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I have recently purchased a Specialized Roubaix SL4 Elite Disc carbon frame bicycle—But I am not particularly happy with the colour. It is charcoal and white. I like to have a brighter colour.

Is there a way to repaint a carbon frame or at least change the white pin stripe to a bright green?

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Although I appreciate the word of caution that the others are providing it is a simple process to paint carbon. I've done it 3 times now at home. Sand just enough to get through the clearcoat of the current paint job and you can wipe the frame down, and start laying down primer and base and new clearcoat. There are instructional videos online and bike specific paints available from Spray.Bike.Us for example. I usually give it 72 hours in a 40 degree environment to cure. Remember you're not selling painted frames so why pursue absolute perfection? Having said that, even my bike shop didn't know I was the one painting the frame. Good luck!

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    HI! I think this could be a really valuable answer if you could share a bit of your process when you find the time, e.g. what you use for sanding and how or possibly linking one of these tutorials? I'm pretty sure even in 2024 there are Specialized owners out who aren't happy that their bike are mostly black and white. ;)
    – DoNuT
    Mar 7 at 9:40
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I'd avoid doing this.

Basically, you do a light (typically wet) sanding by hand (very carefully), prime it with an appropriate primer (maybe a few times) and then paint over it with an appropriate color. However, since the sanding has to be done carefully (since its easy to destroy carbon fiber by sanding), you're going to end up paying someone a lot of money to do this (since it takes a lot of time to prep the frame).

You can't really use chemical strippers or other techniques that you'd apply for aluminum and steel frames can destroy the carbon fiber. You also can't do things like powder coating for the paint step, since you have to heat the frame to the point where the carbon fiber can be destroyed.

If you're really insistent on doing this, there are shops which specialize in repainting carbon fiber. But, they'll charge you an arm and a leg due to the amount of labor they'll have to put in to prep the frame for repainting.

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    I certainly wouldn't advise sanding, beyond perhaps a very light once-over with very fine paper to remove some of the glaze. And any paint/primer used must be selected to be compatible with the resins of the frame. Using the wrong stuff could cause the resin to go soft or begin to delaminate. Apr 6, 2015 at 17:37
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There are companies that will plastic-wrap a car, its cheaper than a paint job and can be removed with no further damage to the skin.

The downside is that if you get a crack in your frame, you won't be able to see it through the plastic wrap, when you do your periodic maintenance.

Consider some coloured riding goggles if you want to change how it looks :-)

Answer: ride it as-is.

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Check if Specialized will sell the pin stripe kit. But I would not recommend it. Tape over the old would be difficult and not sure it would stick. Remove the old could damage the bike.

I would learn to like white.

Consider bright green bar tape, seat post, and saddle.

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  • I agree with batman on paint
    – paparazzo
    Apr 6, 2015 at 15:38
  • Thank your for your advice Batman and Blam. Perhaps I can get use to White. :)))
    – Phil
    Apr 8, 2015 at 4:12
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I would agree with batman that you don't want to paint it. Instead, you can think of skinning it with adhesive film. 3M and others sell series of stretchable adhesive films in various colors and textures that are used in the custom automobile and motorbike market.

They should be pliant enough to decorate your bike -- and if applied with care, won't be immediately visible as applied films.

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