A few new paint jobs

So it has been a while since I last posted, but don't worry, this isn't due to me not painting bikes, it is more due to me being lazy about posting. I've actually painted a few bikes since the last post, so here are a few pics and a little info on those.

I originally stripped and clearcoated this Big Dummy for my friend Joel, but he decided he wanted something new. Here it is in Fluorescent Orange!

This is a Gitane that was originally blue. The chrome stays really make this bike look nice. If you are interested in how lugged bikes look after powder, check out the other pictures of this one in my flickr and picasa accounts.

This Trek w/couplers turned out really awesome. Its hard to see in the picture, but this green is just awesome. I am hoping to paint more bikes this color!

My friend Kent from work brought me this CrossCheck, and it turned out great. It is a surprise for his wife, and I think he picked out an awesome blue. Hopefully she will be as pumped as he is!

I just repainted and rebuilt my Surly 1x1 for some easier winter riding. The bike was orange, but I couldn't match their color to paint the rims, so I just found a new orange to paint it with. It's pretty fun to ride around in the snow, a little heavy, but I've resigned myself to not going super fast on it. The bright orange will hopefully help me be seen!

This frame has been posted before on here when I painted it green. I didn't really like how it turned out, and since it took a while before I got the rest of the parts, I redid it in black w/gold sparkle. Mr. Erik Noren of Peacock Groove helped me build the front rack, and it turned out real nice. It rides real nice too!

This is the last bike of this post, and it was a really fun paint job. My colleague Andy at work had his Civia Hyland hanging in the department for a while, and after I told him I painted bikes for about 10 months, we finally decided on a color and pulled the trigger.  My cousin Tara helped me with the decals, and it really turned out awesome. The blue is powdercoat, but then I clearcoated it with wet paint so I could put the decals on under there and give them some protection. Of course we painted the fenders and chainguard to match. I am really pumped to see this bike on the street!

So that's what I have been up to lately, or since my last post anyway. Please take a look at my online albums for more pics of these sweet bikes!

The latest from the paint booth

So, I've been painting again. And I figured I would post again about these bikes that were painted.

Kristy brought me this bike and it was looking pretty rough. She wanted a "bee" scheme and this was basically what she came up with. The taping was a whole new ball game with powder, but in the end it was looking pretty sweet. I also painted the cranks as you can see in the picture below! I have a few more pictures of it as well, so check my online albums for those!

I also painted a bike of my own this past weekend, and I figured I would throw up a few pics of that. This bike is actually another modified Salsa La Cruz, done once again by Mr. Erik Noren of Peacock Groove. Not quite as much modifying this time, but cantilever studs once again. I again painted my rims to match, but this time I build the bike up with a Shimano 600, 7spd group. So far, I'm liking the fit and also the downtube shifters. I also put some 35c cross tires on here, and I like the extra cush alot as well.

As usual, I have more pics in my online album, so feel free to check them out and let me know what you think!

Ashley's bike!!!

Alright, this is pretty intense. 3 posts in one night!!!! But I am on a roll, and this bike is oober cool, so I pretty much had to throw this up here.

Last fall I bought a Surly Cross Check for my girlfriend Ashley, and since I paint bikes I thought I would spice this up for her a little bit. She picked out the sparkly purple, and when I asked her what the second color should be, she said silver. That was all she specified so I took it from there...

It took me a while to come up with the final plan, so in the mean time I had the talented Erik Noren of Peacock Groove customize the frame for me a little bit. Mid-blade braze-ons went into the fork, and a solid brake cable housing stop was added to the rear of the bike so we could get rid of the dongle Surly supplies. At this point I had a solid idea of what I was going to do, and I had accumulated most of the parts necessary to build this little guy, so it was time to get started.

This picture isn't the best to really see what is going on, but it's a start... Its a 2x9 set up with some sweet cruiser bars, plus purple grips!!







 

Here you can get an actual idea of what I was trying to do. I wanted it just to be bubbles that went up and got smaller, but I ended up using some stars as well. Not a bad choice if I do say so myself.
















 I put a few little accents on the fork as well!!







Here is a better view of the "cockpit." It is even has a speedometer and bell!










Paul Thumbies and some shiny Shimano brake levers make this bike one sick ride!!



So that is Ashley's Cross Check! I was pretty pumped about this project the whole way through, and it is pretty awesome to see it cruising down the road!

HUP United!

I said I was going to post some pics of these bikes I painted for Dave Corey, but I never got around to it. So here they are!!

There are 2 other bikes that I don't really have pictures of yet, but I will work diligently to get those pictures, and post them post haste!

I've got powder!!

It's happened! I am officially powdercoating stuff!!

It took a bit to get the oven all finished, but it is now and it cooks like no other. I was going to take some pictures of it, but I promptly forgot about that. I did take a few pictures though of the first 2 bikes I have coated. 
This white bike is the first bike/anything that I coated. It turned out pretty alright and the durability seems to be quite awesome. I'm putting more pics up in my picasa album and also on flickr, so if you wanna see more of this guy, check it out there!

This green bike is actually mine. The finish is a 2 layer color where you put down a chrome or silver base, and then what they call a translucent or candy green. It's hard to see in the picture, but this color really blows up in the sun. More pics of this will be on my online web albums as well.





I know it's been a while since my first real post, and a lot has been happening, it's just that I'm not the best at updating this things. But I'm going to try to get better at that and keep you all (whoever that is) informed of what is going on in the world of AP.

This past weekend I also painted a couple of Civias. I only took pictures of the one, but I am pretty happy with how this one turned out. The pin striping on the fenders took a bit, but all in all I think it will be a pretty classy looking bike when it is all assembled. It hasn't been painted yet, but I am also painting a stem to match.

And as always, more pictures of this beauty up on Picasa and Flickr!


Well I think this is about all I have for now, check back though and maybe there will be more...

Check all this out!!

Well!

My website is up and looking good and I am finally getting a post up on my sweet new blog. Enough thanks can't go out to my super amazing cousin Tara for helping me with all of this!!! She is probably the best graphic designer ever really. Her stupendous website is linked to from my links page, so do me a favor and check out her work. And once again, thanks Tara!!!!

 So in other headlines, I finished up my new single speed bike a couple weeks ago and I finally got the chance to snap a couple of pictures! The frame is a Salsa La Cruz, but it has been modified a bit by Mr.Erik Noren of Peacock Groove. He put some cantilever studs on here, as well as some new semi-horizontal drops. When he was starting the work, a crack was found in the seat stay, so he ended up putting on a whole new rear triangle. We picked out bigger tubing to make it extra strong for a guy my size. I've been riding it for a couple weeks now, and it's been great!!!!

I'm only posting one on here, but check out my picasa account at http://picasaweb.google.com/bicyclepaint, you will be able to check out a few more pics of what all I did to this bike to make it my own. 

This winter I also took on painting a fleet of 4 bikes for Mr.David Cory. He rides for HUP united and was looking to get a team scheme done on his bikes. I'll be posting some pics of his bikes up on my picasa account as well, so check them out!!


That's all I got for now, but check back and maybe I'll have something new!!

New Site is Finally Up!!

I just got my site up at ap-paints.com check it out when you have the time!