Spa Cycles Steel Tourer

Please be fair and thoughtful in your opinions. No rants please.
gbnz
Posts: 2554
Joined: 13 Sep 2008, 10:38am

Re: Spa Cycles Steel Tourer

Post by gbnz »

beeblemaster wrote: same paint vulnerability with my 2015 bought Audax frame)


No problem, it's just come back to mind again! Gave it a decent clean end of last week, rebuilt the Rr wheel yesterday and couldn't help notice yet more paint dissolving and corrosion coming through. Have to say I don't want to waste money on it, so will probably simply slap a bit of paint on as part of the routine maintenance package or check and see if the agricultural merchants do a bit of painting in their spare time (NB. Obviously harvesting is starting, so it'd have to be a December job!)

Though the only other steel bike I've ever had, an Emmelle Clipper GT 12.6 (1985-2005) never had an issue with corrosion and the paint work still looked shiny and new on disposal (NB. Despite being kept in the garden shed for 2-3 years).
fastpedaller
Posts: 3435
Joined: 10 Jul 2014, 1:12pm
Location: Norfolk

Re: Spa Cycles Steel Tourer

Post by fastpedaller »

Some interesting responses from Spa users here made me do an overdue examination of my Spa Tourer today. I have a couple of questions I'm hoping someone will know...... 1) Are they powder coated or painted? 2) has the process changed? mine also seems quite soft, and doesn't appear to be powder coat.
My tourer is 2014 model. I'd noticed some paint wear on the headtube where the gear outers touch, and should really have dealt with it before now :oops: Nothing too problematic, and after some dabs of paint have dried for several days I'll apply some stick-on velcro 'fabric bit' which should give a long-term fix. of more concern was some rust developing where the top tube cable stop are brazed - It looks like this is due to sweat contanimation or brazing flux not being cleaned well enough, or indeed a combination of both. there was also a bit of rust where the rear brake outer touches the top tube after the rear cable stop - this was the most affected. These 3 areas have created filoform rust, so I got to work with some wet/dry, cleaned them with panel wipe and applied some re oxide primer. some undercoat and gloss will follow. Another bit of velcro will be added on the top tube/rear cable outer rub, and some thick wax or waxoyl at the cable stops. not too bad after 6 years (rarely seen rain), though not what I expected, as I thought lower/side mounted stops were a lot less prone to sweat corrosion than top-mounted outer cable guides of old. Some rain may have helped re any sweat? - I should add this wouldn't prevent me buying another Spa :) .
Post Reply