Any thoughts on paint to use for mini bikes - more specifically, I'm trying to find something that matches the early 70s era Speedway green or Speedway blue (haven't decided which color I'll go with, but it's down to those two). It can be suggestion for rattle can or more pro paints, as I'm not sure which way I'm going to go (do it myself or have my painter friend help me). Mike
Mini Bike paint
- Thread starter 72shriek
- Start date
Although I can't give you the exact colors I can help with some logic I used successfully before. Minibike manufactures didn't invent a color, they used available colors from the auto industry. Check GM, Ford and Chrysler colors from the 70's. Auto paint supply houses have the old catalogs with paint color chips in them. Say you have a 71 mini, try a 71 car color match. I believe a lot of them were GM colors.
JMO Danford1
JMO Danford1
Yes, in the US urethanes didn't really hit the street until the 90's. When we restore bikes and try to get a close color, any metallic in the original paint is going to skew the spectrometer at the paint shop and yield an inaccurate hue.
Several MFGR's did produce their own color codes, sometimes from off hand sources, like John Steens' buddy's 32 coupe. Very few of us use rattle can on vintage, collector or more valuable bikes. Some use powder coat, based on whatever codes they can find. Guys like me paint, based on either color codes we dig up based on historical reference as DanFord alluded to. There's nothing wrong with doing all of the mechanical work and rattle canning it and then riding it as far as I am concerned. It just not fuel proof, and it doesn't look, or wear as well.
Competition Orange for example was used by HPE/Muskin and was the Ford color from 1971. Several other hues are used more than others, like Marina Blue. (GM)
I'll use either a single stage, or a two stage, depending on the level of finish I am looking for. It is extremely difficult to color sand a mini bike, so care must be taken when using two stage paints, and flowing the clear.
My last project was a vintage kart done in a three stage candy apple red. Now "that" was available back in the mid sixties, and used, but not like my HOK blend of urethane candy over an extremely brilliant metallic base coat. It was a lacquer which HOK went away from in 1993 or so.
Here is a link to some Rupp Colors that based on their dates and codes, were assembled by fans well after the bikes were out of production. Another way to look at it is if we're going to be using the urethane based coatings, we're already making them more gloss than they ever were. I played around with some oil base, and did shoot some reduced with "thinner" and catalyzed with enamel hardener. It looked fairly old style. End of speech. Here is that link: WIRING DIAGRAMS & PAINT CODES Like everything else in this hobby, "as long as you're happy."
Several MFGR's did produce their own color codes, sometimes from off hand sources, like John Steens' buddy's 32 coupe. Very few of us use rattle can on vintage, collector or more valuable bikes. Some use powder coat, based on whatever codes they can find. Guys like me paint, based on either color codes we dig up based on historical reference as DanFord alluded to. There's nothing wrong with doing all of the mechanical work and rattle canning it and then riding it as far as I am concerned. It just not fuel proof, and it doesn't look, or wear as well.
Competition Orange for example was used by HPE/Muskin and was the Ford color from 1971. Several other hues are used more than others, like Marina Blue. (GM)
I'll use either a single stage, or a two stage, depending on the level of finish I am looking for. It is extremely difficult to color sand a mini bike, so care must be taken when using two stage paints, and flowing the clear.
My last project was a vintage kart done in a three stage candy apple red. Now "that" was available back in the mid sixties, and used, but not like my HOK blend of urethane candy over an extremely brilliant metallic base coat. It was a lacquer which HOK went away from in 1993 or so.
Here is a link to some Rupp Colors that based on their dates and codes, were assembled by fans well after the bikes were out of production. Another way to look at it is if we're going to be using the urethane based coatings, we're already making them more gloss than they ever were. I played around with some oil base, and did shoot some reduced with "thinner" and catalyzed with enamel hardener. It looked fairly old style. End of speech. Here is that link: WIRING DIAGRAMS & PAINT CODES Like everything else in this hobby, "as long as you're happy."
And to add to all that, the painter can affect the outcome. Give me one can of metallic paint and I can give you ten different shades of color. Too wet or dry of a coat, angle of the gun, distance from the object, temperature, humidity, number of coats, primer color, reducer speeds, how I mix the paint, how many times the paint was mixed, and so on.
I've said this one before but in our shop we had a photo of one days line of production S10 pick ups. All painted white, lined up you could see the change in color from one end to the other. All the same color code, but each one slightly different.
I've said this one before but in our shop we had a photo of one days line of production S10 pick ups. All painted white, lined up you could see the change in color from one end to the other. All the same color code, but each one slightly different.