Summit Customs - Custom Bike Painting

I first came across Stuart aka Summit Custom by complete chance after being on a very long search for a local sprayer to get the frames painted.

I was determined to find somebody local to Cardiff, who was super passionate about their work and also works to very high standards. I had already visited a couple of places but they were not what I was after for various reasons. I thought all hope was lost and my search was coming to an end.

Then on my Instagram pops up Summit Customs (thanks Instagram algorithm).

‘Custom Bike Painting Studio Based in Cardiff’

I thought this was too good be true and organized a visit to his workshop. I instantly knew Stu is who I had been searching for, the work he showed me was exceptional and his vast knowledge on painting was incredible, I mean he has converted his garage/pain cave into a fully enclosed spray booth, If that isn’t passion and dedication to the craft then I don’t know what is.

Hi Stu, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Hi, my name is Stuart and I’m the person behind Summit Customs. Born and bread in Scotland, I moved to Cardiff in 2009 for work and have stayed in this great city ever since. Being from Scotland, mountain biking was my first love as there were so many mountains on my doorstep to explore. When I moved to Cardiff I soon fell in love with road biking and triathlon soon followed.

Road cycling and triathlon have taken me on many adventures including weeks spent training and racing in Lanzarote, Austria and Mellorca, and I will never forget the two day trip riding from Holyhead to Cardiff.

I have been a member of Cardiff Triathletes for the past 7 years and have been a member of the committee for the past 3 years, looking after the design and management of the club kit. I’m also a level 1 qualified triathlon coach.

“My favourite part of the job has to be applying colour.”

You are a pretty keen rider and very involved in the triathlon community, how did you end up getting involved with painting bikes?

I’d completed a panel beating/spray-painting apprenticeship after leaving school, but my career had since taken a different path. The additional spare time gifted to me during the first national lockdown of 2020, along with some incidental inspiration from my friend Harry and an established love of bikes and cycling all came together to give me the incentive to start Summit Customs.

Luckily, I had a large garage at home, so I began turning part of it into a workshop and spray booth. A few test pieces and the power of social media meant it didn’t take long to win my first commission.

I know Summit is still in the early stages but what do you have any planned for it?

I started Summit Customs in the first lockdown not expecting much and it has taken me by surprise. I currently run Summit Customs part time so I would love to grow it to be my full time profession, also moving into a unit at some point would be a dream. Although my current workshop is more than adequate, having more space would be great and would mean I can take more projects in and have extra equipment to make things more efficient.

“I would love to grow it to be my full time profession”

What projects are you currently working on?

Currently working on a 1930’s ‘Amstrong Moth’ Tandem for a customer of Haiko Cycling shop in Bristol. This came to me in a sorry state so it’s great to see the frame coming back to life. I also have another ARC8 frame waiting for decision on design and have two Colnago frames coming in for completion in April as well as bookings later in the year! So lots going on but taking bookings from May onwards.

How many hours typically go into painting a frame?

Timescales vary from frame to frame depending on design, substrate and preparation level choosing. For example to take a carbon frame back to raw carbon can take up to 10 hours depending on thickness of paint, as this has to be done by hand. From the prep at the beginning to the polishing at the end it can take up to 20 hours with more complex designs taking longer.

‘It can take up to 20 hours with more complex designs taking longer.’

The world of custom paint is full of endless possibilities, if you were left to your own devices what would be your dream bike to paint and what style would you paint it?

This is going to be a very boring answer unfortunately as I’m more about less is more. Bike of choice would be a Pinerello F12 painted in British racing green with black logos and black highlights of some sort. I’m a big fan of classic steel bikes also, after all steel is real! If I had the money I would try and find a Bianchi Centenario in special cromovelato paint scheme with Campognolo C- record groupset. 1500 of these were made to commemorate 100years of Bianchi and were produced in my birth year of 1985.

Which painters inspire you and who do you most admire?

That’s a tough one as there are so many talented bike painters out there and I can’t really single anyone out. What has really struck me about the bike painting scene is everyone helps each other out and are always happy to offer advice, you don’t get that in the car painting word.

First people I followed were Ali and Becca at FatCreations; they are doing some fantastic work. Tom at Kustomflow has helped and offered me a lot of advice along with Paul at JMJ Designs and Mark at M-itDesign

Favourite and least favourite part of the painting process?

My favourite part of the job has to be applying colour, this is when you start to see the bike come to life again. I would say I’m not a painter but a sander as 95% of my time is spent sanding with only 5% of the time spent painting. Preparation is a key part of the job, if this is done poorly it doesn’t matter how good a painter you are it will always effect the final finish. My least favourite part of the job is definitely sanding with removing stencils and masks a close second. A lot of care has to be taken so as not to nick your fresh paint, unfortunately it does happen.

Where can people find you?

You can visit my website Summit Customs.

People can also find me on my social media Instagram and Facebook.

For all enquires you can also email me at summit.customs@outlook.com