[chris_nor_cal]

I'm going to make a single speed out of my dad's old 1993 rigid steel Giant Iguana. I think its a perfect bike. It looks like many of the bikes I see on this forum, and I've always wanted to try singlespeed. My question is as follows: I'm going to have a friend blast the paint off at his shop and he said he could clear coat it for me. He seems to think this could add alot of weight to the frame, is this true? Is there anywhere i really CANNOT get sand or paint it? I'm goign to stuff the seat tube, BB, and head tube with newspaper or something and tape it off. I think I might like just the paint-less steel look. Do i need to coat it to prevent rust? Do I need to know anything else?

 

[MellowCat]

Don't...

sand blast it! Now, if your friend can use plastic beads instead of sand, that will work great. Sandblasting a bike frame is very harsh on the steel. The plastic beads will just remove the paint and any filler.

Yes, you will need to coat the frame to prevent rust, especially if you sand blast it.

I would check out the bottow bracket area before you spend to much time on this project, be sure there's no bad rust there alreadly. My old Giant rusted really bad.

When your done with the paint work be sure and coat the inner tubes of the frame with FrameSaver or some other rust preventer.

Have your friend paint the frame with a nice auto grade clear, or use Imron if your budget allows. Don't worry about the weight of the paint, its nothing.

Post some pics of your project when your done!

MC

I'm going to make a single speed out of my dad's old 1993 rigid steel Giant Iguana. I think its a perfect bike. It looks like many of the bikes I see on this forum, and I've always wanted to try singlespeed. My question is as follows: I'm going to have a friend blast the paint off at his shop and he said he could clear coat it for me. He seems to think this could add alot of weight to the frame, is this true? Is there anywhere i really CANNOT get sand or paint it? I'm goign to stuff the seat tube, BB, and head tube with newspaper or something and tape it off. I think I might like just the paint-less steel look. Do i need to coat it to prevent rust? Do I need to know anything else?

 

[Nat]

When I had my frame powdercoated, one place I neglected to mask was the inside surfaces of the dropouts (where the hub axle rests when the wheel is in place). Afterwards my wheel wouldn't even fit in the frame and I had to spend a couple of hours with a Dremel tool scraping the paint off.

 

[Dude]

Metal Etch is what you use

Metal etch the frame when you take the paint off... You can then clear coat that for the bare metal look....

 

[shiggy]

Don't bother. Paint is only 3-4 ounces and prevents rust. The clear coat would put most of the weight back and not protect against rust as well.

 

[chris_nor_cal]

i think he actually said it was a bead blaster. im gonna pull everything off the bike and what the frame looks like before i drop cash on this. i mean ****, even if its messed up i can still ride it. ive been riding trails with it and its held up fine. i think ill just bead blast it and then have it powdercoated. if it wont fit in his bead blaster i guess ill get it chemically stripped. ive been seeing that word. where do you get that done and what does that cost?

 

[shiggy]

Powder coat usually weighs more than wet paint.

 

[sean350]

Chemical paint strip it yourself, if you'd like to save some dough. Two cans will get it done, for sure, might be able to get away with one. Just go to the hardware store and its in the paint section. Lay down a tarp in a well ventilated area, spray the stripper over some paint, wait ten minutes, and wipe the paint off with a rag. Its pretty amazing stuff, although I'm sure its horrible for the environment. It took me about 2 hours to strip an aluminum road frame.
-Sean

 

[YuriB]

if it wont fit in his bead blaster i guess ill get it chemically stripped. ive been seeing that word. where do you get that done and what does that cost?

I think a/b 15-20 to strip it. Do a little online yellow page searching. You may also want o pick-up some frame saver for $12 to help protect the interior of the frame.