spray.bike Dolan Pre Cursa (looks great from a distance!)

Hey riders!

First time posting a project as I gathered enough footage and story behind it.

Have been riding a Volume Cutter as my main city companion for a while, and even though I love the looks and how much beating it can take, it feels a bit heavy/slow and also a bit small for what I like. So decided to return to my favourite beater frameset, a Pre Cursa! Now, after I didn't find a rogue 60cm black frameset on here/eBay, decided to order one from store. However, a few changes happened very shortly after my order was placed:

1) They notified me that they actually ran out of 60cm black framesets, so will send a grey one - although I think it looks fantastic, it's just not my cup of tea
2) I was put on furlough by my firm so had a lot of time on my hand
3) This lot of time also translated into scrolling Instagram more and discovering spray.bike's page

So this prompted me to sand down a beautiful factory paint (lol) and put the creation of my own imagination on it. Most of the components will be from my current build, and are black/chrome. Originally, I really wanted to paint the frameset Van Halen stripes (just look at my avatar), being a huge fan, but figured if I go through the process, might as well put something original on it. Wanted a lighter coloured bike, really like the milan blue from pray.bike as well, so decided to do a kind of "digital" or "pixelated" transition between white and milan blue, and cover with gold keirin flakes for the bling. BLB didn't have the gold flakes so settled with the purple, #yolo.

Didn't have to clean or de-assemble much at the start:

Sanding went in 6 stages with 6 different paper grades: 60-100-240-400-800-1200.
I wanted to leave most of the original paint on for extra protection, and not sand down to bare metal. Pictures from the first sanding and last sanding:

After getting it cleaned up, masked, sprayed the first layer of white which was pretty even and steady in my opinion, and had lots of fun (first time can-spraying a bike). Left the headtube raw as that's where the milan blue will go.

Then spent an hour or more putting the masking on for the transition, which involved thin lines of masking tape as parallell as possible and with increasing density of blue towards the headtube. Now, I wanted to do this design for both the downtube and toptube, but not gonna lie, lost my patience to do the top tube, so just put random lines there. Plus, the downtube design was really difficult to get it as nicely as I could, so didn't want to screw up twice. Can't see much, but this is how it looked:

Aand the milan blue didn't disappoint, it's very hard to photograph it nicely, but in person it's so pretty:

I wasn't sure when to remove the masking to nut leave it too runny but also not pull up flakes if it's too dry. So decided I'll have some dinner as I barely ate due to the hard day's manual labour.

As I pulled the tapes off, some parts I was really satisfied with, some parts not so much. Buts of blue paint sneaked under the tape and mixed with the glue to give this bit of residue and not nice sharp lines. So that's probably sloppy sticking from my part. Also the design is definitely not as clean or parallel as I hoped, but that's due to my inaccuracy and the under-estimated difficulty of the task. Here how it looked at the end of the day:

As the title suggests, I think it looks pretty cool from a distance. Bear in mind, the last picture is without the clearcoat and the keirin flakes, so it's still WIP. Just put 2 layers of matte clearcoat on for protection, plus wanted to smooth out the edges of the different paints as the blue "sticks out" a tiny bit and I didn't want to sand. Now while I'm waiting to dry, I had time to write the post!

Also to give an idea of the components, linking a picture of my volume cutter:

Got a straight Thomson seatpost for the new build, as well as the saddle changed.

Plus, a de-stickered Miche Pistard wheelset that I need to change the tubulars and sprocket on. Also ordered some cheap Zipp decals from Ali for the lame bling. Probably won't those on anyways...

So the painting should be ready by the end of today, then leaving it for a day to dry. I'm also waiting for a new Hope BB for the omnomnoms, so the building will likely be on Friday. Will give me time to put some Tufo S33s on the Miche wheelset...

Just wanted to add a comment about my experience as a whole.

Some of y'all will say "way to ruin a factory paintjob" and you ain't wrong there. If you look at my Volume, you could tell I don't care about my bike looking charming.

