Need to up my bling game
03-24-22, 08:14 PM
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Need to up my bling game
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If someone tells you that you have enough bicycles and you don't need any more, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
If someone tells you that you have enough bicycles and you don't need any more, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Last edited by gugie; 03-24-22 at 08:18 PM.
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03-24-22, 08:29 PM
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For some reason I am having a problem with the issue of value of useful vs bling value. Does bling ever make the item work any better? I sold my 50th Campy grouppo for $400 because it wasn't any better than a standard NR grouppo Just my stoopid bike rider mentality. Smiles, MH
03-24-22, 08:49 PM
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I've seen those on the evilbay. Gets me idly wondering about the chemical process required to electroplate gold onto aluminum. That can't be easy. I don't want to ruin it for myself by looking it up, but I can't think of a process offhand that doesn't involve HF, cyanide, or both.
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Owner & co-founder, Cycles René Hubris. Unfortunately attaching questionable braze-ons to perfectly good frames since about 2015. With style.
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03-24-22, 09:01 PM
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03-24-22, 11:40 PM
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Uhmmm.... so, the moment you put wrench to those bolts you kill half their value when the gold scratches off??
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03-24-22, 11:54 PM
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This one makes me wonder if they have any idea what they're doing:
I've never tried brazing on a gold-plated part, maybe it's no problem, but even so it's still a part that is 100% covered when the bike is assembled.
If you listed all the bike parts in order of how much sense it makes to gold plate it, this would have to be near the bottom. Just above ball bearings.
Mark B
I've never tried brazing on a gold-plated part, maybe it's no problem, but even so it's still a part that is 100% covered when the bike is assembled.
If you listed all the bike parts in order of how much sense it makes to gold plate it, this would have to be near the bottom. Just above ball bearings.
Mark B
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03-25-22, 12:38 AM
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If you build it, a fool and his money, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah....
All these are ethos we know all to well.
Gold plated braze ons, hardware, even components is an electrode to far.
All these are ethos we know all to well.
Gold plated braze ons, hardware, even components is an electrode to far.
03-25-22, 12:44 AM
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Gold Plated Bearing Balls!
100 1/16" Inch G25 Precision Gold Plated Chrome Steel Bearing Balls
US $9.95
(Even More) Corrosion Resistant, Grade 25, Reasonably Priced....What's not to like?
(Only your Bearing Ball Packer will know for sure, but deep down, don't you want Gold Plated Balls? Hmmmm?)
Link.
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03-25-22, 01:09 AM
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03-25-22, 02:32 AM
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No literally Regina ORO parts? Seems like the Roma Furniture of bike parts; all that's missing is the clear vinyl slip cover to go over the bike!
03-25-22, 03:46 AM
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100 1/16" Inch G25 Precision Gold Plated Chrome Steel Bearing Balls
US $9.95(Even More) Corrosion Resistant, Grade 25, Reasonably Priced....What's not to like?
(Only your Bearing Ball Packer will know for sure, but deep down, don't you want Gold Plated Balls? Hmmmm?)
Link.
03-25-22, 04:03 AM
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Harkens back to the gold packages car dealers installed in the late 90s. Didn’t like it then, don’t like it now.
I’m guessing it’s the same process. Fairly durable but did eventually fade or rub off.
I’m guessing it’s the same process. Fairly durable but did eventually fade or rub off.
Last edited by plonz; 03-25-22 at 04:10 AM.
03-25-22, 05:44 AM
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@gugie, I think I have some gold spray paint around here somewhere to provide bling in a can. It will only require a small upcharge.
03-25-22, 07:38 AM
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For some reason I am having a problem with the issue of value of useful vs bling value. Does bling ever make the item work any better? I sold my 50th Campy grouppo for $400 because it wasn't any better than a standard NR grouppo Just my stoopid bike rider mentality. Smiles, MH
Power to the proletariat!
Pragma over Dogma.
Common sense over pretense.
Intrinsic vs. utilitarian.
There are probably better ways to display pretentiousness than bike bling (L’Eroica, high end jewelry, cars, McMansions, etc), especially as pretentious is in the eye of the pretender. but free will, is, at least for now, still allowed in scattered places, and available for some.
A harmless vice compared to most. Bikes can be art, which changes the equation. For some, not all.
There is always the option: to not.
Last edited by bamboobike4; 03-25-22 at 09:51 AM.
03-25-22, 07:42 AM
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I can’t imagine Smokey and the Bandit in silver trim, though. A lot of body shops used to have those ano kits for doing trim like that. Part of the crazy great US auto culture. RIP.
03-25-22, 10:47 AM
#16
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Paul Brown of Cycle Dynamics in Novato, California (then moved shop to Santa Rosa) had a jeweler friend that he would send Campy small bits to for gold plating. He'd do these in batches, the cost wasn't nearly as high as I thought it would be. He'd take a $4 part, plate it, and sell it for $15-20. Treaded bits, such as cable adjusters were big sellers. Beyond the bling value, there's a practical purpose. Gold plating doesn't corrode, and since it's a soft metal it has some "lubricity" to it.
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If someone tells you that you have enough bicycles and you don't need any more, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
If someone tells you that you have enough bicycles and you don't need any more, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
03-25-22, 11:25 AM
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Paul Brown of Cycle Dynamics in Novato, California (then moved shop to Santa Rosa) had a jeweler friend that he would send Campy small bits to for gold plating. He'd do these in batches, the cost wasn't nearly as high as I thought it would be. He'd take a $4 part, plate it, and sell it for $15-20. Treaded bits, such as cable adjusters were big sellers. Beyond the bling value, there's a practical purpose. Gold plating doesn't corrode, and since it's a soft metal it has some "lubricity" to it.
He completely disassembles the components, cleans and polishes, then has them plated.
There are several of these projects (various Italian brands for some reason) on line.
I just had a gold-plated rear axle adjuster lost in shipping (USPS sorted it "out")
Probably due to the sender just dropping it into an envelope.
Never thought of taking one to a jeweler.
Good idea, may try it locally.
Now, which would plate better, a brass one or a steel one?
03-25-22, 01:48 PM
#18
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[QUOTE=bamboobike4;22450682]Chris Howard of Cyclo Retro? Velo Retro? in Australia does same, larger scale.
He completely disassembles the components, cleans and polishes, then has them plated.
/QUOTE]
CycloRetro gold plating
He completely disassembles the components, cleans and polishes, then has them plated.
/QUOTE]
CycloRetro gold plating
03-25-22, 11:03 PM
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This one makes me wonder if they have any idea what they're doing:
I've never tried brazing on a gold-plated part, maybe it's no problem, but even so it's still a part that is 100% covered when the bike is assembled.
If you listed all the bike parts in order of how much sense it makes to gold plate it, this would have to be near the bottom. Just above ball bearings.
Mark B
I've never tried brazing on a gold-plated part, maybe it's no problem, but even so it's still a part that is 100% covered when the bike is assembled.
If you listed all the bike parts in order of how much sense it makes to gold plate it, this would have to be near the bottom. Just above ball bearings.
Mark B
03-26-22, 01:16 AM
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Don’t forget the gold plated bottom bracket spindle…
03-27-22, 04:25 PM
#22
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https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...n-i-think.html
Or maybe a billionaire died at that spot? Instead of an all-white ghost bike, the mourners, in a really nice gesture, went with the bling.
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03-27-22, 05:33 PM
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Did you mean suede and deb0ner?
Last edited by CV-6; 03-27-22 at 06:04 PM.
