I was going to wrap a kids bike so I can pass it on to a younger sibling. Where can I buy some vinyl wrap locally or online?

 

why not paint the bike? it would come out looking cleaner.

 

I got vinyl off eBay, off a company called "rvinyl"

has held up on my car for about 3months now no issues

 

My paint jobs don't usually turn out so hot...

 

fully wrapping a bike in vinyl is not an easy task if your concerned with how the end result/look is going to be. Do you have much exp wrapping with vinyl?

 

+1 on that.. Even I just vinyl wrapped my down pipe on my mountain bike, and i messed up just due to the shape of the tube, which caused me to create a little crease at the end of the vinyl..

Looks clean only if you dont look at the vinyl

 

I have zero experience, but watched some buses being wrapped once. It doesn't have to turn out perfect.

 

^^^

Then ebay or contact Hexis to see if you can order direct.

I wrapped my car about 2 years ago and it didn't come out perfect but then again neither do paint jobs.

Just make sure you get the material that is easy to shape and form. The cheaper vinyl is a PITA even with a heat gun or hair dryer

 

IMO you would be better off spray painting it. just take your time. if you want to do it right, take the bike apart, tape off the head tube and bottom bracket to keep paint out of where the bearings go and tape off the top of the forks. Hang the forks and frame so they dangle in the air freely if you can, don't spray to close keep like 8-10 inches away if you can and do multiple coats till its covered. First couple of coats should be like a mist. DO like a flat or satin black. i think flat colors tend to hide mistakes better. also a quick sanding down of the frame and forks before you spray would be a good idea the paint will adhere better.

 

if you do vinyl it, do some searches on youtube there should be how to wrap with vinyl videos.

 

What kind of colors do you need? I have a ton of random sections of vinyl laying around.

 

I'd recommend using plastidip, very little prep and if you screw up, just peel it off. I'm a huge fan now, its essentially spray on vinyl that removes like vinyl.

It has a heavy build which settles so if you do a lot thin coats it settles and looks smooth!

 

^If you do plasti-dip, dont do thin layers, as removal will be a PITA. As you can see in the video it continuously breaks apart from a large piece. If you do thick coat of plastidip it should/will remove in 1 piece of rubber.

 

If you do the prep work and don't care what color it winds up you can take it to any auto paint place and ask them to spray it with some left over. I used to do it as a kid and if I did a good job on the prep work it would turn out great. It only takes a couple shots with an auto gun to cover a bike frame.

 

Plasti Dip the bike!!!