To respray or not?

Seen a lot of late '70's and early '80's Aston Martin V8's go like that around the glass

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You a classic/retro car man Stick Legs?

I was a classic car man, will be again, had BMW 6 series (80's) XJ-S's and the like, play with bikes now as they are cheaper!

Will have a Aston Martin V8 series IV (Oscar India) though one day!

Until then my Pace is my slice of sexy british aluminium!

^^^ You should have a look at my cars in your Audi-related thread in 'Off Topic'...
British, but not aluminium...











Sorry for the thread hi-jack!
That black / green looks great but i'd definately have it resprayed (the same) if a decent/cheapish job could be done.

JS1500, seen 'em, love 'em!

Oh, and, um, yeah, sorry for the HiJack

Well, I'm in Holland... so I guess Argos won't be an option for me

But I contacted (through mail) a company in Holland that does spray frames. They also do Cannondale, so I guess this paint job wouldn't be a prob for 'em. Their site says it would be around 165 euros to get the frame painted (up to 4 colours). They do decals as well...

Oh yeah, and no prob about the hijack. It's a "chat" topic anywayz ;-)

if you scraped the paint off (pretty easy, it'll flake off) there'll will be white powder-like stuff underneath. just alu corrosion. personally i think the frame looks fine as is. If you paint strip it scotchbrite the affected corrosion areas back to normal alu. shouldnt adversely affect the frame.
if it makes you feel any happier its exceptionally common on older kleins. my older fervor had it before I cracked the seattube

I believe Kliens are 7000 series alloys. As a result they have an alloying agent of copper rather than zinc found in 6000 series. This is all very well until around ten years later where integranular corrosion takes place (electrolytic oxidation within the grain structure of the material). This combined with surface corrosion that needs to be removed to prevent further accelerated oxidation is likely to render the frame useless. I would have grave concerns on riding the bike with a frame that looks as heavily corroded as this. All 7000 series alloys have this property and as a result within aviation maintenance there is a constant battle to reduce and prevent problems including anti corrosion treatments, non destructive testing and the replacement of time lifed or cracked components. Boeing and Bombardier still use these alloys but Airbus and European parts manufacturers decided to replace its use with 2024 alloy to reduce fatigue cracking and corrosion. Yes 7000 series is strong but it has its weakness.

get a bigger hammer":27sf5l0b said:

I believe Kliens are 7000 series alloys. As a result they have an alloying agent of copper rather than zinc found in 6000 series. This is all very well until around ten years later where integranular corrosion takes place (electrolytic oxidation within the grain structure of the material). This combined with surface corrosion that needs to be removed to prevent further accelerated oxidation is likely to render the frame useless. I would have grave concerns on riding the bike with a frame that looks as heavily corroded as this. All 7000 series alloys have this property and as a result within aviation maintenance there is a constant battle to reduce and prevent problems including anti corrosion treatments, non destructive testing and the replacement of time lifed or cracked components. Boeing and Bombardier still use these alloys but Airbus and European parts manufacturers decided to replace its use with 2024 alloy to reduce fatigue cracking and corrosion. Yes 7000 series is strong but it has its weakness.

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the real miracle is that being a pre trek klein it didnt crack long before any corrosion set in (not dissing klein owners, I love the rigid ride & some of the paint schemes.. just speaking from bitter experience!)

if you're gonna chuck the frame now its so heavily corroded I'll take it off ya hands

get a bigger hammer":jzf7u73d said:

I believe Kliens are 7000 series alloys. As a result they have an alloying agent of copper rather than zinc found in 6000 series.

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Damn you scared me there! Went on the internet and looked for about 2 hours to see if I could find anything on that... and from some early test in an old MTB mag I could see mentioned that the Top Gun (so logically the Rascal as well as they're the same frame, except renamed) was made of 6061-T6 Heat Threated alu.

Well anywayz, gonna scrape off the paint there at the top-tube and see what's beneath (after measuring where those Rascal decals should be, of course). But the paint don't bladder off that easy, that's the weird thing or it's just good strong paint

Now see what you made me do?! :twisted:

If it is 6061 the material problems are overcome. However fatigue cracking and the removal of the corrosion on a stressed area of the frame is still a problem. Remember they make the frames light and not to, I hate to say it, last. If you want it to last then a nice predictable material like steel is the best to buy (pound sterling to pound weight). I always liked Kliens but felt them to be overly punishing. Good for cross country racing though. The comments on 7000 series alloys still remain. Anyone riding one be very wary. A colleague within aviation was riding a Merlin Malt 2 and saw the evidence of integranular corrorion within 4 years. Its not a classic but they eventually gave him a new frame. The benefits of having a trained eye for these things I suppose. Its just a fact that companes don't want you to keep a bike for years. They want you to buy a new one every year with the latest "improvements". They wouldn't design a bike for continued thrashing just a season or two. The fact is that the lighter and more expensive an alluminium alloy frame is the less it is likely to last. As for carbon......... Don't start me on that one.