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Anyone regret Anodize or powdercoat ?

4K views 36 replies 22 participants last post by  Boogie Man 
#1 ·
I am on the fence as to go anodize or powdercoat . Just wondering if anyone went one way and wished they went the other ? Why ? Thanx
 
#2 ·
Anodized Durability

Well, the anodized finish is very durable but it depends on the color as to whether or not I like it. I was in the LBS tonight and they had a new Blur LT in the anodized silver color and honestly, it had a cheap look to it. On the other hand the slate and black anodized frames looked awesome. There was just something about that silver finish that screamed, poor quality.

I just started another thread to see if anyone has a picture of a frame powder coated in Santa Cruz's new silver color.

I have had powdercoated frames and they are pretty durable. Especially if you get one of the transparent color like Trans Blue, Red or the new Black Chrome. They have a two coat process which really bonds a thick layer to your frame. I'm sure it probably adds some weight too!
 
#5 ·
Nice Truck

No, that truck is insane!

It belongs to the guy who owns a powder coating company I visited today. He had it custom built from the ground up in Georgia and had it shipped here on a flatbed trailer. It arrived here a couple of days ago.

I bet it is very economical as a daily driver! ;)
 
#6 ·
67degrees said:
Well, the anodized finish is very durable but it depends on the color as to whether or not I like it. I was in the LBS tonight and they had a new Blur LT in the anodized silver color and honestly, it had a cheap look to it. On the other hand the slate and black anodized frames looked awesome. There was just something about that silver finish that screamed, poor quality.

I just started another thread to see if anyone has a picture of a frame powder coated in Santa Cruz's new silver color.

I have had powdercoated frames and they are pretty durable. Especially if you get one of the transparent color like Trans Blue, Red or the new Black Chrome. They have a two coat process which really bonds a thick layer to your frame. I'm sure it probably adds some weight too!
I guess it depends on the frame you want. I got an ano. black Nomad. It looks great, as does the poloshed Nomad. On the other hand, I didnt not like the Nomad at all in all the other colors. If I had gone for the Heckler , I would certainly have got a PC one - yellow, white or orange. I think the Heckler looks better in PC.
The Ano. IS more durable , but once it gets scratched it can't be fixed. PC is much easier to touch up, and you can even re- PC the whole frame every once in a while.
 
#7 ·
PizzaMan said:
I guess it depends on the frame you want. I got an ano. black Nomad. It looks great, as does the poloshed Nomad. On the other hand, I didnt not like the Nomad at all in all the other colors. If I had gone for the Heckler , I would certainly have got a PC one - yellow, white or orange. I think the Heckler looks better in PC.
The Ano. IS more durable , but once it gets scratched it can't be fixed. PC is much easier to touch up, and you can even re- PC the whole frame every once in a while.
I am actually looking into a VP Free, anodized black or pc black. I wondered about scratching ano. can it be touched up ? Or will the touch up stand out ? Thanx
 
#8 ·
Keen

Note that ano is quite hard to scratch
We had our bikes really muddy last week and the mud was a bit abrasive. Im certain a powdercoat would have got scratched just cleaning it off.
The ano cleaned up real good. But there is a trick to use Armoural or similar product to really enhance the ano finish after...
If you do scratch the finish (rare crash...) you can touch up with black permanent marker... in no time...........if its a black ano that is
 
#9 ·
Ano and rocks. As you know, keen, I got my Nomad in ano slate. Riding for 3 days this past weekend in extremely rocky terrain was a little of a surprise for me with this ano finish. While riding all 3 days, I could hear rocks, sometimes big rocks, banging the bottom of the bike at various places. I mentioned earlier about the Nomad riding a bit lower than my Bullits, so there was a lot more rock contact. Monday I hung the bike up in a stand at the shop and got a flashlight and did a close inspection of the entire bottom of the bike from the downtube to the rear axle. I was a little amazed not to find any chips or flecks on the bike. My polished Bullit takes abuse like this without any serious marks. My trans red Bullit on the other hand looks like the paint has been shot peened down there. I really don't expect paint to hold up to that kind of repeated pounding. Seriously I'm not that concerned about chipping and flecking on mountainbike frames down on the lower areas of the bike...I mean it's an off road vehicle designed to take a pounding. I would like my bikes' paint jobs or finishes to hold up decently on the more visible parts of my bike, and even my trans red Bullit still looks good overall. I feel pretty good about how this ano will hold up based on what it took this weekend in a very exposed area of the frame.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I have PC, and it got scratched very quickly. I don't care if my bike is scratched, because I ride it hard and don't plan to fleece someone selling it used. Everything on my bike is scratched, as I ride in very rocky areas.

I also vastly prefer the "traditional" look of PC over anodized. However, the black ano is a little better looking than the other colors, in my opinion. I despise polished alu; i pretty much think it's the worst possible MTB aesthetic besides those horrific flames that Foes stamps into their frames; i would take spray paint camo over polished aluminum.

I also liked saving the $$ on PC because it let me spend a little more in other areas of the build that have more effect on performance.

On the other hand, there is little doubt in my mind that Anodized resists scratches much more. If I had to choose a black ano frame delivered in 2 weeks vs. a PC frame in 2 months, I would have probably opted for ano.

These are my thoughts on the issue. I think this is one debate that is very specific to the individual rider's tastes. :)

-rob
 
#15 ·
I just ordered up a Black Ano BLT. If SC had better powdercoat options I would have ordered a PC frame, but I'm just not all that impressed with the dull PC frames that I've seen or the pics of PC frames that I've seen, other than the Liquid Blue. Intense on the other hand, has some really sweet PC colors... Pear White, Java, British Racing Green, Titanium Gold, Baby Blue, etc. I'd have a much harder time deciding on what color I wanted if I went with an Intense.
 
