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I see alot of your bikes with the frames painted and they look tuff. But I was thinking about haveing my frame powder coated has anyone had this done? Can it be done? I know nothing about the process and everything that I have ever seen powder coated has been pretty small, gas tanks etc..

It can be done.... but a good Epoxy paint is a tougher finish in my experience. Also, powder coating is exspensive and you would have to completely tear your bike down to the bare frame... no fun at all!

My brother had a bicycle frame powder coated...added a ton of weight to it (not what he was looking for) and the first rock that hit it...chipped it. He was not happy at all!

I had two bicycles of the boys powder coated. I brought the frame to them they sandblasted them and powder coated it for $45 dollars on one and the second one needed a clear coat to cut down of sun fade so it was $90.

The physical size of the part is limited by the oven size. The shop near us has done car and truck frames for hot rods, etc. I thought the paint was durable but a good epoxy is also durable

Whose frame(s) are you referring to? I can't remember anyone off the top of my head with a painted frame (other than stock).

Yes, it can be powder coated. It would have to be sanded. Some places might sandblast it for you and some places may not be equipped to do that. I used to be a powder coater. Where I worked, we ran oily parts (to prevent corrosion) through the following:

wash
wash
rinse
anti-rust coating
rinse
rinse
air dry
powder coat
bake in an oven
allow to cool

If you have ever had a lower priced Char-Broil grill from the real late '90's to 2001 or so before they switched to plastic leg supports, then you may have seen my handywork.

and you would have to completely tear your bike down to the bare frame... no fun at all!

How else would you do it?? That is how I have done it in the past.

The powder can be applied at different thicknesses, depending on the skill of the guy running the machines / equipment involved. On a motorcycle, any weight issue would not be as bad as a bicycle.

My point was Jason..and I wasn't clear on it at all... is that using the PJ-1 Epoxy paint to touch up the worn areas makes a lot more sense... to me anyway. The finish is outstanding if you prep and mask correctly.

Indawoods wrote:My point was Jason..and I wasn't clear on it at all... is that using the PJ-1 Epoxy paint to touch up the worn areas makes a lot more sense... to me anyway. The finish is outstanding if you prep and mask correctly.

If someone needs just touch-up work, then I am all for the PJ1 paint! I did that on my '94. I stripped it to the frame, sanded the rough spots, then touched it up. It looks great, except for the sub-pipe which I forgot to paint before running out of paint. I think I saw the 03 and newer gray / silver from them somewhere. I wish they had the '86 / '87 silver. It is hard to tell exactly how well it matches up unless you have it in your hand at a dealer.

For anyone interested, the lime green is a perfect match.

HOORAY BEER

I found that the Dupli-Color High Performance Wheel Coating works well as the silver (WP101 Silver) and then clear coated it with the PJ1. Not a complete match but very close. Not like it is going to stay looking that way for long anyway. As Jason stated, I also picked up a '90 frame this year and swapped it for my '93. Stripped it and repainted it with PJ1 Epoxy, looks better than I expected. Now if I could only ride the thing

Pics in gallery of swingarm and before and aft of frame with paint.

Epoxy sounds like the way to go. The reason I asked the question is that it was my understanding that powder coating is/was extremely durable against scratch and chips.

What's PJ1?

Mark

Its a company that makes paint, oils etc http://www.pj1.com/

Inda's comment of 'completely' down to the frame:


That does mean completely. The steering head bearings have to come out, for example. Powder coat bakes at...what, Jason? Hundreds of degrees, don't it?

Not something you want to put a bearing in.

There are some cases that it just don't work, too. The powder coating I've had done on my car is lousy!! Well...it WAS just fine, then they wanted to redo it because they were concerned about flaking/peeling and oil contamination. The 'was' part was perfect for years...the 'better, new, improved' stuff fell off in a couple months!

...and several other cases of screw-ups on their part.

I'm saying powder coating is not the ironclad great deal you may be told it is...or think it is.

Are you talking about taking out the races in the head tube or just the bearings?

Where I used to work, I think a frame would bake at right at 400 for around 20 minutes. We didn't do one-off pieces (well, unless someone snuck in something, we were on 3rd shift with the plant to ourselves). If we ran the same part the whole shift, then we could easily do 20,000 parts in an 8 hour shift. The main thing I coated was leg braces for Char-Broil grills. Here's a picture of one that used them:

http://www.stecsintl.com/lrggrill.jpg

If you have one of those grills, then maybe I coated the leg braces.

Nice pictures, karbon_dunn.

We have some equipment at work that is powder coated. IMO powder coating is much like paint in the respect that it is only as good as the prep work before it is applied. Some of the machine's powder coating is extremly durable. Some chips and flakes if you look at it wrong. The machine that is chipping looks to have some rust on the metal in the chipped areas.