I TATTOOED MY BIKE!

EPISODE #197 –
My dreams come true, I get to do a complete overhaul on my bike thanks to the guys at Shimano…. the build starts out with a complete strip down, before I set to work doing a 1 of a kind custom hand drawn design ion the frame, before sealing it in with lacquer. Big shout out to Bruno from ATX CyclingStore in Loures, Portugal. He not only helped paint the frame but also done the full build too… absolute legend, thank you.
We kitted out the bike with a full dura ace kit, including wheels and its now been transformed to a complete head turner of a build… 🙂
Shimano – https://www.instagram.com/shimanoroad/
ATX CyclingStore – https://www.instagram.com/atxcyclingstore/
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Thomas “The Cycling Tattooist.”

————– L – I – N – K – S ————–
Channel – https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCyclingTattooist
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/thecyclingtattooist/
Tattoo Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/martineztattooer/
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FAAST Crew – https://www.instagram.com/faastcrew/
Strava – https://www.strava.com/athletes/thecyclingtattooist
Zwift – https://www.zwift.com/uk/athlete/5aba3a63-716a-4bdd-9721-25b7bf9c7e62
Email – cyclingtattooist@gmail.com
——– P – A – R – T – N – E – R – S ——–
Maap Apparel – https://www.maap.cc
Styrkr Nutrition – https://www.styrkr.com/thecyclingtattooist
RCA Coaching – https://www.roadcyclingacademy.com/
———– C – R – E – D – I – T – S ———–
Film & Editing: Thomas Martinez.
Intro Music: Press 1, Lukas Got Lucky.
Intro Film & Editing: Joe Simkins, Karl Kolecava.

