"mad MAX" (aka Yokel-Motion 1.0)

Would a splatter paint job be my choice - probably not

Do I think the frame would look better in person - definitely

Was the use of "bad" in reference to colourburn Inaccurate, yep most definitely. Let's just say I think it will be possible to appreciate colourburn's work objectively regardless of whether it fits with my aesthic biases.

It's fine, I know what you mean: it's pretty wild, so more likely to divide opinion than something more "classic".

I only have a broad idea of the build: carbon wheels, SMP, flat-top bars, external BB cranks etc. But not having earned anything since last December, means it'll be a while before I have to think too hard about any of that!

Just a little question: what medium did you get your frame blasted with to remove the old paint? I read that sandblasting is not a good idea for frames with thin tubing. Trying to find some information on this since I have a similar project and first hand experience would be helpful :)

Sorry, but I couldn't tell you what was used.

I sent the frame to Winston Vaz (Varonha) for the mods and he offered to have the frame stripped too: presumably it was via his brother Mario.

I trust them both.

I think as long as you're not heavy handed with it it's fine-I wouldn't use a sandblaster who isn't used to stripping delicate objects like bikes though as they might focus too much on one area and fuck it.

I had my Koga road MAX frame stripped with sandblasting twice and it's really only enough to put a tooth on the steel once the paint is gone but the guy had been so careful you could still see little feint patches of primer where it had previously been applied.

Thanks for the info guys. Sounds like sand-blasting would be risky in my case since the shop I thought about usually does car-related stuff and has no expertise working on delicate bike frames. Probably means I have to consider stripping it chemically which might be a pita since I have reason to believe that there is a layer of left-over powdercoating und the top layer of paint. meh. I'll see, thanks anyway!

Starchem Synstrip is unpleasant but did the trick for me. Works very well compared to other chemical strippers which can be very hit or miss. Messy though.

I'd still reccomend sand blasting though if you can find somewhere you trust to do it.

Anywhere local to you that could dip it?

I'll happily pay a premium to avoid stripping by hand, having done it once.

I haven't given it a lot of thought yet, tbh. A friend of the friend who offered to re-spray the frame for me works in a body-shop for cars, so it crossed our minds that we could ask him but they don't have any experience with bikes let alone frames with 0.5mm wall thickness. I would like to avoid stripping the frame myself, from what I read it's just not worth it in terms of opportunity costs. The thing is that the frame in question already got a fresh paint job recently but I don't like the colour which led me to the idea to get it repainted. However, the longer I think about the cost and efforts of getting it re-sprayed the more I get worried that the bike will end up as a trailer queen. Basically I'm a bit torn atm and try to get a better idea of the costs, efforts and risks of getting it stripped and re-painted to help me make up my mind. Here's a pic of the frame, sorry for derailling your thread! Any news on the build of yours?
p.s. how much did you guys pay for getting your respective frames blasted, if i may ask?

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£15-£20 is a good price for getting it blasted. Winston will get it blasted then prime it all for £30 (last time I checked)

That sounds like a fair price, will have to see if I can find a trustworthy place here in Germany who will do for a reasonable price. Forgot to ask: the previous owner had some small dings/dents in the TT filled. Will the blasting if done carefully, remove the filler, too? What about chemical stripping, will it desolve the filler, too?

What did they fill them with? If it's anything other than brass I reckon it'll blast them out. Chemical stripper will probably weaken or completely erode the filler as well, depending on what it's made of...

What did they fill them with?

That's the main question that we need to find out the answer...

The frame looks like in pretty good nick, try stripping the paint using nitromours....

The previous owner told me that it was done professionally with 'alu-spachtel' (aluminium filler) and he sent me a photo where the filler looks like brass, will ask him again to get some more detailed info. The photo also shows that the frame wasn't stripped completely before the repair, the babyblue from the previous paint-job was powdercoating afaik. Definitely a bit of a mess with the various layers.
p.s. again, sorry for derailing the thread!

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You can still live with it, they done very well

I would like to avoid stripping the frame myself, from what I read it's just not worth it in terms of opportunity costs.

There can't be many people who've stripped one frame by hand, have done two!

It cost me £20 for the blasting alone.

I agree with MCamb that "ordinary" filler won't survive either method, but I've never come across what was used on your frame.

No doubt there are plenty of places in NL/BE with experience, but logistics are then more complicated and expensive. On the other hand, I assume you're saving a good amount on the paint.

It's definitely worth going to a little more trouble and expense to get it done right: as any sprayer will tell you, poor prep = poor paint.

You're not derailing the thread: Max & paint-chat is what it's all about.

PS No progress on my build, as I've been training most of the year and only just started working again.

Cheers! I found a local shop that offers blasting with various different media. apparently they're specialists for vintage cars and know about the dangers of removing too much material (they offer low pressure blasting for example) so I contacted them and asked for their opinion and a quote. I'll start a cp thread and report back in time.

For sale.