#16 ·
rpet said:
On the other hand, there is little doubt in my mind that Anodized resists scratches much more. If I had to choose a black ano frame delivered in 2 weeks vs. a PC frame in 2 months, I would have probably opted for ano.
-rob
Exactly what got me a ano black frame.... I'm not disappointed in the slightest, and I have no doubts the finish will stand up pretty well.
 
#17 ·
The truck is excessive and quite frankly, I would not be surprised to find a Bush/Cheney bumper sticker on it... anyway Santa Cruz's powdercoats have never seemed to be very durable. I had a black heckler that scratched very easily. For instance, during breaks I would simply rest on the top tube and shoot the hay with my bros. Well, the top tube was a mess after one ride. That did not happen to my Kona unit. The white powdercoat on my 04 heckler is even worse. I would say if you live in a muddy area, anodizing is an absolute must. If you live in a very dry, weather friendly area like most of the cool dudes in here, go powdercoat. The mud in Okinawa and Maine have not agreed with my PC finishes at all.
 
#18 ·
ano pluses and minuses...

TNC said:
Ano and rocks. As you know, keen, I got my Nomad in ano slate. Riding for 3 days this past weekend in extremely rocky terrain was a little of a surprise for me with this ano finish. While riding all 3 days, I could hear rocks, sometimes big rocks, banging the bottom of the bike at various places. I mentioned earlier about the Nomad riding a bit lower than my Bullits, so there was a lot more rock contact. Monday I hung the bike up in a stand at the shop and got a flashlight and did a close inspection of the entire bottom of the bike from the downtube to the rear axle. I was a little amazed not to find any chips or flecks on the bike. My polished Bullit takes abuse like this without any serious marks. My trans red Bullit on the other hand looks like the paint has been shot peened down there. I really don't expect paint to hold up to that kind of repeated pounding. Seriously I'm not that concerned about chipping and flecking on mountainbike frames down on the lower areas of the bike...I mean it's an off road vehicle designed to take a pounding. I would like my bikes' paint jobs or finishes to hold up decently on the more visible parts of my bike, and even my trans red Bullit still looks good overall. I feel pretty good about how this ano will hold up based on what it took this weekend in a very exposed area of the frame.
Having had both, I'd have to say ano is very tough to scratch, but over time (a couple of years) it tends to dull down, with the areas that are exposed and rubbed (not in a porn way) tending to really get blotchy and hard to clean. You can wax it but that's never very satisfying and doesn't last long.

For touch-up on my SC Superlight frame I used a black, then a blue Sharpie to touch up the scratches and rubbed areas (dark blue frame). You can kind of mix them together while wet and end up with a close approximation... but not perfect. Buff it very lightly, once finished, with the finest steel wool to knock down the sharpie's shine. It's okay for the casual glance. I just got another SC bike, a Nomad, and got it in powdercoat silver. I'll let you know how that goes.
 
#19 ·
My current bike it a 2001 SC Bullit in PC white. I purchased it used a couple of years ago. It was trail ridden . I did some minor touch up's and waxing and it looked pretty nice, even from a few feet away. It had clear stickers in cable rubbing area's that kept cable rub away - the stickers look stock. I purchased a used 2003 black Bullit that I planned to use for DH (it was previously used for such) Man the paint looked horrible - every scratch and rock ping stood out. Not sure if my 01' had a better PC job or later jobs were not as good ???
 
#20 ·
Yeah, that's black.

keen said:
My current bike it a 2001 SC Bullit in PC white. I purchased it used a couple of years ago. It was trail ridden . I did some minor touch up's and waxing and it looked pretty nice, even from a few feet away. It had clear stickers in cable rubbing area's that kept cable rub away - the stickers look stock. I purchased a used 2003 black Bullit that I planned to use for DH (it was previously used for such) Man the paint looked horrible - every scratch and rock ping stood out. Not sure if my 01' had a better PC job or later jobs were not as good ???
I had a black pickup truck, and it was a nightmare...every rock chip looks white. Lighter colors are definitely better. The lighter ano colors should be easy to live with too. That's why I stayed away from ano black. Ano gray or something like this slate that I got on mine looks like it will be easy to live with.
 
#21 ·
I went ano

When I purchased the "original" blur a few years back, I went ano. I just did a crash replacement w/ SC and again went black ano on a BLT.

Ano upside:
The finish was really tough. All the rocks ricocheting off the frame left few, if any marks.

Ano downside:
It has a black primer look about it. It shines well with a wax job, but that's way too short lived to do with any regularity.

Johnny
 
#22 ·
scratch on grey...

TNC said:
I had a black pickup truck, and it was a nightmare...every rock chip looks white. Lighter colors are definitely better. The lighter ano colors should be easy to live with too. That's why I stayed away from ano black. Ano gray or something like this slate that I got on mine looks like it will be easy to live with.
I'm hoping when my silver PC Nomad scratchs, and it will (ouch), that the aluminum under it won't contrast too bad with the silver finish. That's the idea, but it remains to be seen how that works since I've had no crashes yet.

I recently saw a black ano Nomad that was about six months old (just guessing), and it looked like crap already. It looked like it was six years old,--- just like my current six year old blue ano Superlight does now.
 
#24 ·
powdercoat just doesn't last

You can see from these pic's just how rough the PC looks after two years. Also, you can see in the first pic that it doesn't protect the seatstay from denting and in the second you can tell that it rubs off if you constantly rub your foot on the chainstay. No I don't believe that any coating material would help these situations, but some riding lessons might. I was very diligent in the maintenance of the PC for the first year or so, but nothing seemed to help. The rootbeer is still a cool color though and I get tons of compliments on it.:)
 

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