TomvanHalen's MTB allsorts - drop bars are dead

I also used a spray-gun type attachment for the cans, which is much easier than just holding the can.

Like this:
Was it good?

Yep, same as that. Definitely worth it, more control for sure. They sell them at Halfords and such. The cans come with little coloured collars you have to remove first to snap it on, which is a bit of a pain

Also, what I didn't realise is the nozzles on the cans rotate, which would have been useful for the seat tube

I've used one too when rattle canning a bike, I can really recommend, helps you loads. Not to mention no sore finger.

Thank you both.
Will see if I can find one in DK.

So.

I've been up 'til past midnight the last couple of days getting this built and little niggles sorted. Did find my crown race "tool", thankfully, but couldn't fit the nicer Bontrager cranks because the ISIS BB in my bits box takes an external lockring tool, which I don't have. And it's rough as crufts anyway.

Just awaiting the big reveal

Looking forward to happy unwrapping fotos!

Video it!

Colour looks sick, reminds me of these which I love:

If only I'd managed to get that much gloss on it!

As a side note I dismounted one of my tyres for the first time since I fitted them about 4 years ago. My first Stan's Monster!

Haha, that's nasty! The paint looks amazing btw!

Thanks!

This morning I went out on a loop with the Oka and took some nice pictures. It's pretty much finished :)

Smiles were had

Gnar was schralped

Sunny pictures tomorrow hopefully

This is a really hard bike to take photos of. Also the paint is consistently more green now than it is cyan or purple, which is a bit weird. Anyway here's some glitter

Woah! Nice looking bike is looking nice!

Thanks! Nicer looking than my own, probably... I really like how it's come together, especially the fork crown/headtube transition. Even the saddle looks better than with the old colour.

This paint looks absolutely ace, how tough is it?

I couldn't agree with you more!

So far it's holding up. It's kind of elastic, the clearcoat seems to mark quite easily but no sign of chipping or flaking. The real test will be a weekend at Bikepark Wales, will see afterwards if any damage polishes out or can be fixed with more clear

Great project! You can get that high gloss too. I don't know how many clearcoats you put on, but when the pro's use glitter, flake or other effects, they put many layers of clearcoat on so they can sand down the clear without touching the base, then polish it up. Of course, pretty time consuming.

Ur bike life is top notch

Awesome!

bike are life

That does sound extremely time-consuming. But the one glittery frame I owned looked amazing for the effort

The clearcoat I've uused is advertised to stand up to polishing, unlike some of the other plasti-dip type gloss clears, but I don't know if I'd need to lay it on a bit thicker

The mighty MTBeetle survived Wales, and the paint job is intact!

In fact it fared significantly better than the Oka - the Welsh mud spelt doom for my dropper and the oil seals in the fork are starting to disintegrate. Yay :/