Repaints, Repairs, & Re-Brazeons

There are good bike painters scattered about the country, and it may be easier to shop local. But all of the painters below have painted hundreds of our bikes and are familiar with our colors, style, and decal placement. The prices below are accurate as of January 2017, and assume you’re dealing directly with the painter—thus saving the added expense of us boxing, shipping, handling, and trying to convey to them what you’ve conveyed to us. (To ship your bike (assuming frame and fork only) to us and have us box and ship it—we can do it, but it’ll tack on another $100+.) They have decals or can get them from us.

If you would rather we be your voice and manage your paint, we charge $150 on top of what Rick charges us. In this case, we still ask that you be a little flexible, but if the color is way off, we’ll pay for a second (and final) attempt at no additional charge to you.

If you are distant and prefer that we handle the shipping, that’s easy. Send the bike to us. Rick will pick it up within 2 weeks, deliver it to us when it’s finished, and we’ll charge $90 to box and ship it to you in the CONUS.

We’ll provide the decals (a $20 value) as long as the paint job you’ve picked out doesn’t reflect horribly on us. It has only once in 22 years, so don’t sweat it too much—we’re not weird and don’t mean to be controlling, but we are proud of our bikes and don’t want a funky looking one damaging our reputation (it may be the first Sam Hillborne or whatever the person who sees it on the street has ever seen, so they’ll judge all Rivendells by yours). 

General comments: There are no universal “color codes” that make it easy to nail it. There are Pantone colors, but those change over time, and you may not have a book, and the Pantone color on your screen may be off a shade or two. It’s better to say “I want FEDEX purple” or Target RED—something we all know. But how you come to describe it is better left to you and Rick. He’s done this for a long time. 

Joe Bell—$1,300/full cream detail; $725 solid color—just north of Mexico
Joe is the best bike painter in the world and paints all of our customs. His paint is consistently thin and tough, leaving crisp lug edges that make a fine sharp edge against a cream panel or fill. For a super durable, museum quality paint job that looks good even under the magnifying glass, Joe’s your guy, and the many-month wait is worth it (he always has a backlog). You talk to him directly and he makes it happen the way you want. (619) 469-4312. He finally has a website: joebell.net.

Waterford Precision Bicycles—$850—Wisconsin
This is WF’s standard repaint price for standard Rivendell “full-cream” treatment, and they do an excellent job. (262) 534-4190. http://waterfordbikes.com/w/