Orange Aluminium O , now purple anodised, pics page 3! update 01/12/23

[brocklanders023]

Seems mine was black but with the later decals. All the pictures are gone though.

New project. 1992 Orange Aluminium 'O'.

Found this lurking in a second hand shop so just had to have it. It was no mega bargain but I think I got it for a fair price. It's a 19" so just the right size. Anyway, the 'O' is the only 1990/93 Orange I'd yet to own and I've always fancied seeing what they're like. It's a bit tired but...

www.retrobike.co.uk

 

[Carge]

For me the matt grey is kinda iconic - but I'm very biased.

What about black anodised? a different take on an original colour?
Or a grey/gunmetal anodised O?

I toyed with a candy orange and or blue and for an Elite frame at one point - but then found the frame was cracked to bu@@ery

 

[jonnyboy666]

i think i need to find out what i'd need to do to get it anodised, i'd assume it would need polishing after the paint is removed, and i'm not sure if i have the time to do that

and i've never looked for an anodiser before, and could they do a frame? size wise i mean

any suggestions?

 

[Carge]

I've heard good reports of Acorn Anodising in Sandhurst - I think Wadsy may have used them previously.
They have frames shown on their Gallery

 

[jonnyboy666]

thanks, i just checked them out, their base quote is 65 for blasting and 65 for anodising, which i think is quite good, and they are only an hour away, i'll give them a shout and see what they say!

 

[mk one]

thanks, i just checked them out, their base quote is 65 for blasting and 65 for anodising, which i think is quite good, and they are only an hour away, i'll give them a shout and see what they say!

Quite a few have used Acorn on here. Here is a thread with a few parts, and a frame, for reference -

UK based anodisers?

Hi all. I'm after a bit of help. We have a local anodising firm we use here every now and then, and they are good. However I've just discovered they won't do 3DV Purple, they say they can't get the quality they want because it fades to much in UV. I'm not bothered about that, because the...

www.retrobike.co.uk

 

[jonnyboy666]

promising on the colour then going by that thread, i suppose it will depend on whether the condition of the frame under the paint will be good enough, but i suppose that if it's not they'll tell me after the paint is removed, at which point worst case i can get it painted instead

 

[jonnyboy666]

ok so i am off to the anodiser tomorrow, it's about an hour away not too far from Swinley Forest so i thought i'd go see them then get a ride in. the only thing i am not sure about is the fact the frame has steel bottle cage inserts which i would assume for anodising may need to be removed but i'll see what they say. worst case they say sod off it can't be done at which point it's going to a painter!

 

[jonnyboy666]

right ok, so i went to see the anodiser, i had some questions first and he was very forthcoming with advice.

so the problems, the bottle cage bosses etc, they will need removing as they are steel, there are 5 in total, 4 bottle cage insert rivets and one on the back of the seat tube as a mount for a mech verter. then i will have to get the paint removed as he doesn't have the ability to do it in house. i asked if he had a preferred company for that and he said no but he recommended chemical dipping as opposed to media blasting.

so how we left it was that i'll get it stripped of paint, then email him some pictures so that he can assess whether the bare aluminium is in a good enough state to anodise, it may need polishing before anodising, if it is in a good enough state i will them remove the bottle bosses and drop it to him to sort out.

so first thing is a paint stripper, i happened to see Gary from GA cycles today so i asked him who he uses and he recommended Trestan paint finishes in Woolston, apparently they acid dip these frames and he showed me pics of a frame that they had recently stripped and then powder coated and it looked very good. i had used Tresten years ago myself but they were much more industrial back then so the finish wasn't great back then.

so depending on how the frame looks after stripping will depend on what happens, i'll call Tresten tomorrow and hopefully drop it to them next monday, will keep you updated as i go through the process as others may find the info useful.

 

[1552]

Just an FYI, not all aluminium frames can be anodised successfully, well the tubes can but the welds may be a different colour due to the filler used, @danson67 is the man in the know, I got this info from something he posted on facebook.
HTH