Painting 696/1100 trellis frame.

[Veloce-Fino]

So I have been kicking around the idea of trying to repaint my trellis frame in my 696.

I would love to know if anyone has ever done this and what it entails. Would it be a truly massive job?

I have seen it done on S*R bikes and it was a major undertaking. Does the 1/2 trellis make it easier or more difficult?

[ducpainter]

It's a big job.

The bike needs to be completely disassembled first of all. You then either need to sand, if you live long enough, or remove all the paint.

At that point it's a tough shoot to get good coverage all around the tubes..

I don't think the smaller trellis will make that much difference.

[Raux]

OMG.. major understatement.

[danaid]

  Well it's been done already, it just depends on if you have the skills to do it yourself or the money to pay someone to do it for you.

[suzyj]

It depends on what sort of finish you'll be satisfied with.  You might be okay with a pile of newspaper and masking tape, and some rattle cans.

Me, I wouldn't.  I'd strip it down, remove the old finish, prep it properly, and repaint it with two-pack epoxy.  I'd imagine it would take a few months, and all but half a day of that work would be prep.

I've painted a bunch of bicycle frames (see http://www.littlefishbicycles.com/frame/painting.html for some of the detail of how I did bikes, and http://www.littlefishbicycles.com/audax_ii_pics/index.html for photos showing the sort of finish that's achievable with plenty of care and attention to detail.

[Veloce-Fino]

It seems like the prep would definitely be the most difficult part. I don't know about months though.

Disassembling the bike would take a day or two. Stripping the paint is easy with my sandblaster. Prepping the frame for paint would be time consuming. And spraying the frame would be done by a professional painter. I am probably not going to do it just because I can't stand the thought of stripping my bike apart over the winter. Really disassembling the bike would be the hardest part. If I can remove, strip, rebuild, and reinstall a SBC (small block chevy) 350 in 8 hours including a clutch and trans install I could certainly do this over a few weeks.

[Silver King]

If I can remove, strip, rebuild, and reinstall a SBC (small block chevy) 350 in 8 hours including a clutch and trans install I could certainly do this over a few weeks.

Well....if you get bored next winter, go for it.  I did this to an old Honda dirt bike (1973 XL 350) a long, long time ago.  I drained all of the main fluids and brought it into my living room to disassemble.  That way I was warm and could watch Star Trek reruns. 
It also gave me the motivation to grease all of the bearings, change fork oil, etc.