gugie 

Every few months or so a powder coating thread is started up - who do you use, how much does it cost, is it any good? Powder coating can be a relatively inexpensive, very durable way to finish your bike project. We've all heard horror stories of frames practically etched through by improper media blasting, lug details ruined by overly thick application, and terrible masking. Many are looking for someone they can trust with their precious frame and fork.

In this thread let's not argue about whether one should powder coat, whether it's as good as wet paint, etc. Assume someone is already sold on powder coating, but where are the good ones? I've used professional, regionally known outfits, as well as a guy working out of his garage that all did good work. Since shipping costs to and from a powder coater can eat up half or more of your budget, it's good to know somebody relatively local that you can drive a frame and fork over to.

Here's the ask: only post powder coaters that have experience with bicycle frames that you or somebody you know has used. If somebody else has posted your favorite powder coater, it's fine to second, third, etc. the motion. I'll update this opening post and link to those who post about them. This will be a living document, powder coaters come and go, I'll update with information as it's posted and verified. Heck, it may even make it into the sticky hall of fame!

Please post the following information:
1. Contact info - including location!
2. Bikes you've had powder coated, including pics!
3. Your review - quality, price paid

listings by state or country with link to BF post with more info:

States represented:




map made from https://mapchart.net/usa.html

California
NorCal
Champion Powder Coating - San Francisco, CA
Powdercoatit - Santa Cruz, CA
TNT powdercoating - Shingle Springs, CA
West Coast Powder Coatings - South San Francisco, CA
SoCal
Colorado
Rock City Custom Powder And Paint - Colorado Springs, CO
Dark Matter Finishing - Colorado Springs, CO
Delaware
Retro Cruiser Bicycles - Lincoln, Delaware
Florida
Fusion Powdercoating - Dania, FL
Hawaii
Mekala Powdercoat & Patio Mfg - Kapolei, Oahu HI
Illinois
Harely Eades Jr - Pekin, IL
J&J Powder- Zion, IL
Indiana
PCT Coating - Anderson, Indiana
Pro Kote Indy - Indianapolis, IN
Iowa
ReeRodz Powder Coating - Prole IA
Kansas
Groody Brothers - Topeka, Kansas
Louisiana
a guy named Cameron - New Orleans, LA
Massachusetts
Nationwide powder coating - Methuen, MA
Pike Powder Coating - Allston, MA
Michigan
H&H Powdercoating - Fenton, MI
Minnesotta
Powdercoat Man - Maple Grove, MN
Oregon
CC Coatings - Portland, Oregon
Santiam Powder Coating - Scio, OR
Pennsylvania
Bonehead Performance Coatings - Lower Southampton Township, PA
Washington
Forever Powder Coating - Olympia, WA
Ken's Powdercoating - Graham, Washington
Seattle Powder Coat - Seattle, WA

sloar 

PCT coating in Anderson Indiana. I was quoted $80 for sandblasting and single stage color. I’ve seen very nice work on several frames.

gugie 

This is my go to place in Portlandia. They have a history of powder coating bike frames, but with new ownership about 5 years ago I was hesitant to use them. The cheapie, quirkie place out on the eastside was sold, the $80 guy out in Amity Oregon that did great work out of his garage moved to Phoenix Arizona, so I tried CC Coatings, now owned by a guy named Jason who only takes cash for bicycle framework. The daughter of the previous owner was persuaded to hang around to teach him how to do bike frames. He's gotten better to the point that I now recommend him

CC Powder Coating
https://www.powdercoatingportlandor.com/
9256 SE 67th Ave, Portland, OR 97206

$140 for one color, additional charges for masking and special ordering powder (although he has a very big selection in stock)

I recommend them for single colors, although he can do decals and clear coat. Also can send out for chemical strip of old powder coat

gugie 

Mark Rainey doesn't just do powder coating. He's a bike guy, ex-mechanic, so you can send him a whole bike, he can strip it down, powder coat, and rebuild it. He's also knows how to use a torch, so if you want some bottle or shifter bosses added, even cantilevers, he can do your frame mods prior to powder coating all in one swell foop. Mark is the face of Groody Brothers, right smack dab in the middle of the country, so if you don't have anybody local and need to ship a frame in the contiguous USA, you're probably not a huge shipping cost away. I've had two frames done at Groody Brothers, and I'll send them more. Both of the frames were decaled and clear coated, one of them was a two color job. Mark nailed them both.

