dim

I may be restoring an old Gitane Tour De France. I am also looking at buying an old English 3 speed to use as a shopping bike with large paniers etc

There is a Powder coating company not very far from where I live. They have a very good reputation.

They offer different services (Powder coating, stove enamelling, Zinc plating, acid dipping, Grit blasting, metal polishing etc etc)

What is the correct procedure to follow ... (acid dipping, then grit blasting, then powder coating?)

Has anyone done the zinc plating? .... from what I have briefly seen on the internet, you dont have a choice of colours .... here is a frame that has been zinc plated:



is there an advantage on using zinc plating (assuming you dont mind the greyish colour?)

has anyone had a frame enamelled? .... if so, does it make the frame a lot heavier? ... and what are the advantages/disadvantages of enamelling vs powder coating?

once the decals have been applied, does one then have a clear laquer applied?

sorry for all the questions... this is new to me

They also offer normal spray painting, so I will compare prices

ironwood

There is a framebuilders forum . Just scroll down the list of subforums. There is also the Classic and Vintage forum; some of the posters there have restored older frames. Both of these forums are more serious and helpful than this one.

dim

OOPS .... I normally just click on the Whats New? tab on the top, and don't specifially go into any specialist subforums... thats why I put this one in the general section

so, if a moderator would be so kind as to move my thread to the appropriate sub forum

chasm54

Mods don't read every post. If you want it moved, click the report post button and make a specific request.

indyfabz

Not sure exactly what you mean, but I recently had a custom ti frame built. I like color on my rides. Instead of paint I had the bike coated with Cerakote, which is a ceramic coating. It's primary commercial application is coloring firearms, but more and more people are using it on bikes. It's lighter than paint, more durable than paint and less costly than paint (at least in the U.S.) because there is much less labor involved. No priming. No multiple coats.. You simply spray on one coat and bake it in an "oven." If that's what your finisher means by enameling I would check it out. One limitation is that the colors are more of a matte finish. However, if your finishers know how to mix the stuff, you can get sort of a pearl finish my mixing the gloss white with the color. One should definitely do some tests first to see how the mixture comes out. We tried a pink and it came out to much like bubble gum, so I went with what we call sea foam green.

corrado33

There are finish differences between powder coating and painting. Paint is pretty. It's deep, it's shiny. Powder coat is... flat, not gloss wise, it's just flat. However, it's much more durable (and cheaper.)

I personally think that zinc plating above looks badass. Zinc is extraordinarily durable, hence the draw to it. (They dip metals in zinc to make them corrosion resistant.)

Then again, zinc depends on how it's applied.

02Giant 

Not true at all, follow the link and look at their powdered bikes. Some very talented people doing some amazing work.

spectrum powderworks