I've been calling and emailing for estimates, appraisals and crazy dartboard guesses of what it will cost to refinish my frame. As my beloved readership will remember (assuming they actually exist and that they can remember anything and don't just end up here by accident, cursing themselves for clicking that damn link again) this frame has rust.
The rust is being removed now. Slowly and rather painstakingly. I want future steps to involve as little work as possible and have the best possible outcome so my priority is to not do any more damage than has already been done. I took a small brass bristled wheel chucked into the Dremel tool to the lugs and the less accessible spots and that has worked very nicely. I was able to pull rust out of the edges and gaps without damaging any good chrome or paint. Next I'll move on to the bigger stuff. I'll be trying an oxalic acid bath which is very popular with a lot of bike restorers. Lemon juice and aluminum foil is wonderful for small touch ups, but this is a big frame.
But what to do next? The possibilities are wet paint, powder coat or re-chrome. All of these have their advantages and disadvantages.
Paint looks great, is very flexible as far as masking and obtaining whatever color and look is desired and can be done anywhere from $125 - 500 depending on quality, options and level of prep. It has the advantage that I can do a lot of the prep myself to keep the price down. It does protect against rust, but not as well as powder coating and is certainly not as resistant to abuse as the other options. Wet paint is the most versatile option. Any color can be mixed and it lends itself to special effects like fades, metal flake and pearlescent finishes. The depth and shine of a good wet paint job is hard to beat.
Powder coating is simple, basic and relatively inexpensive between $100 - 125, up to $200 to ship it off to a specialist. Powder is excellent against rust and wear and shrugs off most abuse. It isn't available in as many colors and isn't capable of the eye candy wet paint can produce. But it can provide a very rugged base coat over which decals, lug lining, pinstriping and other adornments like contrasting bands on the seat tube or head tube can be added before applying a wet paint clear coat.
Chrome will be out of my hands almost entirely, I'll hand over the frame and then magic will be performed. The existing plating will have to be removed by de-plating, the reverse of the electrolytic process that put there originally, it will be polished and then re-plated. What we're talking about here starts at $500. It will take an experienced plater with knowledge of bikes to even assure me that it will be fully possible to obtain a sound and worthy result. The de-plating process alone has risks that include leaching the braze out of the joints. (Yikes!) Beyond that these already thin tubes will be polished down further, subjected to more weird chemistry and then baked to ensure against hydrogen embrittlement.
I'm hoping to have an estimate from the shop that plated these bikes in the first place. I would also welcome hearing from any readers who've had experience getting a frame re-plated.
Either painting or powder coating will be reversible. Neither will require anything done that will make future work difficult. If I have it painted, I can always strip it and plate later.
Of the shops I've contacted about paint or powder coating, I am particularly impressed with one local powder coater who took the time to provide a very clear email that outlined his processes and his concerns regarding the stability of the chrome he would be coating over. I do retail repair work, I know what a knowledgeable, conscientious practitioner of a trade sounds like. I like this guy already after one email and a phone call, and am leaning in that direction. It's affordable, quick, flexible and reversible. Hard to beat that with anything other than a perfect, brand new plating job.
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