squirtdad

your saddle nose is bent

jetboy 

I am getting a bike powder-coated now: see how it goes. wet paint was simply price prohibitive for what the bike needed- and frankly, even though it is a rare bike, the finish on it is not good. It is a pro race bike replica (yes its the LOOK Hinault), made to be ridden, and ridden hard, so they did not even bother to file the seams on the lugs. headlug even has this little droopy part on the front they did not bother filing off before building.

elegant lines with a working man's finish. powdercoat it. slap decals on. ride.

but yes, I am having it done by a pro through a bicycle painting shop so its not costing $100, but since its r753 i need them to be careful.
hopefully done soon and ill post here either good or bad: see if we can still see the unfiled seams !

Hudson308 

Coating over thinned lugs? Check.
Pantographed/engraved details? Check.
Gorgeous shiny sparkly pearlescent finish? Check.
Durability? Check.
No harmful VOCs or other ozone-depleting chemicals or hazardous waste? Check.
Affordable for Joe Tinker? Check.

Checks all the boxes for me!

RobbieTunes

Yeah, so I started dressing to the right.

jade408

Love each and every color on these.

Nessism

What are you guys doing to protect your decals/graphics? With wet paint the decals and/or painted stripes and such can be made after the base color is applied and then everything can be sealed over with clear.

garryg

I picked up this old frame awhile back and had a few comments about the powdercoating,all negative. Still trying to decide if i will leave it as is or repaint.Still don,t know what it is.

RobbieTunes

Nothing. It's a bike. It's gonna get ridden, and transported, and likely see some wear and tear.
It happened during its first life, no doubt it will happen during the time it spends with me. I'm OK with that.

RobbieTunes

I've had one turn out that way. It went from "an older frame I'd kind of like to ride" to "anyone want this?"

Chombi1 

Kinda like a briefs or boxer shorts survey going on here........

WGB 

mstateglfr - I love your ride!!!

Someone had a survey on here recently about paint costs versus powder costs. It seems to depend on areas and paint seems the more expensive option but in some places powder isn't cheap either.

I bought this Ross for $60 because it had a complete 600 arabesque group. The wheel set was a rusted out 26in set seller had used for photo and had I known that I probably wouldn't have driven to get it. Sorry for small first photo which is the original ad photo.



My size frame but not worth the cost of repainting. Badly rusting and not worth building up as was.




I thought that I'd keep the parts and trash the frame but the local co-op arranged a deal (it was either $70 or $75 I can't recall price) for powder coating

I chose "Orange Stryker" and the paint code was PPS-4750.





I agree totally that paint is preferable but I have two kids to put through school and as stated earlier the costs do add up. True most bikes just need a touch up but this bike was a write-off, based on the paint condition. No one wanted the frame, even for free and I was going to trash it anyway. It was worth the experience and I get that maybe the frame will rust from the inside out. In the meantime.......

Manny66 

$60 Powdercoat and $20 in frame stickers, I'll take it anyday.

base2 

What is that, Ink Black? Er...Maybe a fine brush and some detail around the lugs in a contrasting enamel would show off the detail. Add in chrome & polished parts, it could be a real looker. It's just missing that "special something."

On second thought: Your coater just did a piss-poor job if you ask me. Just too thick, like he thought it was a deck railing or a lawn chair.

I'd take it back & make him re-do it.

Or...Install a random silver wheel set and polished quill stem you might be surprised. If not, well then at least you tried.

gugie 

Bottom line, a crappy powder coat job is, well, crap.

A good powder coat job is hard to distinguish from wet paint at 10 feet.

A 70's or 80's production frame with "not so thin" lugs, it's hard to justify wet paint, IMO.

The ultimate look will always be a well done wet paint job, if you want to spend the extra, extra money.

Powder coat can be clear coated with decals underneath. If you can't find someone to do that for you, try Groody Bros. in KC.

The old arguements against powder coat are, well, old. I know of a half dozen powder coaters I'd be happy to send a frame to.

Oh, and besides cost, it's a helluva lot better on the environment (if one cares at all), and it's a helluva lot more durable.

Does it rust underneath? Maybe. Anybody have a powder coated frame fail due to rust? It'd be the first I'd heard of it.

Is it hard to remove? I'm wondering why this would be a negative - a primary point of paint is to protect the metal, no? And I know of a couple of places who will chem dunk a frame to remove powder coat fro $40-50.

Most of the arguements against powder coat are old news.

sdn40

The rust under a powder coat thing bugs me. Are people saying powder coating causes rust ? Because rust can form under paint the last time I checked.

gugie 

4

Yep, that one's pretty hideous!

gugie 

Why?

Outta site, outta mind. I've already asked for someone to show me a powder coated frame that failed due to rust underneath.

sdn40

Rust forms due to trapping moisture or particles. It doesn't matter if it's powder coat, paint or mud. It almost seems like some believe powder coating promotes rust, which I'd like to see proof.
But yea. My daily life isn't bothered. I have a powder coated bike and am not worried about not being a caretaker of history or any nonsense like that.

Wileyone 

It's harder to get guns here in the GWN. But I think 10 lashes for the Powder Coat and another 20 for the wheelset.
Might be approiate.

Hudson308 

No clear over the decals.
I had a Paramount with a Cyclart (wet) paint job with clear over the decals, and I didn't like it for a couple of reasons.
The first is that the clear just made everything look gloppy.
The second is that a couple of the decals had been chipped, and there was no easy way to fix that. Had the decals been on top I could have removed and replaced them.

Wileyone 

Some of the Decal companies offer UV protected Decals so clear coat is not needed. A little more costly though.

aprieto28

Red Medici at Paint Shop

SB_Greg

Here are a few from my Dossche Sport and my Schwinn Circuit.






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gugie 

Now that's what I'm talkin' about.

Who did the powder coat?

gugie 

Sure, and I prefer flying first class and staying in luxury hotels. It's not going to stop me from flying to Hawaii coach and staying at a condo because I can't afford the 1%er vacation.

There are pros and cons to both. Surely powder coat is more durable and much more environmentallly friendly, as well as significantly less expensive. You've seen several examples of what I'd call comparable to wet paint examples, at significantly less cost. Also, most powder coaters turn around a frame in a few weeks - and I'm talking about the ones who know how to handle bike frames, not just any powder coater. All the really good wet painters that I know of have several months of backlog, and even then can't hit anywhere near a date.

If you're looking for wet paint quality, pay wet paint prices. If you've got a ratty 70's or 80's production frame, a powder coat will spruce it up nicely.

I'm not against wet paint at all. On rare occasion I have a frame that I think is worth the treatment.

I'm just a bit tired of reading the "don't powdercoat, it'll be crap, they'll hide the lug lines, fill bottle bosses, etc." crowd when I think a much more appropriate answer would be "it depends on where you send it". There are enough people on this forum that have had great experiences with certain powder coaters to recommend, hopefully local, but if you can't find a good bike powder coater locally, odds are you can't find a good wet painter locally as well, so shipping costs are a wash.