A bare aluminuim frame

Hi,

I was thinking of getting my road bike (which is only used for racing and training in the summer) shot blasted and leaving it just bare aluminium.

Then I heard that the surface gets tarnished quite easily and needs regular polishing. So I thought about polishing and putting a clear laquer coat on the top, but someone told me that it will still fade and tarnish and needs anodising.

Does anyone have any advice or experience they can share on getting this done?

thanks
Ives

speak to Gabes.

Why?

cos i believe he's got a polished ally frame.

You can get 'clear' anodizing. I don't think it's shiny shiny but it looks quite nice.

Here's an example of a Scandium frame which has been clear anodized.

Not why speak to gabes. Why bother with stripping then polishing then clear coating a frame. for the cost of all that you could surely buy a new one.

I don't know about local prices but in Glasgow you can get a frame powder coated (clear if you want) for £45. Anyone who's competent with a set of tools can strip the bike and re-build it afterwards. What frame can you get for £45 that's likely to better than the OPs frame. It could be a Cervelo S1 for all we know.

it's a £300 scandium frame and I can strip and rebuild myself

This:

Had previously been shot-blast then painted matt black.

I stripped the old paint off then had it polished and clear lacquered by a local firm (Bermondsey).

As to the longevity I cannot comment as it was stolen shortly (one week) after I completed the build.

However it was a very hard coating, and looked to be able to survive, for what that is worth.

p.s. it's not the build that I would do again, but was fun as my first fixed gear.
Hippo is still sadly missed.

it doesn't need polishing very often, maybe twice a year if you're anal like me, when I got it it hadn't been polished in years and was cloudy silver, but still looked wicked.

http://files.pixelbreaker.com/fgss/hsontank.jpg

it doesn't need polishing very often, maybe twice a year if you're anal like me, when I got it it hadn't been polished in years and was cloudy silver, but still looked wicked.

http://files.pixelbreaker.com/fgss/hsontank.jpg

That's interesting gabes.
Do you think i could get away with just shot blasting it and polishing a couple of times a year?

cheers
Ives

Shot blasting it will leave it with a very matt finish- that's why I had to get mine machine polished.

yup, shot blasting will effectively make it grey. a rough and dull finish, it'll take a while to buff up. just strip yourself then either polish or clearcoat.

I had an alu road bike that was lacquered (no paint) on to the metal as the shop finish (Quest Bikes). I'm not sure exactly how old the frame was old (El Diablo on here will know, I bought it from him), but it got covered in tiny hairline scratches quite easily. Zero problems with corrosion though.

I've just nitromorsed my langster (I know I know) and it's come up lovely, just a bit of iron wool then polished it up with autosol. I haven't clearcoated it or anything and have no comment on longevity either as I did it yesterday. But like marie says, hairline scratches do occur VERY easily.

it will be fine uncoated, eventually it will oxidise a bit

i overheard some kids in hooded tracksuit tops the other day talking to each other and one of them was saying that when he went somewhere he was getting "bear jokes man". was he talking about jokes about actual bears or was it jokes about the stock exchange and shares etc?

i just wondered, anybody know.

just strip yourself then either polish or clearcoat.

Pervert.

ok, so the general consensus seems to be shot blast then polish up and do so twice a year or so.

no, strip it with paint stripper, and the polish.
shot/sand blasting will leave a very rough finish that will take a hell of a lot of polishing to buff out.

I saw a chap on a fixed around Bethnal green, it looked stripped and tarnished and had a gold headset and componants, it looked really cool. Go for it tarnished with coloured components, looks hot.

ok, so the general consensus seems to be shot blast then polish up and do so twice a year or so.

My friend used good old Nitromors and then found a buffing attatchment for a drill which he used on the frame, it took him about 3 hours to get it practically a mirror finish. This was 3 months ago and it's still shiny, as stated, hairline scratches do happen but can only be noticed from less than a foot away.

Up untill a couple of days ago, I had a bare alu frame which had been clear coated. Looked nice and was easy to keep clean. Its still languishing in the naughty corner of my workroom, if you'd like me to take a pick.

no, strip it with paint stripper, and the polish.
shot/sand blasting will leave a very rough finish that will take a hell of a lot of polishing to buff out.

I don't really want to get into Nitromors-ing the frame. Mario Vaz said he'd shot blast it for a tenner. I don't mind spending a few hours buffing with wire wool.