PAINT MY BIKE, RESTORING MEMORIES
CREATING DREAMS AT PAINT MY BIKE
Paint My Bike are known for high quality frame repairs and painting, but it’s not until you work on a project with them that you see their pursuit of perfection.
“Just send it to Paint My Bike, they can fix that.”
Have you heard someone say that before? Whether it’s for a scratch, a damaged swing arm or main tube, or even for a new paint job, chances are someone you know has had their bike – or part of it – restored at the Paint My Bike workshop in Salisbury, south east Queensland, which was set up by Gary McDonald, and recently brought into the FE Sports family.
As mountain bikers we’ve come to expect a lot. Our bikes should be light, long travel, strong, stiff and good value. With engineers and design teams pushing the limits of what is possible with materials, be they an alloy, titanium or carbon fibre, things can go wrong. And maybe its your own limits that have been exceeded causing some frame damage, even just to the paint. We have all seen the horror stories on social media, of bikes with broken main tubes, head tubes torn off, smashed swing arms, or the classic road bike into the carport roof move. And while not everything can be salvaged, Paint My Bike have built a reputation for getting damaged bikes on the road or trail again, and breathing a new life into a riders’ pride and joy.
It is easy to think carbon bikes can’t be repaired, that they are a part of a throwaway culture along with outdated mobile phones and a penchant for takeaway coffee cups. But it is refreshing to know exactly what is possible for both frame and paint repair. Something that I have long been curious
about with my own damaged frame shelved for a repair ‘one day’.
Sasha Harvey is the manager at Paint My Bike, and is showing me around the office and workshop when I’ve gone in with my broken dream to get repaired and painted. I’ve come in with my older full-suspension frame, which has cracked around the press fit bottom bracket shell, under compression. The technician takes a look, and gives it a nod that it shouldn’t be a problem.
“Our composite technician’s qualifications are way beyond what we offer” Sasha states when I ask what sort of repair might be too hard. “We have to work within the constraints of repair as opposed to design and production. Technology has changed since we started and certain parts of frames can be unrepairable, especially around drop outs.” This situation seems like a simple one, to my surprise.
My case of dropping a frame in for repair and paint is pretty standard for Sasha and their team. They have two designers working on paint jobs and design, plus a team of painters, and have a steady work flow all year. As their parent company imports 3T, Eddy Merckx and Ridley there is a wide range of work being undertaken in the workshop, especially with the Custom Ridley Pureline program, which offers custom paint jobs on new bikes.
“People drop their bikes or get chips or dings – that sort of work comes in all the time,” says Sasha. Paint My Bike has become well-known for that, but with two creatives on staff their ability for custom design projects is well and truly expanding. “We specialise in carbon
repairs and painting. Carbon repair and paint back to original is our bread and butter. But we also get people who have their bike in for carbon repair and think ‘Hey, how much to get my machine that I love to a dream paint scheme?’. Also, after a couple of years some people love their bike but they have seen what we’ve done on social media or elsewhere and want to see what we can do.”
“The capabilities of our graphic designers is only limited by your imagination. We can do airbrushing or simple paint schemes, or a full design service. We’ve worked on this a little more with having creatives on staff.” A quick walk through the workshop shows frames that are in various phases of repair or painting. There are even old frames that have been used to trial paint schemes, with really out there colours like gold chrome, or candy pink. Some projects have needed a special touch and the dedicated painters make sure they get the paint layering process just right before starting on a rider’s pride and joy.
One of the reasons Paint My Bike is so well-known is thanks to how well they back their service.
Nothing goes out the door without the whole team being thoroughly happy with the level of work that has been carried out. And they stand by that.
“We are a fully insured repairer in terms of public liability. All of our staff in each area of expertise are qualified in what they do. In the case of our composite technician doing carbon repairs, he’s the only one doing the inspecting and repairs. We don’t have customer service or painters doing repairs. Likewise the painters are not doing customer service – we have high standards and specialise. Duty of care and safety of the customer comes first.”