Matthew A Brown

Just a thought I had when looking at pics of my frame being built; why not just put a clear layer (or two?) over the steel?

dooley

A fair amount of BMX stuff comes clearcoated, I guess it's a little to rough for most cyclists. One good thing about it is you can see whether the frame was cooked.

HillRider

Most steel frames are left with a "mill finish" on the tubes and just cleaned and surface treated to prepare them for painting. The paint and clearcoat provide the smooth shiny finish you want. If you only used a clearcoat, the tubes and joints would have to be polished for appearance and that is very time and labor consuming.

ofofhy

Unless you are going for the rough metal look, which could be kind of cool in some respects.

Matthew A Brown

That's a bit of what I had in mind... a couple friends' new frames just came through the shop to get painted and every time I think, man, how does that bike not look amazing already? Anyone who knew what they were looking at could appreciate the work, and the other 98% of the population would more likely think haha, that chump can't even afford paint.


Dunno, is there a market for custom beaters? = )

ppc

We gunsmiths often have to mirror-polish gun parts by hand. We go in emery paper grits from 150, all the way to 1000, and sometimes up to 4x0. Mirror-polish barrels are drop-dead gorgeous, but to polish a barrel up to 1000 without a single scratch and without visible waves in the reflection takes up to 8 hours, and requires a lot of sweat. Given that a gunbarrel is just a 60cm steel tube, it would take a whole lot more time to hand-polish an entire bike frame, not to mention that some kind of hard clean surface protection would be required afterward to protect all that work

Eatadonut

Having done the same with steel computer cases, I know exactly what you're talking about. We get nice, flat surfaces most of the time, but it still takes FOREVER.

cs1

This is a good reason to have the frame glassbeaded first to give it a uniform finish. It will be satin like. Then clear coat. My local powder coater has tinted clears which look real nice. If you want to use lets say red cables and bar tape get it red tinted. Cannondale acutally uses dark tinted clears on some of its bikes and they look real nice.

Tim

peripatetic

I've fantasized about the unfinished steel beater look. Let's take it to the hypothetical extreme: what if someone came out with a clear-coated, unfinished motorcycle, or even a sports car? Can you imagine a raw-finished Ferrari or Porsche? When I become a millionaire who can afford the custom stuff...it'd be beautiful.

lyledriver

mmmmmm... raw!

Matthew A Brown

That's exactly it. I want a custom track frame, Quickbeam dropouts, and a non-paint job.



And a pony.





Do they make clear bar tape?


(ducks)

Matthew A Brown

Still talking theoretically here-- I would have zero qualms with practicing something like this and spending a few weekends absolutely blinging out a good frame if I knew it would be reasonably shielded. Maybe not mirror shine, but def bling.

Brian

With cocaine in the trunk, no doubt. By the way, there is a simple solution to sexy bare metal without worrying too much about oxidization. It's called titanium.

peripatetic

Heh. Funny. Titanium's really nice up high in the air where thieves won't get to it and it won't suffer the pain of hitting 5 deep potholes per block. NSW vs. NYC, biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig difference. Oh yeah, and titanium's not really what you'd call "affordable," now is it? But then, you're probably right, if I'm gonna be a cocaine-snorting sports car enthusiast, why wouldn't I buy a titanium bike?

Brian

We can take on 5 potholes per block, which is good, because roads here aren't that great either. Cambria bikes in California was selling nice ti frames for $399.

hypersnazz

Quamen made a Clad G5 flatland frame in raw clearcoat with a hint of multicolored metal flake in it. Tits.

cs1

Been done, they called DeLorean. Did you watch Back to the Future. It was a raw stainless steel body. Very cool and ahead of it's time.

Tim

efarrar

Mmmmm translucent paint? Sounds like a winner. Anodized parts + translucent plastic bar wrap + translucent powdercoat would be gorgeous.

phoebeisis

Every time I take a good look at the raw metal on this frame that I'm attempting to sand-buff the rust defects out of-I have the same thought-raw metal looks good!
The Deloreans were raw stainless.Unfortunately,I think they were completely uncoated and the SS pretty quickly develped shadows of some sort,and were said to look pretty crummy.
A heavy clear coat should solve most of the problems;I suspect that plain clear coat with no pigment underneath might emphasize scratches a bit.Thanks.Charlie.

DocRay

which would be great, if the rest of the car wasn't crap designed by a coke-head.

CAAD8's are just clearcoated ally. but clearcoat won't stick to steel directly.

I'm surprised no one has tried etched aluminum as a finish.

jur

Another guy who needs to leave the bikes a bit and work in the garden...

Az B

I've clearcoated steel motorcycle parts before. It's not a good idea. Here in the south where the humidity is high, it's almost impossible to keep all moisture out before laying on the clear. If the painter does a really good job, it might last about 5 years.

Stainless would be cool. I know that there are some folks working on a new stainless frame that should be pretty nice.

Az

Dr.Deltron

OK, after reading all the posts here's what you want to do. POWDERCOAT! You can leave the weld burns and all if you like that look. Or use a rough ScotchBrite and give the frame a grainy look. (ala Ventanas early frames. They're aluminum, scuffed aoround the tubes, as opposed to lengthwise.) They were then powdercoated in Candy (tinted clear) red, blue or purple. Once the frame is powdercoated with whatever flavor of clear, spray (or have a professional do it) some clear Paint over the powdercoat. Powdercoat sticks to metal very well & paint sticks to powdercoat very well. CLEAR PAINT (of ANY kind) does NOT stick to bare metal very well!!! How do I know? I painted Ventanas in the early days. I also live fairly near to Ventana, not that that matters at all.
Yes, if you ask the question often enough you WILL get the answer you want.
Glad to help,
Dr.D

Dr.Deltron

Charlie, Is that a Gitane Interclub by chance? I noticed the honeycomb rear drop-outs. Thanks, Dr.D

spider-man

There's been some debate about that in the Classic and Vintage forum, and I don't think a resolution has been made.

I suspect it's a Gitane, but if I recall correctly it has some differences from the Interclub. At any rate, it's a very nice frame, pretty, long lugs with cutouts, and the cool dropouts.