Groody Brothers
https://groodybros.com/


decals, two tone, lug lining, clear coat

decals, lug lining, clear coat


Pic courtesy of Andy Kaylor - decals, two tone paint job, clear coat

Hudson308 

Powdercoat Man Doug Arntson in Maple Grove, MN.
https://www.powdercoatman.com/
You can contact him at 612-834-9002, or search for "Powdercoat Man" on Facebook.
Like Mark Rainey, Doug is a bike guy. He knows the importance of sharp lug shorelines and etched or panto'd details.

nlerner

Pike Powder Coating
Allston, MA
https://pikepowdercoating.com

thook

questions, if you don't mind....

love that color! what is it called?
the tires....what are they and size? (i have some of those DC's and ponder using them for some better tire clearance. current brakes don't have much)
and, do you have any full photos of that bike? looks awesome!

thanks, matthew

Andy_K 

I had my first Motobecane done at Forever Powder Coating in Olympia, Washington (https://www.foreverpowdercoating.com/). They did two tone with masked Nervex lugs and seat tube panels, plus clear coat for $375. That was several years ago, so I don't know what the price would be now. I added decals myself over the clear coat. (I was young and foolish then. OK, maybe just foolish.)





I chose the color to match my fenders.



One oddity was that they left the dropouts bare. I know it seems like it's asking for rust, but that hasn't happened yet.



I'm sure they'd not do this if you asked them.

NitroExpress

Harely did a great job on a 1973 Motobecane Le Champion

Harely Eades Jr
Like New Parts
1310 B Derby Street
Pekin, IL 61554, USA

mstateglfr 

ReeRodz Powder Coating in Prole IA 515.981.5967

Central IA near Des Moines.

$125 for them to blast then powdercoat a frame and fork in the color I wanted(they had to buy the color).
It was fast, they plugged tubing holes, and its evenly applied.
- I had to sand down the rear dropouts as the powder is thicker than the original paint and the hub axle wasnt sliding in smoothly.
- the powder is on the thicker side, but lug lines are still quite defined(the Schwinn Premis frame's lack of thinned lugs helps here).


The blue color is powdercoat. Ignore the red flecks as my kids did that.

Rocket-Sauce 

MAKE THIS A STICKY!!!
Could posters also include prices?

Johno59

I personally don't mind the thicker less definition PC sometimes leaves. What I have found alarming is water can get under the PC undetected and cause very deep rust - especially so if road salt is about.
. From what I can discern , the PC can crack where a right-angle occurs ie a lug, cable stop, bolt mount etc. Water leeches in and you have a hidden problem. Regular waxing may eliminate this problem completely.
One thing I have learned recently is to remove PC burning it off is 10 times easier than any other way and I say that as a person who has access to super dangerous industrial chemical solvent baths.

rjhammett

These were done by Powdercoat Man.

unworthy1

I don't have pix but these guys are in SF, priced pretty low for the location, do better work than "some" who have been around longer and certainly should know their way around bike frames. That said I can't shower them with praise exactly but "not bad for $125" (and up). I had at least 3 or four frames done by them but none for my personal fleet."Prices listed include media blasting of new metal parts, as well as masking and plugging of threaded holes.

Custom masking is extra. There will be an additional charge for removal of old powder coating, paint, or rust."

Champion Powder Coating San Francisco CA.

