92 team marin......well....almost....

Good work, watching this with much interest!

Great progress! That steerer is longer than the length of the seat tube on my current MTB!

Look forward to seeing it come together. I'd need a set of steps to climb on board!

So...just before Christmas good news....the frame is ready. Email comes with a little snapshot of a distant frame in a poorly lit office.

It looks great, just what i ordered......as far as i can see.....well its the right-ish colours in the right-ish places.

So i go and collect it.(trundle trundle..exciting)....

Its wrapped up (ooooooh)...

I dont unwrap it (twat)....

i drive home (quite a long way)....

its got issues (bugger).

Its been flagged up with photos and i got a nice apology email and call this morning. They will talk to me/ re finish it in the new year.

Very annoying as it really smacks of no quality control....or i hope it does, because the other interpretation is they think its acceptable standard...its not.

But tbh, its a bike frame, as i said annoying, but hardly the apocalypse or anything worth a heart attack over.

Im sorry, but my "f**k budget" is fully used up on things for 2023.

Merry christmas to you all.

Well..that was interesting....and a waste of time.....ultimately.

The conclusion is that there are issues with the particular product at present and there was no guarantee that even if it went back it would be better....

So, we have come to a "financial" fix.

Had it been a concours job, it would have been done again somewhere else....but its not destined for that, so......i will live with it.

Its a pitty and annoying.

Anyway.....here she blows.

Its a 2 colour translucent powder coat over silver chrome coat, with colour changing pearl topcoat.....a static photo really doesn't do it justice....and i can't upload the little video .

I've also done the frame prep, cleared out the bottom bracket, head tube and bosses etc....again not really very well taped up...never mind!

Oh and put in the headset...bb tomorrow.

Decals to follow..........thats the bit im looking forward to.....once I've wiped my greasy prints off!

What is wrong with the powdercoat? It looks ok in the pictures.

I had / have some powdercoat woes from a place in Essex, first frame was spot on so I took a second one there. On collection the second frame was bubblewrapped so I took it and left rather than unwrapping there and then. Low and behold, when I finally did unwrap the frame there was a blemish that I decided to live with rather than go back. I am unlikely to use them again though

From a distance its fine, but its got areas of contamination as well as areas of "faded" finish. Luckly the worst is most is under the chainstay and a patch under the top tube.

Like I said, if you weren't looking you wouldn't see it, but....frankly...I didn't pay for half a job to start with.....but that's now all settled and I'm looking forward to getting it built ready for the spring!

Such a shame @Tootyred. Glad you've reached a financial settlement, but these things can be SO frustrating and annoying, especially if as I'm sure you did have in-depth conversations with them regarding such a finish.

It looks amazing, although photos can be flattering regarding flaws. Good to hear build is still progressing and a spring finish is a perfect time of year to be getting out on a bike. Keep up the great work!

Time to try to decide on some bits for the project.

Empty cupboard onto bench.....look at stuff....pick out some likely candidates for a clean up.....change mind...put it back.

But at least I've found a crank....just needs a few small fixes....

That's a damn fine colour