Powdercoating/painting frames?

[ubermensch]

Does anyone have any experience with either powdercoating or painting a bike?

I have a bike that was actually a decent bike at one point - made by a company (now out of business) in the mid 90s, called Balance - and it's now stripped and ready to be made beautiful again. I'm leaning towards having it powdercoated in favor of durability, unless someone here has had good results from a DIY paintjob?

Also, are there any powdercoating shops in the LA/OC area that anyone can recommend?

I would post pictures but the files I uploaded are sort of in limbo right now.

Thanks

[mcgrath]

Olympic Powder Coating :: Based in Orange County, California, we have been serving our customers since 1974.

I believe they do PC for intense... could be wrong, but I know they have experience with bikes.

[dhshuttlemonkey]

I've had 2 frames powdercoated at Olympic. Excellent work.

[Neccros]

do they use walnut shells to shotpeen the frame??

[ubermensch]

Originally Posted by MTBRacer

I've had 2 frames powdercoated at Olympic. Excellent work.

Mind if I ask how much it cost to powdercoat each frame?

And thanks for the link.

By the way, is there normally an extra charge if the frame needs to be bead blasted and cleaned? Here's what it looks like right now. If they can do the prep, I'm going to pop out the upper and lower bearing race and let them do the dirty work.

[SScheetz]

I’ve had 2 frames done by Olympic. Both frames were excellent. Bead blasted and powdercoated for under just $100 (each). Both times they charged me less than their estimate and delivered ahead of schedule.

[Pain Freak]

Dave Turner told us they did his bikes a while back. I'm not sure if they still do. Excellent work.

[Neccros]

They usually always have to bead blast a frame to get it pristine clean for coating. but the more you take off of the old anodizing/powdercoating, the easier it is for them

[tkblazer]

olympic used to do PC for Intense and i've had them recoat my old intense tracer and it came out sweet. I just had them recoat my giant frame is it came out to a little under $150 since i used a custom metallic finish

[dhshuttlemonkey]

My M1 and Tracer were done for about $120 including bead blasting. Your ht should cost less since it's only 1 piece.

[Pain Freak]

I think I'll get my old Turner done. Thanks for a good idea.

[ubermensch]

I dropped the frame off at Olympic this afternoon. You guys must be cuter than I am because I was quoted the sucker price of $120.

[tkblazer]

Originally Posted by ubermensch

I dropped the frame off at Olympic this afternoon. You guys must be cuter than I am because I was quoted the sucker price of $120.

thats about right, but it depends on the color you choose. I must be one hell of an ugly cause i paid $146 ... i did get a metallic powdercoat tho and it came out freakin awesome... the guys at the path thought it came out really nice as well