How to Paint a Bike

By Charles Haine
Published on June 20, 2013
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Learn the ins and outs of cycling culture in “The Urban Biking Handbook.”
Learn the ins and outs of cycling culture in “The Urban Biking Handbook.”
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One popular but difficult way to customize your bicycle is to paint it.
One popular but difficult way to customize your bicycle is to paint it.

Across the United States people are leaving their cars behind and immersing themselves in the bicycle culture. The Urban Biking Handbook (Quarry Books, 2011) by Charles Haine offers an illustrated guide to cycling culture with repair and maintenance techniques as well as information on the health benefits of cycling. In this excerpt from chapter 4, “Customization,” learn how to paint a bike.

You can purchase this book from the MOTHER EARTH NEWS store: The Urban Biking Handbook.

One popular but difficult way to customize your bicycle is to paint it. There are a spectrum of options available for painting a bike, from the grittiest DIY through hiring custom bicycle frame painting specialists, who often cost as much as the price of a new low-end road bike.

How to Paint a Bike

Spray paint. The easiest way to paint a bike is to pick up a rattle can of spray paint at the hardware store and paint away, but this is far from ideal. Since your bike likely has a paint job on it already, the spray paint doesn’t have a good surface to adhere to and will quickly start flaking off. I don’t recommend this unless you are going for a punk-rock aesthetic, in which case, rattle can away.

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