[tovahrovah]

@drevil 202035 wrote:

If this person wants to try DIY, I recently discovered that Squid Bikes sells their paints for amateur and pro use: https://spraybike.us/

If you’ve never heard of or seen a Squid bike, their paint jobs are craaaaaaazy cool: https://www.instagram.com/squidbikes/

Thanks. I was the original emailer. Luckily, now I have a forum account. Thanks for all the helpful insight! Some follow up questions:

1. Is the Spray.bike as durable as powder coating? (Press releases on their website are making me think the product has been on market perhaps only 4 years.)

2. Any thoughts on how to get powder coating to match the “celeste” color? Use swatches? Anyone heard of someone matching the color well? (I realize the color ‘celeste’ has changed over the years.) (I think Spray.bike has a “Celeste”-like color, so this is more an issue with powder coating perhaps. I know auto body shops have machines that can color match for *wet* touch-up paint.)

3. Any performance (paint adhesion) differences between, for instance, using an edge sander with an abrasion pad vs. paying someone to sand blast the bike?

4. Has anyone used phosphoric acid (either applied with a sponge/gloves or as a bath) to stop progress of rust? (I’ve heard of BMX’ers using a much harsher chemical too …. oxalic acid.)

5. @ Judd – The link you sent may have changed during copy/paste process. Any chance you might be able to resend?

[tovahrovah]

@drevil 202035 wrote:

If this person wants to try DIY, I recently discovered that Squid Bikes sells their paints for amateur and pro use: https://spraybike.us/

If you’ve never heard of or seen a Squid bike, their paint jobs are craaaaaaazy cool: https://www.instagram.com/squidbikes/

I was the original person who asked H.D. the question by email. Now I’ve joined the forum. (@ H.D. – Thanks!) For context, the bike’s a mid-1980’s Biancha frame (beautiful steel lugs, but sadly, it’s manufactured in Japan, not Italy). I think it’s a Brava model, but not enough decal survives to be sure, and I’ve not yet asked the expert on BikeForums.net based on the serial number on the BB. It’s not in great shape paint/rust-wise, but I want to save it.

Some follow up questions:

1. I was familiar with the Spray.Bike product — from other online fora. Has anyone ever used Spray.bike or known anyone who’s used it? As durable as powder coating? While powder coating is a comparatively expensive and complicated process, I’d prefer to not have to strip down the frame again any time soon.

2. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get close to one of Bianchi’s “celeste” colors with the powder coating process? Know anyone that’s ever done it? (I recognize the shade of this color is a moving target over the last century.)

3. Anyone had an experience using phosphoric acid to arrest rust? (It’s an active ingredient in both Naval Jelly and Coca Cola.) Just want to do a sanity check, before moving forward.

My current thought is I can either pay someone to sandblast the frame or use a edge grinder to remove paint, bathe the frame in phosphoric acid to make sure there are no remaining, unseen rust spots, and then either powder coat or try this Spray.Bike product.

Really appreciate your collective wisdom & advice.

[Author]

Posts