A post with our top custom painted builds of 2024 can be found here. It’s worth a look!

One of our favorite types of commissions we receive at Rodeo are custom painted frames. When we receive a request for custom paint we walk the owner through what to expect on each step.

Step 1: Commit to the custom design process by purchasing your frameset.

Step 2: A discussion about what the inspiration will be and what themes the owner would like to weave into the design of the bike.

Step 3: We translate those themes into digital 2d design representations. These act as the official design representation with the applicator.

Step 4: We confirm pricing, shades of color, and get your approval to proceed.

Step 5: Your frameset is handed off to our painter or in-house Cerakote team. Turn around time is typically 3-4 weeks depending on complexity and workload.

Step 6: We assemble the final bike or ship the completed frameset to you.

The end result is a Traildonkey or Flaanimal that is totally unique.

A note on the design process- With decades of design experience represented in our staff, we are typically very efficient at translating design themes that customers bring to us into totally unique and resolved final designs. Because of this, we don’t typically add design time as an additional line item cost in our custom paint process. However, there are are scenarios where a requested design is extremely complicated to execute, or other times where a design is presented and the customer pivots to a significantly different design concept. In those cases, it will sometimes be necessary to add a $80/hr design time line item to the cost of the custom paint process.

We offer custom finishes in Cerakote in addition to liquid paint. Below is a table outlining the differences between the two.

	Cerakote	Liquid Paint
Gloss Level	mostly satin, some high gloss possible	Satin to high gloss
Thickness	Very thin	Thick, especially with multiple colors
Weight	30-60g	150g-400g per number of colors
Abrasion resistance	High for its thickness, but it is thin	Thicker, so more layers to before wear through
Chipping	Pin prick chips. Very small.	Larger chips. Chips can propogate.
Cost	Less expensive. In-house at Rodeo	50% more expensive. External contractor.
Graphics	Tactile edges to graphics	Graphics smoothed by clear coat
Turn around time	Fairly quick because in-house at Rodeo	Can be weeks to months. External contractor.
Prismatic effects	Yes, set colors	Yes, unlimited spectrum
Environmental Impact	VOC exempt. Made In USA.	Highly toxic. Sourced globally.
Frame protection	Protect with Ride Wrap for longest life	Protect with Ride Wrap for longest life

Cerakote has unique qualities compared to liquid paint. It is a very thin polymer / ceramic coating with the pigments / solids suspended in the polymers. For each color the composition of the coating can be quite different based on different methods developed to give the coating it’s desired look. At the same thickness, Cerakote outperforms liquid paint pretty dramatically for durability. Cerakote is applied at approximately 1 mil of thickness and paint at about 6 mil of thickness, so Cerakote ends up being much lighter as well as it relates to the coating. Both finishes can scratch and rub off over time if for instance a bikepacking bag rubs against a frame or dirty parts contact each other regularly. Paint can take longer to rub off due to it’s increased thickness but Cerakote does not flake and chip the way paint does. It tends to get tiny nicks that don’t spread vs chips on paint that can slowly grow larger and fail more visibly. Inversely, Cerakote can’t really be touched up, at least not yet. Once it is on that’s pretty much it and if you add wear and tear to your bike consider it patina vs trying to keep the bike “perfect” forever. We do offer RideWrap protection at an additional charge if you’d like to rest easier knowing your frameset is armored for whatever you plan on throwing at it.

Cerakote does have metallic and color shift options, which can be very cool.

Cerakote doesn’t offer a mirror gloss finish like traditional liquid paint. It tends to go on more matte or satin for most colors.

Liquid paint will have a larger color spectrum and more niche finish options like prismatics and flakes.

Click here for more info about Cerakote and how it compares to liquid paint, as detailed in a recent Rodeo Journal entry.

Cerakote pricing ranges from $600 for a single solid color without logos, through $800 for two-color with logos and simple masking, up to approximately $1500-2000 for a more complex, multi-color finish. Exact price will depend on the elements of your bike’s particular finish.

If you are purchasing a titanium frame (Flaanimal) we can also incorporate anodizing into your design scheme. For more information about this process, see our custom anodizing page.

If you’d like to discuss a custom finish project with us, please click here to get in touch.