‘THE SMALL PRINT’
Frequently Asked and even Frequently un-asked questions
In no particular order, here is some information about custom wet spray finishing in general and some more specific information about my personal practices and processes. I update this section as often as I can. If you’re contemplating a finish, it’s worth having a read. Some of this appears blunt and I’m aware but its important that for the sake of transparency, you understand the ins-and-outs and neither of us get any surprises.
All projects are billed in two instalments; a 50% deposit to commit your project to my workflow and a final 50% on collection.
We work mostly on newly built framesets directly from framebuilders. These come to us effectively raw and “ready to paint”. If your substrate already has paint, it will need to be media-blasted (steel) £90, chemically stripped (aluminium/titanium) £90 or rawed by hand (carbon) from £350.
If your substrate is discovered to be damaged beneath its original paint, we’ll let you know right away. If simple cosmetic repairs are possible we’ll undertake them or refer you to a framebuilder who can advise you; either option will potentially carry additional costs.
Any matte or satin finish is applied OVER a flattened gloss finish for optimal strength. These carry an additional fee of £150.
A flowcoat or “Showcoat” is a full additional round of clearcoat on your substrate. It makes colours more vibrant and adds additional protection to the paint beneath. Flowcoats are recommended but not essential on all finishes. Some more complex graphic arrangements and product combinations MUST have a flowcoat. Flowcoats are £150.
We aim to turn around work as quickly as we can but never at the expense of the finish. At busier times in the year, finishes may take longer to complete. All work here is done by hand. Keep this in mind when considering your deadlines.
I NEVER ship painted bikes. Royal Mail, UPS, FED EX etc… they don’t care about your paint finish and on more than one occasion, they’ve damaged and even lost bikes!
If you want to mail your bike to me, that’s fine. For the return journey, my preference is always for you to collect in person where possible.
If that isn’t practical for you, I am happy to wrap and box your frame safely for you and then you can arrange a courier collection service of your choice.
I recommend FORKLIFT BIKE, who are specialists in transporting bikes and frames in the UK.
If you’re London based and you’re unable to make it to my workshop for collection, it’s perfectly acceptable for you to arrange an UBER or an Addison Lee car etc.
Some key points to remember…
A wet spray finish should be considered akin to any “hand-made” item you may be familiar with; additionally, I operate a small and humble workshop… This means that whilst every effort will be made to achieve the greatest finish possible, your paint may potentially feature some elements of human imperfection or surface inclusion. Some substrates and colour choices are better than others and I’ll let you know before I paint.
A wet spray finish is not indestructible.
You can damage your paint after only one ride. It could even be damaged BEFORE your first ride if it isn’t built carefully!
Application and removal of stickers can be enough to damage the paint.
Wiping the finish with the wrong type of cloth can be enough to show fine scratches.
Paint doesn’t just “fall off”- If you used to have paint on your bike in one area and now you don’t, something has happened. Chips in your paint mean something has hit it, scratches mean something has glanced it, marring and dulling means something has rubbed against it.
If you have an MTB, off-road or gravel bike, you’re going to ruin your paint. Come to terms with that now. In the battle of paint vs rock, rock wins.
Your bike isn’t ornamental… using it is damaging it. That’s the nature of it. It will wear.
Not all designs can be repaired. Not all repairable designs can be repaired “invisibly”.
Repairs on our own finishes are taken in at our discretion.
Repairs are not free of charge.
We don’t perform localised repairs on any bike we didn’t paint originally.
“Inclusions” are a part of wet spray finishing. Small particles, dust and fibres are the bane of a refinisher. Lots can be removed with polishing, lots can’t. Prepare to potentially see inclusions in the finish, ESPECIALLY with white/lighter solid colours, plain single colour finishes and even MORESO on carbon frames.
Flowcoats are not essential but always recommended.
Professionally applied cycle wraps can prolong the life of your paint but we cannot guarantee how well it will interact with the products, we only recommend CycleWrap UK. We cannot guarantee compatibility with any third-party paint protection films.
Older, off-the-peg bikes used different products and methods which are now unavailable based on their environmental impact. Your hand-painted custom wet spray finish is not as strong as cheaper or mass-produced finish on your old Raleigh or the Cannondale road bike you might have.
High quality professional grade wet-spray products are used here in full accordance with the manufacturer’s recommended application methods and processes. Whilst this is the case, the aesthetic appearance of your finish cannot be offered under warranty.
Attaching bags directly to a wet spray finish will damage the paint.
We can’t tell you every possible circumstance to avoid damaging or compromising your finish but “be careful” covers most circumstances.
Liquid and non-liquid materials used in combination often offer low or no chemical or mechanical bonds. Foils, leafs and other similar materials are, by their nature, delicate and represent the “weak link” in the product layering. As such they are more susceptible to damage.
Great care should be taken when utilising a PPF product with a leaf or foil finish as they can be easily compromised.
If you genuinely think your bike has damage as a result of an error made here at QCW, get in touch and send detailed pics - if we have made a mistake, we will rectify it at our own expense.
Product build from paint can be fractions of a millimetre but this can be significant to alter the tolerances of some parts and how they interact. Time Trial bikes with fascias and cowlings for example can be particularly troublesome. In some instances, you may need to fettle the finish a little to get pieces to marry snugly. This can be even more significant if you have opted for minimal ‘flat and feather’ paint removal.