Although I've been building bikes and projects for a while, never painted them. This was more like filling up my time during furlough, trying out something new, and see what could come up with. And it definitely lived up to my expectations!

Sanding was very time consuming, but I went through all CCR albums in the time and spent a nice time outside. The first scratches were not easy, tearing into a fresh factory paint, but overall was a cool daytime activity. I definitely recommend investing time to get a proper smooth finish. Maybe I didn't even need to sand with a grade 60 paper, I reckon it would've been enough to just go 240-400-800 and a bit of 1200.

Thinking about the design is a bit overwhelming as so many cool things you could do. I wish I considered the masking difficulty a bit more at the beginning though. Like simple transitions, or proper stickers as masking. Next time!

Spray.bike is ridiculously easy to use and I'm very happy with the finish so far. Feels vivid, smooth and durable. Sprayed in a relatively protected corner next to a shed, and I didn't make any mess at all, plus the wind wasn't disturbing either. Even for £20 you can get pretty dope finish with spray.bike, plus like £5 in sanding paper/protection/cleaning stuff.

Definitely worth the time and money put in, at least for the fun factor. Can recommend!

RIP :(

Had to move it indoors to dry as bugs and bits in the air kept sticking into it, which is annoying - all the extra grams...

Hard to picture the glittery flakes indoors, outdoors it looked pretty bomb. Will take a proper picture later in the day in sunlight when the paint is proper dry!

All in all not that bad in my opinion, can't wait to build it up!!

Great pictures - great results. Lockdown time well spent!

Kerin flake is amazing. Good work!!

Frameset finished! The clearcoat and the flakes helped a lot both in looks and overall feel. Plus, adding black to it will make it stand out more.

And tried to picture the flakes in the sunlight:

I like how subtle they are, in person they come out much more than through pics.

Also got the Hope BB delivered, though still waiting for the 24-22mm shim for the omnomnoms. Expecting a full build and test ride by this weekend!

Looks great, nice to get a bit or personality on a bike! I think when you buy spray.bike you know the quality will never be amazing but... good fun either way.

How come you didn't do a full base coat? I would have also applied 2 coats of each colour with a wet sand in between each coat (but does increase cost) to get a smoooth finish.

If you do it again I'd get some Frog tape for the masking, you could also use vinyl shapes .

Cheers y'all!

Yeah probably should've added a full base coat, but I thought as I was spraying the headtube blue anyways, don't need to spray that bit, plus the I have doesn't fit nicely in the shed I was spraying in, so had to hold it up with my hand, and used the headtube for gripping.

Next time I'll definitely pay more attention to how I spray and treat it between the layers. Plus, definitely different masking tape - the one I used was no good for sharp edges, I reckon it's more like an all-purpose tape... Might even do one with a less complicated design but something extra, like stickers or stenciling or decals!

still waiting for the 24-22mm shim to fit my omnoms into a hope bb :(

But today I stripped and cleaned my volume as well as the parts that go on the sprayed dolan! Plus fitted the tubulars on without glue for the night so I'll have an easier time gluing them tomorrow.

Realised how much I liked the very very rusty and ratty appearance of the volume cutter:

But my new bike will be just as bomb!!

Will probably leave the wheels un-stickered for a cleaner look. Excited to see it all built up! Especially with some zipp drops...

Cool concept with the paint, shame you lost patience with the top tube. You’re right it looks great from a distance and a pretty solid effort for a first go. Nice.

Looks good, always nice doing a project.

best way to avoid the seepage under the tape and get a nice clean line is to put the tape on, for example, over the white base, then give a light coat of white over the tape edge you'll be painting over with the blue. Let it dry then spray the blue over; when you remove the tape it should be a nice clean line.

Proper built up today!

Handles veeery differently than the volume, also will dig out my zipp drops to put on it. Then I can take proper pics!

