Frame Blasting & Powder coating

[Joe.B]

Hi, I live near Portsmouth and need to find somewhere to have my old Trek steel commuting frame blasted and powder coated at a resonable cost.
If anybody knows of a good sparyer who does this type of work the info would be most welcome.

Cheers
JB

[Mick F]

Can't help with Pompey area, but I found one near here using Yellow Pages. I found them under "sand blasters".

Actually, all I wanted was to have the frame cleaned of all paint, it was he that suggested the powder coating. I chose a deep red, and was charged £30 for the blast and powder coat. Turn round time was about three days.

[Gearoidmuar]

Can't help with Pompey area, but I found one near here using Yellow Pages. I found them under "sand blasters".

Actually, all I wanted was to have the frame cleaned of all paint, it was he that suggested the powder coating. I chose a deep red, and was charged £30 for the blast and powder coat. Turn round time was about three days.

Could you not have turned the bike around yourself, before they started the blasting?? Three days? It must've been in a tight corner.

[snibgo]

Mick takes corners very slowly, to keep sand out of his chain.

[greendragon]

ssshhh! snibgo, Mick doesn't want the world thinking he has any sort of transmission difficulties - it's likely to result in things like hubgearfreak telling him to get a Rohloff!

[Mick F]

Very droll!

Barbarella resides in the summer house. There's not enough room to swing a cat, I have to take her out now and again.
(the bike, not the cat)

[greendragon]

She looks very nice, Mick - perhaps not desirable in quite the same way as the young Jane Fonda, but a very neat simple design. No Rohloff-type over-complexity there, that's for sure. Single-speed and hub brakes, is she? Not much to go wrong, then !

If Joe.B were nearer Bristol I'd suggest Argos. http://www.argoscycles.com/ They seem to be the biggest in the region, and do a very competent job. I've not had cause to use them myself (yet) but have heard many recommendations. I think many (most?) of the local frame-builders use them for that stage of the job too. That said, I was looking at their price list the other day, and they make your local man look very reasonable Mick - I reckon you got a bargain there.

[ p.s. Mick (again) : It might be advisable (as well as a kindness) to let the cat out once in a while too, though. Apart from keeping the RSPCA at bay, it might keep the summerhouse more wholesome. ]

[Mick F]

Single speed?
No.

Barbarella started life - with us - as a mixte with 5sp dérailleurs that were stuck solid. She was a pink example of an Elswick, and was eventually used regularly to take Mrs Mick F into the village where she was the Lollipop Lady.

Some time later, Mrs Mick F finished as a Lollipop Lady and started at the school as a teaching assistant, and as the school is up a steep hill, she ended up walking and pushing as much as pedalling. This is when Barbarella had a makeover. She was stripped of her (space suit!) and powder coated. She had new wheels with Shimano Rollerbrakes and an 8sp Nexus gearbox. New 'bars, gear controls, saddle and mudguards, and has since been fitted with a rear rack too.

Sadly, Mrs Mick F doesn't ride her much. She prefers to walk the three quarters of a mile to work, and Barbarella gets used only from time to time. She's perfect for running to the shops, and towing the Carry Freedom trailer too - although I wouldn't want to ride her for many miles - I have yet to try!

[ransos]

Argos will make your bike look lovely, and can do multi-coliur and repro transfers too. BUT - the finish is somewhat delicate, and they're expensive. I'd use them for your best bike, and a powdercoater for anything else. I'm about to have my Thorn Audax done in racing green by a local motorbike powdercoater here in Bristol.

[Steve Kish]

A small caution if you find a sprayer that isn't experienced in frames.

Take it upon YOURSELF to mask bracket and other threads / holes and insist that he leaves the bolts / old bracket / old seat pillar in there through the whole process

My sprayer masked the threads before powder coating but what he didn't do is remove the blasting agent after blasting and as such, he baked the granules into the threads in the oven. Took ages to re-cut the threads afterwards!

[Joe.B]

May thanks for the useful info folks. One of the guys in my LBS currently has his winter bike in for a blast and spray with a local motorcycle sprayer who will do a cycle frame for £40 if you don't mind having whatever leftover colours he has about the shop. Hence his bike will be done in Karaski green. Anyway, I'll have a look when he gets it back and will take my bike in if its a good job.

[cyclingthelakes]

Good thread, I've thought of getting that done too. I've pondered it since the emblems on this bike are inscribed into the paint job and the bike is in fairly good shape but a good paint job might make it like brand new except for the inscribed work and when I asked if he could cover it up he said I was looking for a restoration. Racing green one of the posts said, that sounds interesting and I've already got yellow mudguards on it, yellow frame. Makes me wonder. I look up British racing green as a colour and still get a variety in the spectrum. http://f1colours.files.wordpress.com/20 ... nlotus.jpg This is fine though. Karaski green? Or Kawasaki (motorcycle) green?? http://www.truespoke.net/KawasakiGreen2007.jpg Some other pictures of the motorcycles though are more of a lime green.

I saw pictures of where this one fellow used a rattle can, covered it with clear coat. Really didn't look too bad.

[Joe.B]

Having found somewhere to have my bike powder coated I'm posting the details and a photo in the event that anyone else in the area is looking for the same service.

I used these guys

http://www.scruse.co.uk/

And the best bit, for a bast and powed coat, £20 pounds per frame if your not too fussy about the colour so that they can use what ever they have left in the system at the end of a bigger job.

That said by the end of any day they have used several colours so it won't be a long wait to get the right colour.

I'm going to get the tandem and Thorn Audax done by them as well.

[cyclingthelakes]

I read this morning, someone had their frame powder coated with clear coat. Does this make sense? If one has a frame in fairly good shape, then go this route? I hadn't heard of this.

[robgul]

I read this morning, someone had their frame powder coated with clear coat. Does this make sense? If one has a frame in fairly good shape, then go this route? I hadn't heard of this.

Yep - I've had 4 or 5 frames that have been powder coated done (at the same time) with a clear powder coat "lacquer" - brings a great sheen ... and seems a little tougher than the normally hard powder coat colour. The machine I had done in purple looks especially good.

Rob