So, are you sure? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait. It’s about time we do this. It’s the cycling tattooist. So, today is an exciting day. I’ve got the bike loaded up in the back and I am heading to see my power Bruno at ATX Cycling Store. And that is because today is day one of what is going to be a bit of a project where we are going to transform my old road bike into something that is a thing of beauty. I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a long, long time. So, I’m super excited about it. And with any big overhaul project like this, you always start with the stripped down. So, let’s get in there and get this bike ripped apart. [Music] Hi. [Music] [Music] Yes. [Music] There’s something about tools kept nicely in a box like that. Yeah. Um I’m a um tool lover. Yeah. Fact. Yeah. I cannot see tools. It’s a man thing, isn’t it? [Music] Sorry. The sticker say fast, but sweeping the paint will not be fast. Oh dear. What have I signed myself up for? It will not be fast. So, are you sure? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait. This is the easy part. It’s a nice flat surface. Difficult part is all this stuff. The easy part. Yeah. You are not going to enjoy the experience to strip, but I I have a feeling that you will like the experience doing everything and the next frame you will want to do the same. [Music] Right, there we go. That is the bike all stripped down and there is no going back now because well Bruno has removed a massive chunk of paint from the top tube. So yeah, looks like I’d better get to work and remove the rest of the paint. This is the first time that I’m going to be doing anything like this on a bike frame. So a little bit apprehensive, but definitely excited about it. Over the next few days, I will very tediously be taking the frame back to bare carbon, and then we can get on to the fun part. [Music] See, here’s the thing. Bruno actually used to be a bike painter, but one of the things that he told me was his least favorite part of the job was stripping the paint. The only way I could get him to agree to paint my bike was if I did the stripping myself. And I’m starting to think this was a bad idea. Listen. I’m battling cages know that I’m battling. Got to leave it all behind. Activate portals waiting to be open. Can’t believe this happening. Always living, always hoping. What have I done? I’ve only been doing it about an hour or so. I’m almost done with one tube. Oh, what a silly idea this was. I’ve also moved outside as you may have noticed because it’s pretty messy work. There’s uh paint shavings going absolutely everywhere inside. So yeah, I thought I’d come outside probably best day off the time of going to shine like we make it time that we see the signs. Yeah. [Music] There we go. That’s the frame done. Only the forks and the seat post to go. Definitely regretting this. [Applause] I’m off the fine. Well, there we go. If you wanted to know what 16 hours of work looks like, that’s it right there. And we’re not even anywhere near finished yet. I’m pretty sure this is going to be the hardest part and hopefully the longest part. We’re going to now get on to the fun bit. So hopefully that’s going to do something for the morale. But anyways, let’s get this to Bruno so he can check it out. Make sure I’ve done a good job and uh then we’ll go from there. Said off the tight truth is they don’t know about this little lifestyle. Stay out of the way. Stay tuned. Yeah, I’m now we don’t mind the I’m back on track now. Good service to the lines but mind my business. Yeah, that what did you rate my my job out of 10? Um, good a good prep drop or Yeah, you have a eight nine. Eight or nine? Yeah. Oh, I’ll take that. But the the the problem is is achieving the 10. Yeah. That’s probably my fault though because I where I’ve got it with a knife. That eight score you just gave me went down to seven. No, it’s normal. It’s normal. It’s normal. Look at the front of the frame. [Music] We have a lot of work here. So, basically, we have a bit of an issue. The frame is absolutely littered with little nicks and dents and all sorts of, you know, chips in the carbon. So now the paint has gone on, it’s just showing them off even more. So what So what do we have to do now to rectify it? Uh, we have to cover all the defects and sand them. What is that you’re putting on there? Uh it’s uh like a filler. It’s like a a primer but but um it’s like a really thick primer. In the end of the day, it’s to cover all the defects. After it will be dry, I will sand it and no more defects under that. This is about the point where Bruno regrets ever agreeing to do this for me. Sorry, man. Yeah, it’s the part I was afraid to do. I was afraid to need to do. I’m not going to say again to anybody. Yeah, strip strip the frame. I will paint that. Okay, so that did not go to plan. Um, turns out the paint job is going to end up taking a lot longer than we both anticipated. Um, which is not good news. Basically, to cut a long story short, my good friends at Zift have actually invited me along to the tour to France, which is mind-blowing in itself. And of course, there’s going to be a whole other video about that. But the whole plan was to get my bike completely custom painted and rebuilt up again, completely brand new for the tour. I currently have 20 days until I fly to France. And if that wasn’t tight enough, I also have a tattoo work trip in the UK and I’m also going to Switzerland for a couple of days. This is definitely going to be time crunched. I mean, even if I was doing a standard kind of paint job, it would be tight. But I’m also going to be handdrawing designs onto this frame. And as you can imagine, that is not a quick process. So, I mean, I guess just wish me luck, guys, because I am definitely going to need it. [Music] So, this was the start of the process of handdrawing tattoo designs onto the frame. The concept behind this was that I wanted it to resemble the purple tattoo stencils that are placed on the skin before a tattoo is applied. I chose Pusca pens to do this, which might not have been the best choice. They are water-based, which meant I wouldn’t be able to clean the frame with alcohol as you usually would before the lacquer goes on. This is why I’m wearing gloves, and I had to be super careful not to contaminate the surface at all during the process. At this point, little did I know what a long process this would be. I actually lost track in the end, but I spent at least 20 hours on this over two days and still I didn’t manage to achieve what I set out to do. Okay, so it’s been a mad couple of days rushing to try and get the designs drawn onto the frame. I nowhere near got it how I wanted to get it. Um, as you’ll see, the frame is pretty much half covered with designs. I did initially intend to do the whole frame, but uh, yeah, I just massively underestimated how long it was going to take. I I do kind of like the way it looks with the the half of the frame and then the forks, but like I said, it wasn’t what I intended. So, yeah, I’m not completely happy with it if I’m honest. Um, also where I was rushing, um, you know, it wasn’t my best work. When you look really closely at it, there is some, you know, a few sketchy lines here and there where it’s just super awkward drawing on a frame and and when you’re trying to do it quickly, yeah, you you’re going to make mistakes. So, yeah, the perfectionist I am is absolutely seething, but I’m just going to have to uh learn to live with it, I guess. Next time I do something like this, I’m going to give myself way more time to do it and uh just yeah, not have a deadline. I think I think that’s the way to do it. And then you can just really focus on getting it perfect. But you know, there’s a next time for that. Anyways, I’m now on my way to Bruno’s because we are putting the lacquer on the frame tonight and then in a couple of days we will be able to build it up with all brand new parts. It’s going to be mega. [Music] This is the part I’m not breaking the rule. The tools are good. the rules. Everything broken. Painters look away. Yeah. Okay, let’s start with the fork. Oh, I thought the tools were good. Some of them not. [Music] Okay, so it’s now 3 days after we put the clear coat on the frame. I don’t know if you know much about paint, but it takes quite a while to dry and to go fully hard. So, yeah, we’ve had to wait until now. But today is the exciting day. It’s build day. Yeah. Shiny new parts. It’s Christmas yellow. Yeah, they’re nice. So, as you can see, I’ve been absolutely spoiled. The wonderful guys at Shimano have sent me a full durace kit, which I mean, it’s mind-blowing. This is going to be my first ever time riding durase, so I am super looking forward to that. Would you rate my uh paint job out of 10 then, David? It’s hard to say in an art point of view or like an execution point of view. Well, definitely not execution because it’s it’s good enough. It’s good enough. Yeah. I don’t know if What is that? Super glue. Yeah. If this is nice to put in the video, but I’m sure people will be interested to see your hack. [Music] You already Fast, copper grease. You’re very generous with that copper grease, aren’t you? Yeah, it’s it’s to prevent all the corrosion uh in this frame. It’s not it’s not uh a big problem. I mean, this is easy to to change the bearings. Plus, I don’t intend to ride in the rain, so [Music] Okay. [Music] Listen. [Music] Finally. What time is it, David? I don’t even want to know. 7.2. It’s David’s guess. My bad. What’s your guess, Bruno, today, please? 74. 714. I thought it was supposed to be that accurate. I think higher than both of you. And you and you. I’m going to say 73. 74. Tom won. There you go. You were generous with your [Music] All right, here we go. First ride on the brand new setup. And uh it is feeling incredible. I’ve only ridden down the road so far, but yeah, this is uh feeling absolutely unreal. [Music] So, a massive thank you to the guys at Shimano and of course Bruno for building this beast up. I am super happy with it. I can’t believe we actually managed to get it built in time. We are right up to the wire because I am actually off to France tomorrow. So, I’ve got a mad 10 days coming up and it is going to be an incredible time and of course I’m going to be doing it on this absolute beauty. Just thinking about it now. This video will have probably actually come out after those videos. So, if you’ve already seen them, then well, you’ll know I had an amazing time. But if you haven’t seen them, then make sure you go check them out. Anyways, as always, I hope you guys enjoyed watching this video and if you can, please go click that subscribe button. It really helps out the channel and I’ll see you guys next time. [Music]