Hudson308 

Thanks for the kind words, Matthew!
It's a 1980-ish Fuji S12-S that I rebuilt for my wife. She loves it.
I had Doug use RAL 3027 Raspberry Red as a base coat, then go over it with Violet Sapphire Chameleon. Both of these powders are available from Columbia Coatings.
The tires are Club Roost Cross Terras. I think they're 27 x 1-3/8.

thook

thank you....and, yer welcome! it really is lovely

i've seen those tires mentioned recently. i see they're at modern bike. are they really a 35mm width?

Hudson308 

They're pretty wide. Perfect for gravel grinding or casual riding on asphalt.

Mad Honk 

Gugie,
You have already mentioned ProKote Indy where I get all of my work done. There are plenty of pics in the forums under my name that show some of their work. They do the powder coating and then I add decals and clear coat. It allows me to do what ever I want for the decals and then get the frame to look right to my eye. I will say that they are good and get things right. They preserve serial numbers under clear coat and mask off parts that are chrome or don't need the powder. They are old school hot rod folks who understand what a person wants in a restoration or a new build. I know two dirt track guys who have had their frames done there and after two years the PC is still like new. They are the best in the biz in my opinion. Smiles, MH
Oops! I for got to mention price. The average price to frame fork and bottle cages is $240. The turn around is about two weeks. MH.

thook

at some point, i'll have to them a try, then.

gravel....my experience has been 27" wheels feel smoother than 700c in the same given tire width. some of those look to be a lot of fun

mhespenheide

I'll add another vote of confidence for Groody Brothers, who powdercoated a celeste Bianchi for me after gugie did some work on it. I'm on my laptop and don't have images of it on this computer, but I'll point out two nice touches of customer service: I had asked for a specific powder that's recommended for celeste. Mark test ran some other colors that he thought better matched the existing paint, on his own, and sent images for me to compare. I ended up continuing to go with the powder I first picked, but it speaks to their care. Also, the decals I sent were thicker than they should have been and didn't feather nicely under the clear coat (which they send out). Mark asked me to send another set of decals and (I'm guessing) paid for another round of clear-coating on his dime.

Moral, though -- check with VeloCals and your powdercoater/clearcoater for what thickness of decals they want.

scarlson

Nationwide powder coating - Methuen, MA

Like the 'pike itself, Pike Powder was very expensive, so I shopped around. Northern MA has some industry still left. These guys do paint for working machines, not just the clean-handed urban crowd.




So glad I went to these people. I think this was in the $200 range. They know how to deal with bikes, and masked off all the necessary bits without any fuss. They even left a cable I'd threaded through the fork to pull dynamo wire through. Awesome work, and we chatted on the phone first, so I got in and out quick: took about 2 weeks turnaround. I also had them do a motorcycle frame/swingarm and another bike frame as well. All went fine.

Senior Ryder 00

Great idea!

I’ll add a recent discovery: Santiam Powder Coating in Scio, OR. Phone: 541-791-6515. Email: SatiamPC@gmail.com. Roy Tollefson is the owner.

Last summer I facilitated the coating of a batch of four frame sets for our local co-op. One of which was my vintage English touring bike with ornate Nervex lug work. I’ve had about ½ dozen frames coated over the years and this was the best. It’s very smooth and glossy plus the definition around the lugs is excellent. Pix attached.



The cost was $90 each as a special to the non profit, community service co-op. All of these bikes were the same color. I suspect that individual frame sets in a custom color would be ~$120.

This is a small operation and they were hit hard by the pandemic issues and illness. This slowed the turn around, but was well worth the wait.

Cheers,

Van

gugie 

Could use some powder coaters in the Southeast, Texas, SoCal...anybody?

lasauge 

I would add Rock City Custom Powder And Paint in Colorado Springs, CO to the list. Daniel Garcia runs that business and did a great job on 2 frames for me a couple years ago and I've seen a couple other frames he did for other folks too. Highly recommended and very affordable even with custom colors.

dan_garcia719@yahoo.com
719-217-8100

Right click to follow links - somehow I never took pictures of these as bare frames, here's what they looked like when built up:

gugie 

Thanks, added!