One day while taking my son's bike to get a new tire at the bike shop right around the corner from our apartment, my daughter spotted a tiny pink bike, just her size. She had a great time riding it around the shop. At the time she just had a tricycle for herself, which she was quickly outgrowing. I suddenly had the idea to transform my son's old 12" [black, Batman] bicycle, which was in dire need of a new wheel, into a pink princess bicycle for my daughter.
When first considering the project I thought it would be fairly straightforward. Take parts off, take stickers off, spray paint, put parts back on, done. However, when I got down to the point of having everything off, I got really intimidated and let it sit for a couple days just thinking, "What on earth did I get myself into?" Thankfully my determination won out and I pushed through to the end.
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| This is when I started to panic a bit. (I apologize for the crappy photo) |
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| Ta da! |
I'm so happy it turned out so well. Now on to my other 5,378 projects. :)
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This is so great! My little 3 year-old is pointing to the pink bike and telling me she wants "that one". I will need to do this with her bike in spring. With 2 older brothers, the girls don't get anything pink or girly to ride! Can you tell me what kind of spray paint you used and where you got the rub ons or stickers to dress it up? Did you change the handles? Anything else I need to know to do this myself?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're going to be able to use this idea, too! I looked for a heavy-duty primer and I chose one called "self-etching" (to be honest I'm not sure what that means), otherwise I would have bought the one intended for automobiles. For the color I had to get regular spray paint since the special metal paints don't come in pink. :) Plus I added a Rustoleum clear coat just to try to protect it a bit more. I did buy new handles (the black ones were torn up) and a new seat, both of which were fairly inexpensive on Amazon. At first I was thinking of just spray painting the black seat white, but I didn't want the paint to rub off on my daughter's clothes. Other than that just knowing how to take things apart and repair if necessary. I was actually going to post the step-by-step that I went through with all the parts, and I can still do that if you're interested.
DeleteOh and the decals I designed and cut with my vinyl cutting machine.
DeleteAnother triumph. As a child I had to ride my brother's bike as is.
ReplyDeleteThat is such an adorable bike! I love how you gave it a new life. I found your project near mine at Flamingo Toes. :) New follower here! Megan
ReplyDeleteGreat job!!
ReplyDeleteNow that is pretty amazing. I don't think this idea would have occurred to me, congrats for following all the way through even when it looked bleak <3
ReplyDelete