying some layers of plasti dip on honda Wheels:

[KB]

I had mine done at a local paintshop and they came out fine; the spokes and rims done in a shiny as opposed to matt finish. Don't know what paint was used.

[philhul]

I want to go down the DIY route so the plasti dip stuff looks good. I want to apply by brush to save having to spend ages masking off and it is available in a tin as well as aerosol. I'll post the results. Thanks!

[philhul]

Well I've done both the front and rear. if you look closely you can see they are painted but from any sort of distance you'd think they were just back spokes. We'll have to wait and see on durability. Definitely pleased I did it, they look much better.

[snips]

They look great!

Kinda missing them now...

[UKpaul]

Philhul what did you use and where did you get it from? I'm in the UK too and fancy doing the same to mine

[philhul]

Ha, cheers Mark. Due to the weather and a couple of weekends away only got out on them for the first time tonight. They're absolutely fantastic!!

UKpaul - I couldn't get any of the Plasti dip mentioned above so I just tried plastikote from b&q. The small pot was easily more than enough. You just need to have the patience to paint on thinly but do a few coats. They look great.

http://www.diy.com/nav/decor/paint/specialist-paints/craft_paint/Plasti-kote-Fast-Dry-Enamel-Brush-On-Flat-Black-59ml-10817676

[UKpaul]

Thanks for that, I'll give it a try this week.

[Wcl4]

I did mine with high quality waterproof India ink and a brush. It was perfect, no brush marks. The finish is sort of a duller semi gloss. The reason I didn't go the marker route was that sharpies have a purplish cast to the black. Spray painting would have been too much a hassle for me with overspray and such, although that probably would have been the best route. Regular paint, I was worried about streaking and brush marks. I wasn't worried about the elements since I would never take those wheels in the rain, so I'm not sure what the durability would have been.