Copper plating my Fondriest X-Status

Ever since I first came across the La Suprema copper plated bike I knew I had to do a copper plating project one day. It took a little longer than I had hoped though.

At long last I managed to find the right frame yesterday: a Fondriest X-Status. The frame came with the original fork and stem. The frame is made up of Dedacciai Optimal (18mcdv6 H.T.) and features nicely oversized steel tubing, with S-bend seat stays out back. The fork is also Dedacciai Optimal and features the same S-bend. The stem is a 3TTT steel stem. Right now the frameset is at the company that is going to do the copper plating. As soon I have an update I will let you know.

You can find more pics on my Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/quality_vintage_bikes/sets/72157633312086518/

seems a waste to do it on such a nice bike / paint job
could you find a beaten up version of the frame you have decided on ?

Shame to trash that frame :(

Shame to copper plate any frame, what with it looking utterly gash an' all....
I like the decals, you got a replacement set to go over the copper?

what'll that do to the weight?

I don't know if i've ever seen a copper plated bike in the flesh.... Just don't go riding in a thunderstorm!

Shame to copper plate any frame, what with it looking utterly gash an' all....
I like the decals, you got a replacement set to go over the copper?

no ed, you are wrong there, they do look nice

like this?!

much prefer wilier's copper coloured 'chromovelato' effect but I think it's not allowed to do this anymore because of the chemicals used:

boo to health and safety on the chromvelato front

From a distance the frame looks quite nice, but in reality the frame has many small scratches (typical for yellow and white paint), paint chips and scuff marks. I also had to remove paint in some areas to check if some cracks in the paint were cracks in the paint and not structural cracks.

Here is a picture of the La Suprema bike I based the copper plating on:

are you going for the steampunk look or going to keep it polished up? how many microns thick will the plating be?

I asked the plater to do a polished look. He told me he could do a clear coat over the copper to prevent oxidation, but not a very resistant one since that would require some sort of primer. That is why I choose not to do a clear coat.

Not sure how many microns it will be.

shiny to start then let verdigris set in
natural patina

Interesting! Original paintjob looked nice and retro though.

Will you be putting Fondriest decals on top of the plating again?

The idea of a natural patina is one of the things that I really liked about a copper finish, ageing like a bottle of wine.

New decals would be nice if I can get a hold of them that is.

There are some on ebay but if you want to it's not that difficult to get custom ones done.

what about salt from the roads etc? all it would take is a kid spilling a can of coke and it'll ruin it, no?

Reminds me of a Peugeot half copper plated concept bike:

Half of it looks bloody lovely.

The Peugeot looks awsome, but was done with copper/chrome look paint. The last time I checked with a painter on that kind of paint, it was not suitable for use on object that flex such as a bicycle frame.

Don't forget this Peugeot :)

Works pretty well with the matte black parts

Shame to trash that frame :(

+1

It would seem like a shame to copper over that frame. I suspect it will be sand blasted and it would probably take at least 100um of copper to get back to a gloss finish.

Any update on this project?

Here is a cheap peugeot I plated for fun this weekend.

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Everyone's at it. Was that a DIY attempt? If so, how?

Yes this was a DIY. But I work at a platers so it's a piece of cake for me. It's copper electroplated.

Is the aim here to make your frame look like it's been built by a plumber?