How to Paint a BMX Bike

Decide what colour you want the bike. Think about it, your bike could be whatever colour you want it to be. You can even put a logo or pattern on it. Some cool colours are light blue, deep red, black or a neon colour. However, it's what you want and it's your opinion that matters. After all, the bike is yours, right? If you're stuck for ideas, look online or head out to a store that sells spray paint. Check out the colours they have and picture your bike looking like that. If you like it, go for it!^[1]

Buy the spray paint. After you've spent some time thinking long and hard about what colour you want your bike to be, go out and purchase the spray can. Spray paint is much easier to work with and lasts longer, too. You might want to get two or three cans of your base coat colour and a can of your second colour if you're having a logo or pattern on top.

Take your bike apart. The bike is much easier to work with if all of the parts are separate. If you really don't know how to take your bike apart or you really don't want to, you can either bring your bike to a friend or specialist that can take your bike apart or just cover all the parts that you don't want to get paint on with masking tape. However, the result can be slightly scruffy.^[2]

Sand all of the existing paint off of the bike. If you try to paint straight on to the old finish, the new paint will not stay on the bike and the old finish will show through. This will look really untidy so avoid it. Use a medium-grit sandpaper to get all the paint off and then a super fine-grit sandpaper to smoothen out your parts. Make sure that all of the paint, dust and grease is off before continuing to the next step.^[3]

Apply your base coat. Apply one thin layer of paint onto the bike. The mistake most people make is that they want to cover all of the bike on the first coat. When the paint dries, it will look very uneven. Avoid this by just applying a thin layer of paint. Let it dry for about forty-five minutes then apply a second coat. Repeat this step until you like the finish. After that, apply a coat of lacquer to seal in the paint.^[4]