London Fixed-gear and Single-speed SJS Cycles

Armourtex

Sweet, thanks hoops. I've got two frames to be blasted and painted in the near future, although neither a fully lugged so will stick with paint, rather than clear coat. Both will be off to Armourtex.

no worries, make sure they use glass beads when blasting, not sand/mixed media, as this really helps with the glossier finish.

EDIT... just read that you're using colour powdercoat... ignore me. mixed media will be fine.

I've just had a pair of frames done in RAL5015, nice colour!

see post #140

Of course ;)

Before and after....

that does look quite nice! i'm putting white stuff on there (should i rephrase that?) and was worried it'd look all blue peter, but that looks sweet :) metallic or gloss laquer?

Everyone STOP getting their bikes done in RAL 5015. Its MY colour ;-)

Thanks, they do look nice. They are done in gloss, nothing too fancy. I just keep seeing nice frames appear so I buy them!

One will be geared, one will be fixed/free with black parts (kind of mix of modern and old) and I should be picking up a nice Dawes that will be fixed/free traditional with silver bits.

Balls. Now people will see me and think i'm bigfella.

I got the bars done too, people might mistake us for twins otherwise

I got the sparkly lacquer too

Yeah too many light blue bikes going on!

At the person whop was asking about contrasts: in a word, no. Armourtex won't do contrasts. If your frame is worth all that trouble (Falcon?) you'd have to take it to someone like ColourTech. If its only a gas pipe frame and you want that design, you should try painting it yourself.

@dasmiller you will regret painting over the unnickable www.sjscycles.com decal. Red bikes go faster! And don't bother lining plain lugs, really. It's not a Bates.

@skully - fair play.. twat factor would indeed be high.. plan revised..
seriously concerned about this 5015 explosion.. whatever next?! organised rides and spoke cards? "blue bikes go slower" .. "my other ride's a 5015"

yeah its OK though cos you can put a 'one car fewer' sticker on yours to be individual.

Shit I feel bad now! If you want lining, go for it. For some reason I don't dig lining.

Lesson learnt. Sorry to still have a touch of the retard Factor, this is my first build from scratch. Baby steps and all that...

Not trying to bitch, it might well be worth it... some falcons out there are great bikes. Just very few of them, as I understand it.

Have a try at doing it yourself, maybe? Could be fun, definitley rewarding if you get a decent finished product.

No offence taken whatsoever. And I don't think this is one of them, it's just for dicking about on at the weekends. Will wait until I've got a bit more experience and a half decent frame!

Thanks for the wise words though...

skully.. man,. you're on fire today!! everyone's rethinking their shiz for you.. you better be proud..
nah, you're right.. the lining would look toss. this is one of those plans from when i thought i was going to get a more classic frame. the lugs on the sjs are so plain that it'd look like a fat lad in a frilly mini-skirt .. from primark
i recently saw a vintage chrome road frame with red linings on nice lugs.. that did look really fine. it'd turn you..

Lug lining is a challenge, done well it looks freaking amazing. Done badly, or done on the wrong frame, and it looks worse than a fat exhaust and a body kit on a Suzuki Swift.

tis true..
no one wants to be in the anti porn pages..

Can anyone tell me whether the guys at Amortex strip the frame back to metal or do I have to do that before I go in? Also, anyone know if they'll do two tone for the same price as one colour?

Sandblasting is included in a powder coat. They don't do two tone afaik.

got the BJ back, don't think it needs lug lining after all. sorry for crappy phone pics.





properly chuffed, considering the state it was in before

Gloss Black with Clear Lacquer, don't know the RAL biz

looks real nice Aaron

I would like to strip my frame (It’s a Langster) back to bare aluminium and leave it to tarnish over time – I was considering getting it powdercoated but the forks are carbon fibre so I would only be able to get the frame done and I cant be bothered with the hassel/cost of getting new forks (plus I’ll probably get round to updating the frame one day).

