Bare metal frame?

[swee'pea99]

Stop me if I'm deranged, but...

As a lo-cost alternative to the full respray, I was thinking about nitromorsing the frame back to bare metal then just applying some kind of laquer/varnish. Has anyone ever attempted this? (I can't remember ever seeing a bare metal frame bike) Does it sound do-able/crazy? Your thoughts appreciated.

 

[jimboalee]

Yup.

 

[swee'pea99]

Ooh! Hmmm. Yes indeed.

 

[gbb]

Nitromor'ing a frame is bloomin near impossible (IME). I tried with mine, and it needed a multitude of heavy coats, wire brushing over and over....and then i had to give up and resort to emery tape...and that didnt work either

Another problem....every little ding and dent will have paint thats bloomin hard to get out.

In the end, i got it beadblasted. trouble is, i didnt see it naked, so's to speak, so dont know how that looks either.

I'm talking steel BTW...are you swee'pea ?

 

[swee'pea99]

Hmmm, thanks gbb. I thought it might be a bit of a nitemare. Maybe not such a great idea after all. It is steel, yes.

 

[Rob S]

Sell it and buy a 953 frame if you want the bare metal look.

 

[Mr Pig]

I've used a paint stripper called Home Strip on painted aluminium with great results. It works a lot better of water-based paint than Nitromors and is very pleasant to use. Still agree about the difficulty in getting a professional finish, forget that! ;0)

 

[swee'pea99]

I just googled. 953 frame: £1400. Given that I was mooting the whole idea as 'a lo-cost alternative to the full respray', I suspect this may not be quite the solution I was after...

 

[kyuss]

I've seen loads of bikes stripped back to bare metal and coated. I've always loved the look of the Fixie Inc belt drive prototype, where they let it build up some surface rust before coating. A few guys on LFGSS have done the same and it looks good, especially with loads of shiney parts. You may think differently of course.

See it in all it's glory here

 

[jimboalee]

Chroming a steel frame was a fashion back in the days.

It is still possible now. A good framebuilder can arrange it.

PS. The forks and rear stays on my Pug 531 were half chromed. The original chrome was blasted off and LA Cycles in Coventry did a great job.

There are many platers in Cov and Brum.

 

[02GF74]

that specialized is aluminium - i.e. the joints are welded with the same metal. before I forget, GT bikes were like this.

if your steel bike has been brazed, then the filler will be a different colour.

IMO I wouldn't do this for steel, only aluminium, You would need to buff the frame before the fianl laquer.

I have sprayed a teel frame - raleigh that sits on my turbo trainer myself using cans of car paint - pick them up cheap at car boot sales and other such places.

you need to spray on a primer, sand it smooth, may require a few cotas then the final colour followed by clear laquer. results were surprisingly good.

 

[02GF74]

you can see it in the back ground - notice the 3 colour fade!

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I've seen loads of bikes stripped back to bare metal and coated. I've always loved the look of the Fixie Inc belt drive prototype, where they let it build up some surface rust before coating. A few guys on LFGSS have done the same and it looks good, especially with loads of shiney parts. You may think differently of course.

See it in all it's glory here

Mmmmm - it's certainly got a kind of junkyard chic about it!!

 

[brodie]

From what I've read, clear lacquer or varnish doesn't protect steel against rust; if you only apply lacquer or varnish on bare steel, it will eventually rust. I don't know if this is true, does anyone know?

 

[kyuss]

From what I've read, clear lacquer or varnish doesn't protect steel against rust; if you only apply lacquer or varnish on bare steel, it will eventually rust. I don't know if this is true, does anyone know?

Depends what you use for the clearcoat. Regular lacquer in a spray can will slow any rusting down, but probably not stop it altogether. I've clearcoated a few aluminium parts with regular lacquer from Halfords and they always still oxidise eventually and go dull so I don't bother these days as it makes polishing them back up a PITA.

Most powdercoaters can do a clear powdercoat though that would certainly stop rusting, but since it costs just as much as a regular powdercoat you'd be as well getting some colour unless you have a particularly beautiful frame with gorgeous brazing that's worth showing off.