Toddler Bike Makeover

Jane was given this little balance bike and it had already been personalized for the previous owner. Obviously, something had to be done about the boy’s name and dino stickers! So in came a bike makeover.

This was pretty easy and went together SO FAST. The part that took the longest was waiting for paint to dry. I’ll go through everything I did and everything I definitely would do differently so you can do your own bike makeover.

Materials I used for this Bike Makeover

This list is honestly going to be a great example of what not to do. Nothing I used is “wrong” necessarily, but there are better products out there. Let’s dive in

Paint: I used outdoor acrylic paint. My first err. At risk of it becoming my catchphrase: I used what I had. If you’re going out to purchase paint for this project, buy something that specifically says that it’s for metal. Regular acrylic (or even outdoor) is prone to easily scraping off of metal.

Sealant: Same thing here, I used a multipurpose, weather-resistant polyurethane. It went on really nicely and feels really durable. I just think there are probably better things out there for a bike makeover.

Electrical tape: This was for the handles and worked great.

Stretchy fabric: I’ll elaborate on this below, but what I used was perfect!

Fabric Hot Glue: Just to show how much I love this glue, I’ll even give you a link! HERE It’s the bomb!

Paintbrushes: A few different sizes

Cleaning the bike

The bike had been left outside and had some sun damage on the handles and mildew in the seat, plus the stickers… it needed a good scrubbing.

My go-to for removing stickers is just Dawn dish soap, an abrasive scrub, boiling water, and a hard plastic dish scraper or razor blade.

I started by scrubbing everything down with hot water and Dawn. Got it all lathered up, then poured a kettle of boiling water all over everything (please be careful!!!). This does wonder for that gummy sticker adhesive.

Scrubbed it again then used that scraper and all those stickers just peeled right off! Just like magic. I use this same technique to get labels off of glass jars.

The mildew also washed right off of the seat.

Remove the Seat

There is a little nut and bolt underneath the seat holding it on. No lie, it was harder to get off than I expected. It’s a pretty tight space under there, so I had to fight with it a minute. however, with long needle nose pliers to hold the nut still and the right Philips head, it finally came free.

Starting the Bike Makeover

As you can see in the pictures, I started with a blue base coat. It’s always better to do many thin coats than one thick one, which is what I did. I think I did 3 layers (drying in between). I used a straw to “stencil” the spots and filled them in with a small brush.

diy painted bike makeover for toddlers balance bike

The wheels didn’t get a full base coat. It was just the blue flower then the orange and yellow added on top. You can use a stencil or pencil them in first, I just free-handed them. I thought the imperfections added to the funky style I was going for.

I finished it all off with three coats of my sealant (see the list above) allowing for about an hour of drying time between each layer.

The Seat

I worked on the seat between coats of paint, which helped everything go a little faster. The first step was to take the seat apart. On the underside there were 3 little screws, undoing those allowed the seat to come into two parts.

I found a little snail dude, still alive, inside the seat and released him outside to slime for another day.

The inside was pretty dirty, so I had to wash it and wait for it to dry. It dried pretty quickly in the hot Oki sun.

For the seat cover, I actually used a little girls’ bathing suit. I needed something with stretch that was safe to potentially leave out in the rain. It seemed like bathing suit material fit the bill. Besides… I had it on hand and the print was cute.

The swimsuit was just the right size to cut slightly bigger than the seat cover. I started by hot gluing the two ends in place, stretching the fabric just slightly, then worked both sides into place. And yes, I simply covered up the old seat cover. There’s no need to take that off.

The Surebonder fabric hot glue sticks are incredible. They hold so strong. I linked them above.

You want the fabric pulled taught but not so tight that it’s going to pull itself apart. Just tight enough to form to the shape of the seat.

Once the fabric was secure, I reattached the seat’s bottom piece and put those three little screws back. Then the seat could be put back onto the bike the way it came off, with the pliers and screwdriver.

Handlebars

The last step was to cover the handlebar in yellow electrical tape. (I wanted orange, but that was surprisingly hard to find.)

And she’s done. I finished this in one day, all except for the handlebars because I had to run out to buy tape. In fact, a 49 cent roll of tape was the only money I spent on this bike! The Bike was given to us, and the rest was all things I had on hand. How neat!?

This groovy bike makeover makes me happy to look at and it makes Jane even happier to use! A total win!