One issue I ran into was making the Hope BB compatible with the omnium... which I actually failed to do, so now I have the old rugged Sram BB in.

I got a 24-22mm adapter so the axle fits nicely in the NDS bearing. However, I couldn't tighten the NDS arm on well enough to avoid any lateral movement. I'll put 2 bad pictures up to show the difference between the axle that shows outside the cup.

With Sram's GXP BB:

With the Hope BB and adapter:

See the green grease-spots that's visible when it's the Hope cup on, but not when installed in the Sram GXP
(I have the dustcap which fits on the spindles tightly, just not put on for the pics.)

Now, I have some spacers for the BB and I'm aware using that could eliminate any lateral movement. However, this would make it work so I practically tighten the entire crankset together, meaning the driveside will rub against the bearing as well. I'd rather make it work as Sram originally intended GXP to work - only tighten the NDS bearing from 2 sides, and let the DS float. But it seems I'm either missing a spacer or Hope's bearing is narrower than Sram's?

Anyone got any tips to make the Hope BB work with omnomnoms?

I think you have to put on the dust cap before installing the adapter. The Hope GXP conversions I've seen so far all have the dust cap wedged in between the adapter and the bearing.

Nice work! That volume cutter tho! Dream frame dream finish in my books !

I remember massively over complicating this in the past and dragging a good mechanic's name down with me! The Hope BB outboard shells are narrower than Sram so you to space them to take out the slack. The final location of the chainline is set from the NDS so spacing too much on that side may cause fowling issues on the drive side. I can't remember exactly how I resolved it last time round but I've just fitted one to my Capo and with a 1mm spacer each side I have no issues. The lack of preload on Omnium's is a bit shit IMO but you should be able to get a well torqued setup without any binding or play.

Yep adaptor over the dust cap on my setup.

hm thanks for the recommendations! I can't put the adaptor outside as the dust cap is shaped like the spindles, so the circular adapter won't go through it and the crank axle will be loose on the NDS... I've heard some decent thoughts about the Praxis bottom brackets, so might give them a try!

Had a few nice rides yesterday through the day, took some better pics of the bike:

It's been 2 years since my last Dolan, forgot how amazing these frames feel. Only things I'll change is the top spacer on the fork for a narrower one, and the bottom bracket. Don't think I'll bother with the zipp stickers on the wheel lol, not even sure they'd fit.

Are you using the Hope or Sram dust cap? The Hope should be a round hole designed for a 24mm axle.

Hm right that might be the thing! I did not receive a dustcap for the Hope BB, so thought the Sram's will do!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hope-Bottom-Bracket-Bearing-Outer-Seal-Ring-BBSP104-24mm-BB-Axle-Spares-24-mm/323794313049?epid=2179286155&hash=item4b63a51f59:g:R0gAAOSwgfRcSwlH

This should solve it, right? Doesn't look like a big investment.

Realised my pics disappeared from the original post here :(

Will fix it sometime

Here's how it's been ridden lately, having a blast with it!

Also, I'm very surprised how durable the finish feels, not a single chip yet.

Kind of thinking getting a CX fork and turn it into a tracklocross thing...

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I've been thinking of doing the same with mine - there's an all city big block fork on ebay atm that might be worth looking at - I think it clears slick 32's?

hm I'm definitely thinking of disc breaks now for CX to be honest.

Need to find a for that's not tapered, not through-axle, clears 32-35mm but not too spacey, so probably a gravel fork. And then build a tubular wheels for front disc!

Managed to get a handlebar bag, trying to fish a frame bag too and maybe a seatpost bag, as I quite enjoy the day tours I do now but feel a bit limited with slick tyres and lack of carrier space...

How many cans of the keirin flake did you end up needing and how flaky(?) is it? I'm doing up a Pre-Cursa as well as my girlfriend's frame with some of this stuff too and wondering how many cans it ended up taking? Reckon two cans of the keirin flake for a proper sparkly job?