tRUST ME, I’M A DESIGNER, Words by EN / Team AWOL
As a designer of bicycles I try to stay on top of things like material development, new alloys, paint pigment, flakes, pearls, plating’s and whatnot. It’s in my interest to stay updated in an ever changing world. What you see on the floor in a bike shop is not just a bicycle with a random color; it’s the result of hundreds or thousands of hours of trial and error behind the scenes at any one man bike shop or huge bike brand with a fleet of designers. That one color started out as 666 other potential colors and in the end, only one made it. For the one man operation or smaller brand in a well-defined niche it might be easier to do cool and crazy shit to please that one customer with that weird ask of a thermochromatic dead matt black that fades to metallic peach with a pride parade pearl to top it off.
I design bicycles for a global brand and need to create a bike that pleases a global rider and as you all know, trends and cultural differences around the globe vary, fluctuate and make my day pretty complicated. I’ll be honest with you; it’s frustrating to rarely ever be able to bring the radest and weirdest stuff to you. One example is the one off Full Nuke Rainbow AWOL I created for the Transcontinental Race, a bike that almost blew up the internet when The Radavist posted it. So much stoke and love was thrown on that bike but the reality is that it would be impossible to produce it, guarantee the surface quality, get a decent price and distribute it to you. Doing rad stuff is easy but mass producing it is a completely different story. So, I try a lot of surface treatments and materials but most often these tryouts, experiments never leave the design studio as more than dirt on my hands, stains on my jeans and once in a while, a painted one off bicycle that I can tell you about. TBC...
1. Nickel plate an AWOL (easier said than done but since I already had one, I’d go with that one. 2. Polish the nickel hella shiny. 3. Mask up chain stay, dropouts and all bosses. 4. Scotch-brite the nickel for primer to stick. 5. Mask up the rest of the frame and fork. 6. Rub it down with alcohol to remove grease. 7. Go have a coffee (fika-time) then mix the primer. 8. Prepare to kill the nickel with a 2 component epoxy primer - check that masking is tight. 9. Dust the frame and fork lightly. 10. Turn the frame upside-down and paint the down side and the all the tight places like BB/CS/ST area. 11. Turn back and paint the rest. 12. Make sure the whole frame is covered but don't lay it down too thick. Know when to stop. 13. Dust it lightly again to create a surface structure. 14. Bake it or let it dry overnight. 15. Clean the spray gun extra well, 2 component epoxy can ruin a gun. 16. Beer anyone?