The Big Bike Reveal

Guess what I've been up to lately? Painting my bike! Sounds crazy, no? Let me tell you the story. Last summer Joanne bought a second hand bicycle for me in Holland. Since everyone bikes everywhere in Holland, they are built to last and come with all the extra doodads and finishing touches such as a headlamp, chain guard, fenders, rear rack etc. So now that I had a good sturdy bike, why would I go through all the trouble of painting it? Because deep down in my heart of hearts, I've always wanted a "beach cruiser" type of bike in a pastel colour - mint green, baby blue, girly pink, lavender, bring it on! However, no matter how cute those beach cruisers are, they usually don't have any gears... and how practical is that? I ain't biking up and down hills without being able to switch into an easier/harder gear! This led to my decision in April to paint my bike. I had a couple days off and "just went for it." I looked online for tips and then went to town taking my bike apart, screws and bolts flying everywhere. I took lots of pictures along the way so that I would be able to reassemble it once I was finished. After it was disassembled, Dad helped me hang it up in the garage and I sanded it down lightly before getting out the spray paint. I used a few light coats of primer, then a couple coats of the blue and finished with a clear coat of gloss. Several times during the tedious process of disassembling and reassembling I was ready to quit, throw in the towel and burst into tears. But now that it's all over, the sweat, grease, tears and back-aches were all worth it!

BEFORE

Ready to sand and tape off all the parts I didn't want painted

Primer Coat!

Primed and ready for colour

Let me tell ya, the fumes got pretty bad in there despite the open windows

Now for the not so fun job of putting it all back together

Tada! I bought the front basket at Canadian Tire

I got the rear bags as a birthday gift from Mom and Dad

I'm now ready to go on some serious bike trips folks!

Now that my bike is finished, I was thinking it would be fun to get some sticker letters made up for the side of bike! I would love some ideas from you dear readers on what I should name my bike :). I'm open to anything silly or fun (I was thinking of incorporating either of my nicknames: Bean or Bubs).