Want to get my frame repainted - any suggestions of where?

I want to get my SX Trail repainted over the winter as the stock paint is looking a bit tired now. I don't want anything too fancy, was thinking of Sid blue wth white decals.

I have looked at Argos Cycles who have do a colour pretty close to what I want, but I have read a thread on STW that the paint isn't that tough I'm therefore a bit cautious as its not exactly cheap from them.

Has anyone on here used them? Failing that, could you recomend me where else I could send it. I'm looking for a pretty good finish so thought I would try and find a frame renovator type place to do it rather than my local powder coaters or body shop.

Thanks in advance for any help.

i used argos and bob jackson, have seen good work from both also look at graphic shack,

all will have detractors, people moan more than they praise, especially on the net.

argos did my lime crosswork, 97 fat chance buckshaver, 90 muddy fox courier, 95 nickel p7 aswel as others but can't remember what as there have been too many

bob jackson did my 92 kona explosif, 96 proflex, 92 aluminium O, 93 clockwork, also they paint specials for Orange including the 200 limited edition 2007 clockworks.

i have only chipped the paint on the lime once, spanner drop, the buckshaver has a chip towards the back of the toptube when my old man knocked it but these chips would have been done regardless of the painter or type of paint.

lime pics in this thread at the bottom:-
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... light=lime

buckshaver finished pics on page 3:-
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... buckshaver

muddy fox, finished pics on page 3:-
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... ht=courier

proflex page 4:-
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... ex&start=0

kona explosif pics on page 3:-
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... ht=proflex


hope that helps

Thanks for that - I want to try and find someone used to painting bike frames so I don't end up with loads of paint where I don't want it (like around the pivots).

Just out of interest, how much use do your bikes get? I only ask as my SX is my everyday bike, so gets used a fair bit.

Bob Jackson was one of the companies that I have looked at.

I found a thread on STW that named a few good powder coaters, some of which are local so I may speak to them to see what they have got to say.

well to be honest the buckshaver has proabably had the worst rides so far, 1st lap of mayhem this year, 3 hours of me in a suit on that bike in that claggy horrible mud as well as loads of rides around the new forest in the rain and mud and it still looks great a year on. the lime is oldest job i have from argos and it's still fine.

what i would say is take the frame yourself if possible unless it's a simple colour, if you said gloss black or brilliant white most painters won't miss understand you but if you say "green" there are so many options!

regarding powder coaters, bike specific coaters would be fine but your local "we paint anything place" will be a nightmare, part of what you pay for at a dedicated bike painters will be masking areas and blocking threads and then cleaning those threads after. i wanted a cheap job on a frame a few years ago, they shot blasted the aluminium frame which gave it an orange peal effect once powder coated then there was loads of shot left in the frame and threads after and that stuff kills thread chasing tools so bikes shops will be reluctant to kill their tools for the price they can charge to sort your threads, and it's not just the B/B, it's bottle cage mounts etc or in your case masking pivot surfaces etc, you just can't trust non bike people to do it correctly.

that said i did use a powder coater in portsmouth a while ago that for £45 stripped and painted my cro-mega and they did a very good job but i got the impression they had done quite a few over the years and i supplied the frame with bolts to blank the bottle cage bolts and an old b/b unit to black the threads in the shell and then they plug every other hole so hardly anything got in side, also they blasted it i think with wall nut shell (i think) as opposed to traditional shot.

That's what I was thinking, hence wanting to send it to Argos Cycles. I was just concerned that some people thought the paint was very soft because I don't want to fork out a load of money for it look rubbish in a couple of months time.

They can also reproduce my decals and apply them under the clear coat etc which appeals (and fix the small dent in the down tube).

I've read elsewhere that chemical stripping is muck kinder the frame than shot blasting, especially aluminium frames.

I think I will talk to a two of the local powder coaters that have been recomended to see what colours they have and to get quotes etc. The only downside to these guys is that I'll have to sort the decals out and no doubt put them on top of the finish.

i think argos chemical strip, they did when i took my p7, that's nickel plated then lacquered, tim did it while i was still there to show me the process, but that was to just remove the old lacquer clean the frame then re-lacquer as the nickel was fine.

powder coaters tend to be more industrial hence blasting stuff, but also most powder coats i find tend to be a more matt finish than gloss

edit,

regarding stickers, Gil_m on here is very good for stickers of all types and argos will fit his stickers under their lacquer but the specialized logo is pretty straight forward so the guys they use will probably be fine aswel, they did the stickers on my lime and the muddy fox where as gil did the stickers on my proflex and my explosif and p7 and cro-mega

always best to get them under the lacquer if possible as they last so much longer, if not lacquered over they fade and can get nicks in them and scratch easily

Triple-S powder coaters up near me do a delivery service and are very good and used to doing bikes. A normal frame in a standard colour is around £60 + postage, bit more for posh colours.

Cheers for that Brock - they're a company that I came across on an STW thread.

I should think that some form of baby blue / Sid blue will count as a stnadard colour.

Do you know if they lacquer the powder coat to make it shiney?

I'm in this camp also - looking to respray my explosif 853 '98 but also really want to chrome plate the ritchey drop outs :roll: I've been advised against chrome plating by argos as they say its pretty expensive but this is a build with an eye for detail. The going rate for a spray seems to be about 200-250 pounds. I considered doing it myself to save money but for that 'brand new' look, I think pro spray shop is the only way to go...

Donnie

The going rate for a descent powdercoat seems to be around £100.

I've posted a similar thread on STW and have been shown some good examples of stuff done by local companies, so am thinking that I will go down that route to make sure the paint finish is as tough as possible.

The SX gets a fair amount of use in all conditions - I ride at Cannock and in the peaks a fair bit, both of which are pretty sandy and unforgiving on paint.