LVRider

I dissassembled my steel Fondriest today, in hopes of taking it to the powdercoater I'd spoken to on email several times. The frame has a chrome rear triangle, which is in good shape and he initially said would not be a problem. When I got there and showed him the frame, he said the crome would bubble and discolor during the 400-degree curing process. He also initially quouted me $160 for stripping the frame and a 2-color fade (with keeping the chrome intact), but then said it would be $320.
I thought I remembered reading somewhere on here that there was a high heat tape that could be used to mask off chrome? I brought the frame home with me...

Torchy McFlux

I'm not a powder coat expert, but I'll give it a shot.
Firstly, I don't think 400 F is enough to discolour chrome. Secondly, masking off chromed sections should be entirely possible, but will be a hassle for the coater - explaining the cost increase.
Maybe you should consider just getting a wet paint job. The price seems to have inflated into that range anyway.

RobbieTunes

Torchy's right.
Powder coaters here are cheap, until they small money.
Just like everyone else, it seems.

southpawboston

i paid $96 per bike for powdercoating, which included the cost of chemical paint stripping and media blasting. and yes, chrome can be preserved. it can get masked off with high-temperature tape. here are the two bikes i had powdercoated, preserving the chrome rear triangle of each:





for the bike in the first pic, the chrome was hidden beneath the factory paint, but i had my powder coater polish it up and mask it off when powder coating the rest of the frame.

asking a powder coater to do additional labor-intensive steps, like masking off intricate lug work for contrasting colors, or doing a color fade, should increase the cost. but simply masking off a rear triangle is pretty trivial.

Bikedued

Yeah $320 seems kind of ridiculous. That high heat is kind of a pain on straight flat things such as BB crank openings, and steerer tubes. I can only
imagine how bad it would around intricate lugs, and curved areas. This becomes a real pain once it is cured, and it happens to be too thick in those
areas. I would do a wet paint job too, on something like this. Maybe I just had experience with an industrial powdercoater, who didn't understand
aesthetics? Thankfully I was only doing beach cruisers at the time, with one color.,,,,BD

Bikedued

Did I somehow miss the debut of the completed Raleigh? I remember it looked stunning in the teaser pics. Sorry about the hoods, once again.,,,,BD

southpawboston

no problem, dued. it adds character :-). did the nitto bolt problem get resolved?

as for the completed raleigh, i posted a thread with plenty of self-indulgent pics awhile back.

Chris_in_Miami

Wow, nice end result Southpawboston! I'm dropping my tandem off at the powder coater tomorrow, I was quoted around $150 for the complete job if that helps the OP any. I'll follow up if that number changes when I get there...

robatsu

+1.

custermustache

I had a frame with chrome fork tips coated with no issues - plus the lugs look great, and he even matched the existing paint. The price? $50. This dude is trying to rob you.

southpawboston

did that price include all prep work: stripping the paint, media blasting the bare metal, and TSP wash prior to the powder coating? and did it include a primer powder coat before the color coat?

LVRider

Thanks for all the replies; I appreciate the advice. I was rather disgusted about losing the chrome rear triangle, and was initially quote $160 for the 2-color fade, including glass media blasting and prep work, not sure about the primer. I'm a bit hesitant about the heat, not for the chrome but for the Deda tubing that is 0.4mm thick in places.