I don’t want the hassel of stripping it myself so have a couple of questions

Will the Armourtex dip and blast look OK uncoated?
Any other “stripper only” supplier recommendations? (In London)
If I’m only getting it dipped and stripped will I still need to remove the headset race on the forks (and if im feeling really lazy the frame) As I’m not planning to get it coated?
Finally am I mad to think of leaving it uncoated - should I at least clear coat the frame?

clearcoat it or it will corrode like a bitch

also, the look is not that good just stripped, they have plate or 2 down there with some examples of strip and gloss and flat laquers that will probably come out like you want

yea, at least get a clear coat, you will have to rub and paper it down to take the rust off it every week

Thanks for the quick advice, I'll take it down and have a look at their examples and ask their advice. Just need to works out what to do with the forks now...

kingfisher, you can always find a Giant Bowery fork instead, they're alu (or steel, dunno) and should match the Langster;

No it won't, it's aluminium! Metal corrosion knowledge fail.

Aluminium is a fairly inert metal. However, it reacts rapidly with oxygen in the air to form aluminium oxide. So basically, the aluminium goes a bit dull. This oxide layer will protect the metal from any further corrosion in the same way that surface rust on a steel bike protects (to a degree) the steel underneath, with the exception that it doesn't continue to corrode with exposure to the air. Water/road dirt will not corrode the frame, unless you pour acid all over it on a daily basis, or live in a part of the world where caustic soda rains from the sky.

At least that's what my A* in GCSE chemistry tells me.

phhht, A*. kids today, exams must be getting easier

* I think you forgot to add the footnote.

Maybe a silly q:

is it possible to powdercoat with flakes in it?

chris

flakes? as in the sparkles? if so yes

see OP for sparkles :)

@ titof if you mean 'glitter', then yes.

@ Kingfisher
When i spoke to Steve at Armourtex last week he said their 'stripping' wasn't the same prep process as say the like of Colourtech. It was more about preparing a key for the powder coating so i would'nt rely on Armourtex to do that side of it. Colourtech on the other hand would properly shotblast it back to bare metal. Have a chat to both direct rather than relying on hearsay though.

Although an alu frame won't corrode like steel if left unfinished, it might oxidize. Depends want look you want. If a consistent 'nude' aluminum finish is what your after, maybe ask Armourtex about a mat/satin clear coat.

Oh yeah, you'll need to get new forks too tho'.

as in sparkles, yeah.

Cool, so I can realise my thoughts :D

thanks guys!

O_O
U have made the humble unipack look FTW.

@ Bigfoot, If u ever sell this bike the new owner is gonna get very confused once they get a few scratches! It was green, no it was white, no it was grey....

thread recognition fail... rattle can is not powdercoating.

Well the title of the thread does say powercoat/armourtex/respray gallery and that is a respray.

Can Amourtex remove braze on's. The frame I just brought has those horrible suicide gear mounts.

^diy_dremel? shave it baby, shave'it!

The green was sprayed onto bare metal. they'll be more confused by the rattling BB and no crank threads to fix it ;)

Has anyone got photos mid grey RALs? Something like 7046, 7000, 7023 preferably in metallic. Its amazing the differences you get googling the same colour.

When my new frame arrives I'm going to go down the Colourtec route- powdercoated metallics have no depth to the colour, just a bit of glitter on top.

[quote=Bigfoot;715309]The green was sprayed onto bare metal. they'll be more confused by the rattling BB and no crank threads to fix it ;)

ha, ha!

What process do the colourtech guys use?

I think its spay on stove enamel. Not quite as durable but if you go into 14, where they use colourtec and armourtex the difference is staggering.

Does anyone know where you can buy actual powdercoat power/paint. Armourtex don't have the colour I need so Steve said that if I brought some he'd apply it with a discount. My google skills seem to be somewhat lacking as all I can find are powdercoaters.

Presumably, Steve would know where to get it?

No, for some reason he couldn't get this colour from his regular contacts?