WHAT NOW?
If you’ve recently bought a wet-spray finish from us, another refinisher or a framebuilder has used our services on your new build, you’ve likely spent a couple of quid and you want to protect your work. Here are a few things to know about taking care of your custom paint. There are broad, sweeping statements here but they should be enough to help you care for the finish once it’s handed back to keep it looking it’s best.
BE PATIENT
If you just dropped you’re bike off and you’ve found yourself here… just try to think about something else! Good work takes time.
Please don’t ask for progress shots and please don’t ask for updates. That’s not part of the process; every moment spent answering your email is a moment where no painting is going on! You might not be delaying your project but you will be delaying someone else’s… which in turn actually delays yours!
Really… please don’t ask for photos or updates. A wet paint workshop is less like a garage and more like a kitchen; you wouldn’t ask a chef for a photo of your meal, or if they’d boiled the veg yet!
We know you’ll be keen to get your bike assembled and get some miles on it. Who wouldn’t? It’s yours and you can do what you like with it of course but it is important to note that although “DRY”, fresh paint is not always fully “CURED”. This means that there are still solvents departing from the finish and until they’ve all left, the finish has not reached its optimal strength. If you can resist building it, you should:
Fully unwrap it from all packaging
Hang it up somewhere
Leave it for three weeks (at least)
If your finish has a flowcoat, leave it for five weeks (at least)
It isn’t necessary to hang it in a warm place or an airing cupboard to encourage the curing, just somewhere undisturbed is fine.
Before this curing window has elapsed, you mustn’t place any stickers or protective films over the paint; this can prevent solvent departure and in fact “melt” the adhesives on your stickers and bond them to the clearcoat, meaning you won’t be able to remove them without taking the paint with you!
ASSEMBLE WITH CARE
When you’re ready to have it built, take it to a bike shop you trust. Broadly speaking, you’ll do better with a smaller independent bike shop staffed by enthusiasts who will take pride in building up your bike carefully.
Here are a few we recommend.
Very rarely will your bike shop need to “chase” or “face” any threads or contact points but on occasion, it can be necessary in some instances to remove paint from areas which can’t be protected during finishing.
Any non-stainless contact points will have paint or primer still on them in order to seal the steel. This will be fine if left untouched. It is acting as a barrier to the substrate and will prevent corrosion but this should be considered sacrificial; You’ll scratch paint off your bottle bosses if you install a bottle for example. Ask your framebuilder to make all contact points stainless. It costs a bit more but it’s better for the life of your finish.
There is no paint impervious to clamping in a stand… don’t do it! EVER!
Cable contact will abrade your paint through riding. The cables will rub on the paint in the same area over and over and wear a hole in the finish. If you get grit and dirt on those cables, they become even more abrasive. If your budget can stretch to it, get your finish wrapped.
LOOK AFTER IT
Whilst some finishes could be said to be works of art, they’re still bikes. Ride them. Scratch them. Earn the patina. Wear them in, don’t wear them out.
Consider a PROFESSIONAL finish wrap (not a kit on eBay or a keen mechanic in your local bike shop).
We recommend Chris at CycleWrap UK.
It’s essential that you wait at least THREE weeks from collection before you wrap your bike or FIVE weeks if your finish includes any kind of flowcoat. This will allow solvents to depart from the finish rather than being trapped by the protective film.
Taking care of a premium wet finish isn’t the same as jet-washing your big-brand bike after a race or grabbing a bucket of soapy water for your car on a Sunday.
The products we use are often the same, but the level of finishing is much higher than on an ‘off-the-peg’ or “factory finish” and it’s much easier to see a scratch in a glossy custom finish than in the “peel” on a factory finish.
We recommend caring for your finish as though it were on a luxury Hot-Rod… the quality is the same. Really.
Buy a good finishing carnauba wax and get a decent coating on there. The wax will put a waterproof barrier on the paint, helping it bead. This barrier will make cleaning dust off really easy.
If you get minor scuffs and scratches in the finish, get in touch and we can potentially remove these without paint - especially if you opted for a flowcoat. Better still, come and learn how to detail and remove scratches with us.
Slim’s Detailing is an excellent place to purchase waxes, cleaners and detailing supplies.