What to consider when repainting fork from black to white My beautiful road bike was in an accident which bent the fork. It gets replaced with a black fork which doesn't match the rest of the bike (creme colored).

Now I want to attempt to repaint it. Is there a good way to approach this in order to match the color? I have sent the email to the vendor to ask for the color specifications. I hope there is some kind of industry standard when it comes to the color.

Other than that, is there anything else I should prepare? Do I need to remove the black paint first or can I just color over that?
I hope there is some kind of industry standard when it comes to the color.


Surly offers such a service for its bikes:


  RAL is a color code number system used by paint manufacturers. 


Not so sure about other vendors.


  Do I need to remove the black paint first or can I just color over that?


You do not need to remove existing paint. However, it is recommended to use a primer before applying new color layers, and also a clear coat on top of that.

I used spray rattle cans (primer, color and clear coat) to repaint a suspension fork on one of my bikes. Not the best tool for a fine paint job, and even that required a couple of attempts to gain the experience to do it right. However, I am satisfied with the result, given that the fork is on a beater bike.

Good advices on hand repainting of bicycles can be found here. There are other good web resources that I used to learn about the process. Or, you can leave it to professionals — there certainly are services for quality paint jobs.