New project by no idea

Milkygoodness

Hi. New member and first time poster here.
simple question
I have an old hard tail frame and would like to repaint it. Can I just spray strait on or do I need to prep it somehow?
My plan is to cheaply rebuild an old hardtail bit by bit to teach myself bike mech skills and am looking for a cheap but descent fork that would be easier to service in future, any ideas for forks would be great. The frame is a GT Avalanche

steve_sordy

Milkygoodness wrote:

Hi. New member and first time poster here.
simple question
I have an old hard tail frame and would like to repaint it. Can I just spray strait on or do I need to prep it somehow?
My plan is to cheaply rebuild an old hardtail bit by bit to teach myself bike mech skills and am looking for a cheap but descent fork that would be easier to service in future, any ideas for forks would be great. The frame is a GT Avalanche

Yes you would need to prep it somehow. You'd need to rub it all over with some wire wool of various grades, rougher first, finer later. That will prepare the old paint with a network of very fine scratches and enable the new paint to key onto it. It will also remove any remaining grease or dirt. If you find any dents or deep scratches, unless you don't mind them showing under the new paint, then you'll need to fill them and sand it down. Do that before the wire wool treatment. All holes in the frame that are for bearings, like the head tube and the bottom bracket and any screw holes will all need sealing off before painting. The more time you spend on the preparation, the better the final result will be. There is sure to be loads of stuff covering this in detail on YouTube.

Ref the fork. Check what the fork steerer size is. If your bike is an old GT Avalanche (26" wheels?), it will depend upon just how old as to whether the head tube is a straight 1-1/8", or whether it is tapered 1-1/8" to 1.5". You can fit a 1-1/8" straight fork steerer into a tapered head tube, but not the other way around. What suspension travel fork was on the bike? Getting the same will be safe and sure, but you might be able to go up on size if you are not a heavy guy or will be doing loads of big jumps. Getting a longer travel fork will affect the bike geometry, slightly better downhill, slightly harder climbing. Go too far and you will break the bike. If you ask GT, they are likely to say something like "the bike was designed for the fork travel supplied, we do not recommend anything bigger".

When I built up a 26er for my grandson, the hardest thing was finding a straight steerer 26" air spring fork that was good enough without being an outrageous price. There didn't seem to be that many out there.