Cleaning titanium

[Audax67]

My bike has an unpainted titanium frame - had it over 10 years now. The top tube is always bright & beautiful since it gets regularly rubbed by my posterior, but the rest of it has got frankly grubby. However, no matter what I apply and how hard I rub the rest, some stains persist. When I wet them they disappear and the metal looks beautiful again, but when it dries they come back. This applies to every tube but the top one.

I had thought it might be etching from the acids in sport drinks, but that would hardly apply to the stays and head tube. I suppose it might be scale from washing water...

Any ideas?

[tim-b]

Hi
I don't own a Ti bike, but Google gave me this...http://www.sevencycles.com/about/faq.php (3rd FAQ on the list)
Regards
tim-b

[Brucey]

if you have limescale on your frame then a weak acid (vinegar, or commercial limescale remover) followed by a good rinse should show if that is the way ahead or not. I have found that for a mere £1.25 you can buy a good trigger spray limescale remover in tescos.

If you have (or want) a mirror polished finish, even fine grade scotchbrite will leave the surface such that a lot of further elbow grease will be required to bring it to a full shine, so I'd try the limescale remover first. Weak acids won't damage a Ti frame but might affect other parts, hence rinsing is important.

In general there are three good regimes that I know of for 'raw' Ti frames;

1) scotchbrite + pledge
2) mirror polish (solvol autosol) and then a polish
3) bead blast then pledge.

The only problem with the last of these is that if you get a scuff or regular wear it shows up shiny and unless you have a spot blaster and the right media the only way of making it matte again is to use scotchbrite and this leaves a slightly different finish. Despite this I think the bead blasted finish probably looks best; my Moots is finished this way.

cheers

[Mick F]

Why isn't it painted?
Why is it left as bare metal?
Are all Ti frames bare metal?

If I ever buy one, I'd rather it had a nice paint job because Ti is a boring metal to look at.

[Brucey]

paint is pretty much pointless on a Ti frame. I mean, you don't bother painting stainless steel, either, do you?

As for 'boring' it is all in the eye of the beholder, isn't it? I think it looks fantastic (and I have done since I first clapped eyes on one in the 1970s)



Unlike on most other types of frame, the welds in good Ti frames are things of utter beauty; why hide them?

BTW most builders do offer paint for those who want it but I don't think it is that popular.

cheers

[fishfright]

After washing I spray GT85 onto a kitchen towel and wipe over my Van Nicholas' frame tubes. I find it gives a lovely finish.

[De Sisti]

Why isn't it painted?
Why is it left as bare metal?
Are all Ti frames bare metal?

If I ever buy one, I'd rather it had a nice paint job because I find Ti is a boring metal to look at.

[mercalia]

so thats what a titanium frame lools like. never seen one. looks very nice.

[andrewjoseph]

I prefer the bare Ti finish too. If I were to paint mine it would be accents only, maybe blue and red at some tube junctions. Or a block of colour on middle of main tubes.

[Audax67]

Thanks, Brucey. The Scotchbrite/Pledge régime looks like a good starter. I was looking at steel wool but it's probably a bit fierce.

Here's what it looked like new:


It's shiny but not mirror finish. Nowadays the top tube is as shiny as ever but it puts the rest to shame.

It's a 2001 Lapierre with a 1" steerer. I bought it second hand from a mechanic at the LBS who had bought a Ti bike from Decathlon, but after a while one of the stays developed a fissure. He took it back, but the line was discontinued by then so they procured this frame and gave it to him in exchange. He never built a bike on it, and eventually sold it to me for 750 euros. I got the LBS to strip down my MBK of the time and transfer all the parts to this, adding a carbon fork. I've ridden it ever since.

[Audax67]

Hi
I don't own a Ti bike, but Google gave me this...http://www.sevencycles.com/about/faq.php (3rd FAQ on the list)
Regards
tim-b

Looks interesting. Ta!

[Mick F]

paint is pretty much pointless on a Ti frame. I mean, you don't bother painting stainless steel, either, do you?

Pointless?
Why paint anything?
By "paint" I mean painting something to make it a nice colour.

"Nice" is in the eye of the beholder of course, so why are Ti frames always non-painted?
Why not paint SS?
If you had a steel frame (or any frame made in any material) it could even be brushed steel and clear coat lacquered.

Why NOT paint something?

[Audax67]

paint is pretty much pointless on a Ti frame. I mean, you don't bother painting stainless steel, either, do you?

Pointless?
Why paint anything?
By "paint" I mean painting something to make it a nice colour.

"Nice" is in the eye of the beholder of course, so why are Ti frames always non-painted?
Why not paint SS?
If you had a steel frame (or any frame made in any material) it could even be brushed steel and clear coat lacquered.

Why NOT paint something?

Possibly the same reason that Ti glasses aren't painted: bragging rights. However, a mucky Ti frame looks like something the cat might bury.

What gets me, though, is that Ti glog frames are likely to cost as much as Ti bike frames.

[Brucey]

Why paint anything?
By "paint" I mean painting something to make it a nice colour.

in the case of ordinary steel frames, the nice colour is merely making a virtue of a necessity; it needs to be coated with something, else it goes rusty. Might as well be something pretty then...?

"Nice" is in the eye of the beholder of course, so why are Ti frames always non-painted?
Why not paint SS?
If you had a steel frame (or any frame made in any material) it could even be brushed steel and clear coat lacquered.

Why NOT paint something?

Both SS and Ti can be painted but few people bother with it. Clear coat alone does not provide adequate protection against corrosion for ordinary steel frames; they really need rust inhibiting undercoats.

In many products the cost of the paint is a significant fraction of the whole, and it adds weight too.

I recall a client of mine explaining that on one occasion they tried out a new paint shop for finishing some F1 parts in CF. When the parts came back they were absolutely beautiful, easily the best they had ever seen. Unfortunately the weight of the parts had also doubled; they had applied many coats of primer to make it smooth enough, so much so that the paint was thicker than the composite.

Although it happens sometimes (mostly when black is back in vogue) in most cases if it can be avoided you don't paint chainsets, rear mechs, pedals, handlebars, stems, brakes, spokes, chains, seat posts, saddles, gear levers, mudguards, hubs, headsets.... you get the picture.

cheers

[Mick F]

The list you post can all be any colour the designer wants. Most of the alu parts on a bike are anodised silver, though some are bare. They can be anodised in any colour other than silver.

Our Renault Clio has plastic wings. They are the same colour as the rest of the steel body panels, and the plastic valances and strips are either the same colour or black. Basically, anything can be any colour. Ti bike frames included ....... plus spec frames in Ti.

I have Blackburn Ti bottle cages and they are lacquered grey. Why, I don't know, but I often think about stripping them and seeing if I can polish them to a shine, or even spray paint them.