Joe Bell Bicycle Refinishing

There may be a dozen ultra fantastico painters I’m not familiar with and who may give JB a run for the money, but in 20+ years of getting thousands of expensive bikes painted (not all my personal bikes – I have a business), I have never had a single disappointment from JB, and he consistently exceeds not just my expectations, but my hopes, too. He’s too good. He turns people snobbish about paint. He shows you how good it can be, and then you see other paint jobs as various degrees of cruddy to Nice Try. If there’s a technical challenge, like a braze-​on or tube in the way of a seat tube panel, he won’t just scooch the panel out of the way. He’ll cut the friggin’ thing and place it around the metal so it’s in the right spot and looks impossibly perfect.
As skilled as he is, the best thing about Joe is his commitment and integrity. If he sees a glich in a frame that took him 8 hours to paint, and nobody’d even notice it, he’ll still fix it, whether that means a whole new PJ or a touch-​up.
He has the experience with painting and colors and making new colors to offer advice you should listen to.
MOST of the time this quality and (cliché alert) passion come in a weird package, where the guy’s either a cantankerous jerk you tolerate and forgive, or a Wilfred Brumley kind of character who you might privately pity. Joe’s totally normal, really nice, easy to talk to, FUN to talk to, and just happens to be worth more stars than I can click off here. Unilocal reviews are bound to yield non-​FIVES, even for JB, and it’s not my place to wipe out the one JB got, but he doesn’t personally repair frames. He hires framebuilders now and then, and sometimes they stay and sometimes they don’t, but JB himself is a painter, not a brazer/​welder/​repairer… He can usually arrange a repair, but it’s like… you don’t go to a programmer to fix your broken iPhone, or to Rembrandt, if you want to re-​mat some family photograph.
JB is slow… you wait… you’re get happy.

I sent JB my 1984 Lino Messori in pretty rough shape. He returned a frame to me that is subtle but magnificient. The attention to detail is remarkable!!! If you are in a hurry or dont have a quality project then you should probably go elsewhere. If you want the best and are patient enough to wait for it then give him a call. He did mine a couple of years ago and I am still impressed with it!

I have had three bikes painted by JB over the last 20 years.
#1 1980’s DeRosa in Pearlescent White w/​Black accents
#2 1988 Schwinn Waterford Paramount in 7 – 11 Tri-​color Team Colors
#3 1970 Denti Track Bike is «piss Yellow»
All three frames were drop dead gorgeous pieces of art. JB’s work is second to none & he is a very decent human being on top of that.
Highly recommend.

This is serious craftsmanship that’s almost disappeared from the US. The reason is that to get this kind of expertise, meticulous workmanship, and attention to detail on say, a kitchen or a car, would be beyond all but a millionaire’s budget.
But for the merely flush who enjoy bicycling there are perhaps three premier bicycle painters/​refinishers in the world, and all of them are within about 25 miles of San Diego. Joe Bell just happens to be the guy who painted Bill Holland’s bikes when I got mine, and he’s repainting it right now for the third time. When I was there last, Bill Walton’s Holland frame was on a repair stand waiting for refinishing.
You can spend $ 16,000 on the latest titanium-​component Pinarello Dogma, and in a year the guys in Velo LaGrange will be yawning about your «old» bicycle. But if you show up on an old hand-​built lugged steel frame like my 22-​year-​old Holland, with a Joe Bell paint job, you get respect.
Joe is easy-​going, friendly and accommodating, and if you call the shop during business hours and he’s not in the spray booth, he’ll probably answer the phone himself. When it comes to discussing your new paint, he will listen to any fantasy you have, and if necessary, bring you back to earth. I had an unusual idea, and he knew just the guy to bring it to life.
Joe’s Signature paint job starts at $ 550 for a single color, and that’s the one you want. In red it looks as though the frame was dipped in nail polish and hasn’t dried yet. In black it looks like a pool of ink. If there are lug windows, he paints them a contrasting color at no charge.
Check out his price list if you want decals, lug lining, more than one color, or have chrome that needs masking. He has a frame repair guy, Rob Roberson, whose lug work and brazing are immaculate. My bike started out in Reynolds 653, but now it has a «custom mix» of Reynolds and Columbus tubes after three crashes. Try that on your carbon fiber bike!
Update! The third paint job on the Holland turned out beautifully. Gold pinstriping and outline Copperplate Gothic Bold stenciled lettering («LIMAX MAXIMUS») on the down tube, on Imron 44 413 Dark Jade Metallic, with a Joe Bell decal on the top tube and custom design stylized Scottish thistle pinstriped on the seat tube.
Rob added a centimeter to the top tube (The original frame was not an «R&D» custom as Bill called them.) to give me a little more stretch-​out room, and the bike tracks perfectly.
I’ll do a separate review of Robert Gagnon, the guy that Joe suggested for the pinstriping. I’ll just say he did everything I asked, and beautifully.
Joe made some suggestions, like the faux fork lug outlines in gold to match the lug lining on the frame. Perfect!
A caveat. Joe does not wield the gun himself these days, but don’t be put off. He does the most important stuff, like masking and final detail work — and the final polishing.

with bike culture gaining momentum every moment of every day now, it is inevitable that cyclists will come into possession of frames that need painting and restoring.
if you’re looking for something quick and easy to cover up that nishiki or centurion conversion, you might be best off trying a powdercoating place or a rattlecan. it’s cheap and easy and thick and ugly but it might suit your needs — and frames of that level — better.
but if uncle fred gave you the 1981 colnago super road bike that he accidentally left outside for a winter or a family friend offers you a deal on the 1974 schwinn paramount p14 track bike he used to race at dominguez and you’re feeling the need to see that metallic green sparkle again… joe bell is probably the guy you want to call.
and when i say that you want to call him, i mean it – he answers his own phone and never rushes a phone conversation, despite the fact that his workload is relentless. his passion for classic cycles is undeniable and his sense of humor warm and humble.
joe tends to know exactly what is right for a project and for the owner — and to do just that. for example, since the bike i sent in was to be a ‘rider,’ i opted for joe’s entry level $ 350 ‘deluxe’ finish, but joe wasn’t satisfied with how it came out. so he upgraded me to the $ 495 ‘team issue’ finish with four added clearcoats and hand sanding — at no extra charge!
(i also got complimentary paint accents in the cutouts on my fork and a custom-​mix color we named ‘frost’)
i knew something special was going on when he called me and told me that he put his initials on it, because he normally reserves that for only the highest end paint jobs that he does.
a reality check — it will probably take longer than originally expected, and it will probably cost a little more. this is art and craft — this isn’t a a factory.
all this being said, it will also be a paint job beyond your wildest expectations. my 1960s british track bike is absolutely radiant. i can see each hand-​filed curl of each lug as if i was looking at bare metal.
i had joe re-​work the backyard-​quality front brake fitting on my track frame into a more modern recessed hex nut style, and the brazing work is nothing short of amazing. i can’t imagine how many hours his frame builder spent on it!
in a world where corporations reign supreme and mass production has taken over, it both inspires me and warms my heart to know that there are still artisans like joe bell and his team creating magic one frame at a time.