painted my handlebars...

[Mr. Bloom]

Lisa, nice job!

My Mom went through a contact paper stage when it first came out. Everything in the house was "contacted." I hid my bike.

Hmmm, my mom went through a Telly Savalas stage...that was pretty scary for me too

[Urlea]

I love the look of your bike. It's very fun!!!

Curious though, what kind of paint did you use?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Curious though, what kind of paint did you use?

I'm a graphic artist/illustrator, and I used artist's oil paints with a few drops of Japan dryer added.
The paint sunk into the natural unfinished cork tape pretty well.
I picked three hot humid rainy days in a row in the weather forecast (not much riding to be had anyway). During those days I left my bike inside the living room for the whole procedure with our nice cool dry central air conditioning on and a small fan blowing directly on the bars 24 hours a day.

One coat of paint one morning, the next coat the second morning, third morning a thin coat of water-based polyurethane and twined and shellacked the ends.
By the fourth morning it was quite dry and ready to ride on.

[Grog]

Cute! I love how it goes with the more tan colour bits you have on the handlebars, too.

Is that your Nelson on the photo? How tall are you and how big is your bike?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Cute! I love how it goes with the more tan colour bits you have on the handlebars, too.

Is that your Nelson on the photo? How tall are you and how big is your bike?

No, that's my Rivendell Baggins "Little Joe" everyday bag. The Nelson is bigger and more of a greeny olive, not grayish olive. I'm 5'5" and my bike is 'somewhere' around a 54cm though it's hard for me to know since it's not a production bike.

[mimitabby]

that looks REALLY good. Amazing that it is paint!

[twin]

Great color and a very nice look!!!

[rij73]

Nice job! I just love your bike. It looks sooooo stylish.

[Grog]

No, that's my Rivendell Baggins "Little Joe" everyday bag. The Nelson is bigger and more of a greeny olive, not grayish olive. I'm 5'5" and my bike is 'somewhere' around a 54cm though it's hard for me to know since it's not a production bike.

Couldn't find a Little Joe on Rivendell's web site but now I've discovered their Silver Hupe. Do you think that would work as well as a Bagman?!

So many beautiful bags out that. I've always been a "bag girl..."!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Couldn't find a Little Joe on Rivendell's web site but now I've discovered their Silver Hupe. Do you think that would work as well as a Bagman?!

So many beautiful bags out that. I've always been a "bag girl..."!

No no!!!! I had a Rivendell Silver Hupe on my Rivendell bike, and it ate a nasty deep GOUGE in my paint all the way down into the steel where it hooks onto the frame seat stays. I mean a really nasty paint gouge that has substantially devalued my beautiful Rivendell bike.
The trouble is the sharp ends of the metal 'hupe' are dipped in rubber to supposedly protect the paint of your bike, but the sharp edges had eaten their way right through the rubber and were bouncing on and grinding into my paint as I rode mile after mile. From casual observance, it looked like nothing at all was wrong- from the outside the rubber looked intact as though it was doing its job, but you couldn't see what was happening on the inner side where the metal sharp edge was happily grinding into my paint.
Besides, the Silver Hupe was rather flimsy and can't hold nearly the secure weight of the Bagman. I feel sorry for others who use this Silver Hupe, I can't believe they have not changed the design of it due to this design defect.

You need to order the Bagman directly from Wallingford in England (wallbike.com). I got mine in one week for a total of $42 which included shipping to the US.