Question for you mountain bikers out there

[ChristopherJB]

In the process of tunning up and just getting my bike ready for the upcoming riding season. I ride a Sinister R9 and the last 3 years have been hard on the frame in terms of cosmetics. I would like to get the frame refinished. I dont feel comfortable with powder coating the aluminum as I can't find any shop locally that will cure powder at a cooler temp than 400 deg. Any suggestions on other type of coatings/paint and maybe places who does this type of work. Thank you!

[patineto]

Chris Hard anodizing is pretty amazing stuff but can also get really expensive, since you need to take off the original finish (sand blast. chemical, whatever) then you need to bring the finish of the tubes back to life (Hand polish, sanding, tumble,, etc)

personally i spend a few hours on my Nicolai M-Pire with a 10" scothguard wheel > floppy soft wheel > some hand rubbing on the intricate places and finally took the frame to a professional tumbler shop to achieve a homogeneous look to it.

The last step was to get a "Type II hard ano" in clear that end up looking "Grey" with some Red accents, just because I can.


can you say Bulletproof..


here is a Whole gallery if yoiu want to see more detail pictures

Oh you can not have any kind of Steel, Copper, or any other metal inserts when doing the anodizing process


Also if you are close to San Fransisco I can put you in contact with the best of the best in the business.

[Mountain_Smith]

I know several people that have sent their bikes to Spectrum and haven't heard one complaint. Many people say they are the best powder coaters in the country for bikes.

http://www.spectrumpowderworks.com/

Another option is Olympic Powder Coating: http://www.olympicpowdercoating.com/

Neither company bakes above 400*, and both do bikes every day including the finishing for many high end US made bikes.

[etcatmeat]

My friend has powder coated his Santa Cruz Bullit 3-4 times and never had a problem.

[esteban]

Buy ti. You'll never have to worry about the finish again. Think of all the money you'll save!

[CbIdrive]

My brother has done a lot of powdercoating bike parts through a shop in Tracy, CA. I even had a pair of Mavic 819's done for my SS and they came out awesome. Call Tread in Campbell, CA. Shawn (my brother) or Ford can put you in touch with them. Totally worth shipping it out.

[ChristopherJB]

Just about done taking the bike apart. Still need to remove the BB and the shock (shock needs to be rebuilt). I reeeeeaaallly need a bike repair stand. It's a pain working on a bike without one



I was thinking doing the frame in candy green and the subframe either black or the hard anodized that patineto mentioned. I have a friend who works at a sign shop who will make me custom stickers to replace the factory ones.

So what do you need to do to the frame before sending out for refinishing? Do you need to completely remove everything? (ie..bearings, screws) More then likely i'll have whoever is going to refinish the bike to remove the old finish. I don't have the tools to do it myself.

Also can the lower front shock legs be powder coated as well? My marzocchi 888r, didn't know if there would be anything to prevent me from coating it.


Def will go with powder coat as I feel more comfy going that route on the main frame as it just looks so good!

Buy ti. You'll never have to worry about the finish again. Think of all the money you'll save!

I spent alot of money of not too much on this frame so I am going to keep using it untill it breaks so no Ti frames for me

[ChristopherJB]

Thank you for moving this thread to the correct forum. I didnt see the bicycle forum originally

[maxyedor]

So what do you need to do to the frame before sending out for refinishing? Do you need to completely remove everything? (ie..bearings, screws) More then likely i'll have whoever is going to refinish the bike to remove the old finish. I don't have the tools to do it myself.

Also can the lower front shock legs be powder coated as well? My marzocchi 888r, didn't know if there would be anything to prevent me from coating it.

Everything needs to be removed from the frame, bearings, bolts, everything. Any powder-coat shop can do it, but I'd recommend using one that's used to dealing with bikes. They will know exactly what to mask and most will chase all the threads and hone the mating surfaces (seat post and head-tube) for a small fee, that's stuff that has to be done or it will never go back together right.

Fork legs can be done, we used to get legs powdered and painted for people all the time, just strip them down, and idealy they should be done in a fixture to keep the spacing right, they are actually pretty flimsy on their own.

[Funrover]

Wow I feel cheap... I am gonna repaint my stump jumper via rattlecan....