Say I were to strip the paint off my frame...
 

and not paint it. Could I clear coat the raw steel and be alright? If so - what is the best/easiest to use/reliable clear coat I can get to do this with?

Finding a powdercoater in S.E. michigan is proving to more difficult than it should be. You'd think there would be a lot of them considering the auto industry, but most of them only work with conveyor belts and high volumes of car parts.

I have a 2001 pista, by the way.

I were to strip the paint off my frame

Nevermind. I'm sending it to spectrum powderworks [www.spectrumpowderworks.com] and having it powdercoated a light blue [like the pinarello track bike made in the 80's] and it's gonna have lots of sparkle.

Now their prices look reasonable. There are places on the east coast that will do the whole job for under $100, but I have been skeptical. There site looks good. Lots of great photos. Let us know how it turns out!

If you did strip the paint, then polish and clearcoat the frame
it would begin to rust in about 2 weeks.
e-Richie does this on his demo frame and has commented
on the rust forming up really fast.

Marty

I sanded all the rough spots on my frame, exposing some bare metal as well as white primer, and then clearcoated it. After clearcoating, it looks like the white and metal was painted on. Unless clearcoat is somehow porus, I dont see how it would rust.

Some folks claim to be able to do this,but I personally haven't been able to come up with a system that works. It will eventually rust and/or chip off. Today's modern base/clear paint systems are designed to crosslink with each other ( picture my fingers interlaced here) :) They are not designed to stand alone , and just aren't durable when ya try to make them do so.

I am working on painting some old frame tubing with a clear sealer and then clear basecoat first as an experiment............ Ya gotta have something other than bare steel for the clearcoat to adhere to if you want longevity.

Hehe, yeah I wuz thinking that as well....................

Clear powdercoat will stand up to long term use. i did this to a frame about eight years ago, and it is still on the raod.

Good call on the powdercoat , I tried the Rustoleum clear enamel on a raw frame and the rust formed liked little strands of threads under it . Kind of cool to look at , but the enemy was within ! Now it's been powder coated as well with no trouble.

Want to name any of those cheapo places? ;)

Anybody ever try that chrome-in-a-can stuff that's made for, say, large tanks of propane, or other large metal stuff that sits in the hot sun? It's formulated for temperature resistance but it's tempting to dip my fork in it.

Hey, I wanna dip my fork in it! *applause* Louie!

i have heard this before but it really confuses me. How does the frame rust? Assuming that the clearcoat is not gas permeable, the frame will never encounter oxygen, a necessary ingredient in rust(ferrous oxide). What makes paint so much better at protecting the frame from oxygen than clearcoat? Is clearcoat gas permeable?

a lot of things are gas permeable

I don't understand how this is constructive in any way. Do you mean that clearcoat is?

if you strip the all the paint off, the metal will start to oxidize right away. even if you could paint the bike right after exposing the metal, chances are there is a small amount of oxidation started already. before you "paint" the bike, treat the bare metal with some metal prep (also called metal-etch).

if you're doing a rattle-can paint job, dupli-color has a clear adhesion promoter...helps paint stick to bare metal AND acts like a clear primer (something for the clear coat to stick to!).

another problem you might run into if using chemical paint strippers...if you have a steel frame there is a chance you might find body filler under your paint...the paint stripper might soak into the filler...the paint might bubble at this point.

that is probably the best place in the country to get a bicycle powdercoated. well worth every penny. they do stuff with powder other shops can't even do with liquid. get ready to wait though. at the moment, i think they are up to a 4 to 6 week turn around time. my friend jason is one of the main painters there.

I were to strip the paint off my frame.