Rusty/raw finish

This is one product available http://www.ugp.com.au/UGP_Rust%20Paint.html but I guess you could strip and throw on any oxidising chemical or even lemon/lime juice. There are other "rust effect" paints available. I saw one a wee side article about this German stuff in a recent Performance VW (640bhp corrado, immaculate brown mk2 gti and an inline turbo jetta). Thrown it out but I think it was £30-40 a litre. It gave you quite furry effect and could be applied to metal and plastic.

Getting a nice patina like that chopper could be a lot harder. I've done it to a few BMX's / forks and instead of laquering over, stripping and then wipping over regularly with wd40 / 3in1 works really well (not nearly as good as that bike though). I reckon spraying over the bare metal with a silicone dashboard polish would also work well as its what I've used on sandblasted glass to stop fingerprints adhereing to it.

Incedentally shinya Kimura was also mentioned in the same magazine as listed above in reference to a cool mk3 golf someone had "antiqued"

This looks banging!

iron + water = rust

iron + water + chloride ions (salt) = fast rust

iron + no water = no rust i.e lacquered finish.

This is slightly wrong too, I've never seen a frame / forks that has been clearcoated that has never eventually rusted from underneath. Obviously it depends on preperation. You generally start getting little pocks of rust after next to no time. Also laquers generally aren't as hard wearing as paints.

i used to be into choppers when i was much younger.
i watched some kind of programme, myabe it was a dvd, where the owner of exile cycles actually said that the bike a couple of posts up set on fire by mistake.
:)

This is slightly wrong too, I've never seen a frame / forks that has been clearcoated that has never eventually rusted from underneath. Obviously it depends on preperation. You generally start getting little pocks of rust after next to no time.

if the frame is blasted, then powder clearcoated (which is basically a uncoloured powdercoat) it is fine. i have done two with no probs.

I never knew you could do this - cool.

clearcoat, on blasted.
1.
https://www.lfgss.com/album.php?albumid=67&pictureid=4344
2.
http://velospace.org/node/6691

Thats another thing I was going to mention, sandblasting ruins any of the existing patina the metal had before it was painted. If you just nitromors / dip a frame as opposed to blasting / sanding the effects you get are massively different.

You might gather I find this really interesting (closet chemist nerd) - the link to the patination post / forum was great.

if you are going to blast it, you are probably wanting to paint / clearcoat to restore / re-finish, which you wouldn't want any patina on it ?

Well what I would really like is a bike that has patina / rust that doesn't get worse or effect the integrity of the frame over time. This is where the problem lies. The mixture of the component metals in steel affect how they rust too. I really like this.
[URL="http://www.cycles-for-heroes.com/sites/default/files/neuigkeit/Roadbike__NovDez_2009_Seite1.jpg"][/URL]

Can anyone remember the bike (including handle bars) that looked like a copper pipe?

you can't really clearcoat rusted/unprimed frames, it won't adhese properly

Exactly. I just love the look though.

i do like the croc-skinned alps though

Suits the bike but would look shit on anything else.

indeedeee

Its kind of where putting a bike together becomes art - an indivdual expression anyway. Those truvative cranks ruin it though :(

nothing stopping you applying a watered down liquid pvc glue over the rust to seal it...
not terribly resilient coating but you can reapply it for next to nothing.

Resurrection,

http://www.bertellibici.com/product.php?works_id=117

This bike is not rusted, but at least it's patinated (now, the wall behind is rusted, right).

Mr Bertelli brushes the frame with a steel brush and drilling machine, then finishes with steelwool, and to protect it, just any wax. I'm in the process, and it's quite nice. I'll see in the long term if it asks for too much, then I'll clearcoat it, or paint it again.

Pics of the raw finish in Current Projects...