Powder Coating - Reynolds tubing / frames

Evening all,

general question about people's experiences of road frame re-sprays - in particular powder coating.

I've got a couple of frames that could do with some TLC and new colour-schemes. One's 653 / one's 853 tubing.

The frames aren't of great value (monetary) or kudos so I'm not massively keen to invest into sums quoted at specialist bike shops. There's a powder coating company half a mile away but they aren't specialists in bike frames - they do industrial machinery and so on and so forth.

My question relates to the temperatures that a steel frame can be baked at without causing damage to the existing welds & lugs or indeed the integrity of the steel? would people recommend this route is it a gamble that could cause unseen damage?

Do the specialist bike shops do things differently in terms of process from those employed by other powder coating companies?

your knowledge of any experiences or thoughts / facts would be greatly appreciated so I can make an informed decision.

Thanks all....

I'd be asking which media they use for blasting the frame to clear the old paint off.

They can either shot blast or dip in a vat of some horrendous chemicals and leave it to do its worst.

This is why I wondered if specialist bike sprayers employ more sympathetic methods?

On face value the vat of chemicals seems quite savage.

Think they usually get a dip as part of the process any way.

I assume the frame has to be 100% free of any paint, grease etc. I may give them the 653 to do and see how it turns out, it didn't cost me a great amount so nothing ventured nothing gained as they say...

There was a recent thread in Retro Road Bikes relating to frame painting and coating - sorry i do not have the link to it. If you can find it, there is discussion as to the various options and the good and bad points of each.

Wish i could remember who started it, may have been Montello.

cheers - a few posts found and read - it's interesting, the powder coat option has a definite lean towards MTB riders obviously for it's durability.

also noted was the consensus that powder coating looks a bit plastic - not sure that appeals on a TT frame?

Perhaps I may do one of each, get the first powder coated, get one sprayed traditionally - the latter seems to have cost implications though - I could be spending more on a re-spray than I did the frame!

Back again - did the post you found end with chat about car paint? There was mention of durability and strength of it on the post i remember.

I may be going the car paint route with a frame soon - just to take the bad look off it and i have been told costs would be under £60 - paint removed by shot blasting although the guy who advised me told me that bead blasting would be better - i guess less harmful to the frame.

Post on road bikes as you progress, i am interested, as i am sure others would be. Before and after pics would be nice.

Good luck

Indeed TGR - that was the thread I read.

There's a body shop 500 yards down the road, old school place always has some veedubs in for work. Certainly sounds like an option doesn't it although a few google searches have intimated that they cook the paint at high temperatures to get the paint rock hard and in a short space of time so the spraybooth isnt out of use - I have no experience of anything like this - a car with much thicker panels can obviously withstand such temperatures? My gut feeling with a road frame is it could be detrimental but who knows - i'll go and have a word with them and see what they say.

agreed on the choice of forum - schoolboy error on my part - i'll put a new one on the general forum once i've worked out what to do! oh and christmas is out of the way!

Thanks again...

Armourtex in Hackney, London or Aerocoat in suffolk is as good as powder coating gets....i had a frame done by them and they did a very nice job......look them up on Google...reasonable price and quick turnaround......and they laquer....BUT...if you want decals etc you will have an issue.....they don't do them and you will have to do them yourself and then put your own layer of clearcoat on......however, with PC the frame can be used straightaway.....normal enamel....and you must leave the paint to cure and harden and that will take at least a month but if you want decals perhaps the best route.....with Argos, Dave Yates, Bob Jackson and Colourtech being leading brands and Mario Vaz and much maligned but cheap alternative.