Paint peeling of 7 month old bike for a 2nd time.

Kowalski675

GT-Arrowhead wrote:

Kowalski675 wrote:

Ahh i see. I thought it was oxidizing but i didnt say that just in case i was wrong. lol.

Thanks for that mate.

You were right.

cooldad

GT-Arrowhead wrote:

Is it true that bare metal aluminium is shiny at first but eventually goes a bit faded? I would imagine this is true, since my spokes go kind of a "cloudy" colour because they arent polished. But wire wool makes them shine again.

Spokes are not made of aluminium They're steel. And oxidisation of steel is called rust.

Kowalski675

It is indeed, lol. TBH, I'd not spotted that he was talking about his spokes, I must've skipped that bit, lol. I was just saying he was right about the tarnishing of ally being down to oxidation.

gt-arrowhead

Ohh...shit, my bad!

Well they are not attracted to a magnet, and they do lose their shine. (spent bloody ages wire wooling them and now they are starting to lose their shine!)

I assumed they were aluminium because stainless steel doesnt tarnish. So i thought they cant have been made of stainless steel. What are spokes usually made of?

I dont totally remember the spokes as being non attractive to a magnet, i did it ages ago. I will have another go tomorrow and ill post back here. If memory serves me right it was only the hub that was attracted.

Kowalski675

GT-Arrowhead wrote:

Ohh...shoot, my bad!

Well they are not attracted to a magnet, and they do lose their shine. (spent bloody ages wire wooling them and now they are starting to lose their shine!)

I assumed they were aluminium because stainless steel doesnt tarnish. So i thought they cant have been made of stainless steel. What are spokes usually made of?

I dont totally remember the spokes as being non attractive to a magnet, i did it ages ago. I will have another go tomorrow and ill post back here. If memory serves me right it was only the hub that was attracted.

Stainless steel doesn't rust (it's non ferrous), but it does surface tarnish. There's various different grades - when it comes to fasteners (nuts & bolts) most regular stainless fasteners are 304 stainless, where more expensive ones are 316 stainless, which is otherwise known as "marine grade", as it resists tarnishing much better, particularly in a corrosive environment. If your spokes don't stick to a magnet then they probably are stainless steel, so they won't rust, but if they're bare metal the surface will dull (but stainless steel is easy to polish, and can be mirror polished more easily than ally):

gt-arrowhead

Cool, thanks alot mate. Im liking the pictures of your bikes and the parts very much.

Based on what you said, they are probably stainless steel then. Spokes are right bastards to polish up though, when you get to the point where the spokes cross over, it is very hard to polish them from there to the hub. I dont bother doing it really thoroughly in that area.

Kowalski675

Lucky for me, my Carrera has black spokes, lol. Every time I do a session metal polishing I say never again (it's a filthy job, you get covered in shite), but once you get into it it's strangely cathartic, and the end results are pleasing, so I always break my promise and do it again, lol.

Before (pipes from ex's bike):



After (8 hours later):

gt-arrowhead

Kowalski675 wrote:

Lucky for me, my Carrera has black spokes, lol. Every time I do a session metal polishing I say never again (it's a filthy job, you get covered in shite), but once you get into it it's strangely cathartic, and the end results are pleasing, so I always break my promise and do it again, lol.

Before (pipes from ex's bike):



After (8 hours later):

Lucky bugger

I know EXACTLY what you mean though. Polishing is fkin amazing! Just hate doing it to spokes. I love having something shine when before it looked like a piece of cack.

And your pictures sum it up really, the satisfaction after seeing it gleam like that must have been amazing. It always is!

Kowalski675

GT-Arrowhead wrote:

And your pictures sum it up really, the satisfaction after seeing it gleam like that must have been amazing. It always is!

It does give a definite sense of satisfaction. I get funny looks from the neighbours though, sat on the front steps for hours, wearing a balaclava, face mask and goggles on a warm sunny day, cradling an electric drill in one arm, and variously shaped metal objects in the other, lol.

gt-arrowhead

Haha. My neighbors probably think im a bit weird too. The amount of time i spend in the garden faffing around with bikes is unbelievable. I do now have 14 bikes, so there is alot for me to do. I change alot of things every now and then.

Only about 5 are rideable bikes. lol. The rest are just bits and bobs etc that i salvage bits off sometimes.

Kowalski675

GT-Arrowhead wrote:

Haha. My neighbors probably think im a bit weird too.

They really thought I'd lost it when i bought my last car, and spent several days valeting it, including unbolting all the seats and removing them, removing door seal rubbers etc, shampooing the whole interior, cleaning the engine bay etc, several coats of polish etc, lol. I get odd looks when I'm using my big green magic bike drier too...

gt-arrowhead

Hobbies will be hobbies. Just some people will see us as obsessed, messing around with cars and motorbikes (in your case) and bikes (in my case) for endless hours.

A question about the Candy Paint:

Is it possible to get a decent Candy paint job done using spray paint cans?

Kowalski675

GT-Arrowhead wrote:

Hobbies will be hobbies. Just some people will see us as obsessed, messing around with cars and motorbikes (in your case) and bikes (in my case) for endless hours.

For the last few years I've spent far more time tinkering and modifying bikes than actually riding the bloody things, lol. Last summer (I only ride in summer) my Triumph was in bits until mid August and only did 350 miles, and my Bandit didn't do much more than that either. At least it saves on astronomical fuel costs, and you can't crash them if they stay in the garage, lol.

A question about the Candy Paint:

Is it possible to get a decent Candy paint job done using spray paint cans?

No, not really. The base coat you'd be ok (you can use a regular white or silver), but candies are difficult to apply, and take an experienced painter to get right. Your other problem is that your base coat has to be flawless, as even the smallest imperfections will show through the candy. This is even more critical if you're using a metallic basecoat - your last wet basecoat has to be applied perfectly 'cos you can't flat it off, as you'll lose the metallic.

I had two small plastic infil panels painted for my Triumph (Triumph had inconsiderately discontinued them, so I couldn't get the right colour panels, but managed to get a green set). I had a professional paint shop paint them, and it took them two attempts to get a satisfactory finish, and even then the colour match wasn't 100%. It's a candy orange over metallic silver (so a four stage paint in all, including primer and lacquer) and hellishly difficult to match, even for a pro. First you have to mix the candy exactly right (or buy hugely expensive OE paint), but even if you have exactly the right mix then the end result varies depending on exactly how much candy you apply, and even the direction the base coat's been sprayed. By the time you've bought everything you need (primer, base coat, top coat, lacquer, wet and dry paper, cutting compound etc it'd be just as cheap to have it powdercoated (the candy red on that Bandit only cost £100 for frame and swingarm, which is a lot bigger than an MTB frame).

97th choice

Holy topic hijack

gt-arrowhead

Based on what youve said, i think i might just spray it "bronze" I really love the look of that colour. Or i might get some spray paint thats meant for cars that has the shade of red i want, then clear coat it.