macaroni steve

I just found a old steel frame on the street. Fits perfectly

Someone painted it a disgusting blue. Now I'm wondering 2 things.

1) How do I remove the paint? Is there a way to remove it so I can at least see what brand frame it is?

2) Is there any way to figure out what kind of frame it is without removing the paint?

heyjaffy

I removed the paint from an old recovered bianchi this weekend with a combination of a chemical paint stripper (spray can, from Home Depot) and a wire brush. I found that if I left the stripper on for just a couple of minutes (in error), instead of the recommended 10 minutes, only the top layer of paint came off, leaving at least one color layer plus a thick primer layer. You could try this method but be very careful with the stripper - most can give you a chemical burn - I found this out when a fleck of paint/stripper hit my arm and it felt like a bee sting.

macaroni steve

yeeeow! that sounds kinda dangerous. did you have to wear protective gear (gloves, goggles)?

jjvw

If the top layer is spraypaint, that wil come off much more quickly and easily than the better factory paint underneath. Just work carefully and have paper towels ready to wipe off the stripper. It's the polite thing to do.

Save yourself some time and buy the heavy duty stuff for epoxy and marine varnish. Wear good rubber gloves and don't accidently dump on it your wood floor like I did.

You can use also sandpaper to work your way throught the layers of paint until you hit a decal. Something in the range of 220 grit or higher should work well.

jet sanchEz

if you are re-painting a frame, it is best to lightly sand the old pant so that it is rough, don't completely sand it off to the bare metal. This way, the new paint that you apply will have something to cling onto, the old paint, and will maintain itself longer. Having taken a frame down to bare metal and painted it, I can attest to the fact that paint applied directly to bare metal chips easily.

kschwartz42

I just stripped the paint of my beater project today. I can attest to the fact that paint stripper burns like phkuck when it lands on you. I took it all the way down to the metal, and then put three-ish layers of primer (one can) on it. By the afternoon it looked like it might rain, but once the humidity and threat of rain ease off I'll rough the primer up a little bit with sand paper and spray paint the bike. The price of primer is comparable to the paint, if I remember correctly, and anyway its money well spent when you're not spending loads on a paint job, though someone on the Forum got a powdercoat for $70 recently.

What happens if you find out what kind of frame it is? Are you just curious or did you have something in mind?

macaroni steve

I was wondering that myself.... well, if it's a decent frame I'm gonna keep it and build me up a singlespeed city bike.

morbot

cant you just tell by the weight?

i mean the quality of the frame, not like you can tell the brand by the weight.

macaroni steve

the weight? like if it's lighter it's better? i guess it's kinda old because it has horizontal dropouts... and it is kinda heavy compared to my aluminum MTB.

Old Breadbutt

post some pics of the lug work (or welds) and dropouts if you can.

oh and the fork crown post pics of that. is it a flat crowned fork?

jet sanchEz

Post pics of the rear drops and we will be able to tell if the frame is any good.

jstream

Zip Strip (marine version) is available at Home Depot and others. Non-Flamable, non-explosive, and will give you some time to wash it off if you get it on your skin.

macaroni steve

OK, here's some pics.... notice that the only component name i could find was on the crank "Dotek YF - PR06"

macaroni steve

now i'm wondering if maybe it's too small for me. just measured the frame. let me know what you think. I'm 5' 8" with a 31" pants inseam.

the bike measures:
TT : 20.5", 52cm
ST: 19" 47cm

marqueemoon

It doesn't look like too hot a frame to me. The seat collar looks kinda cheap, there's a plate for a kickstand, and that crankset and headset...

I wouldn't let that discourage you though. If it fits you'll learn a lot building it up. I wouldn't spend a lot of money on bling parts though.

Old Breadbutt

I can't tell too well from those pics, but it looks welded rather than lugged. I'm shooting in the dark here, but from the fork crown I'm guessing nishiki or peugoet. more on the fact that you see a lot of them abandoned than anything I can tell about the bike. also, it looks like it originally came with fenders.

it would make a nice SS grocery beater, I think you can use the fender atachment points on the dropouts to have front and rear racks.

fix

that seatpost collar looks like it could be a good clue.

jet sanchEz

Yeah, it isn't a high bike or anything, the fender/rack eyelets and slack geometry suggest a tourer, the level of componentry, a low-end one at that but it is free and you only need wheels and a seatpost and a stem with some handlebars and you are good to go. Make it a fixie and if you like riding fixed, you can invest in a decent frame next year and swap out the components to that frame. That's how I did it.

macaroni steve

cool. a fixed gear/ss could be cool. How much would components run for that?