So, I’ll try to be brief. Bought a second hand hammerhead 130x frame, paint was a bit scruffy. Thought I’d have it professionally dipped to take it back to a nice smooth matt alu finish.

Found a professional place recommended so dropped off the frame a month ago.
Thy were closed for a bit over Christmas so kept in contact with the guy there. Paint wasn’t shifting. Toughest paint ever seen.

They got most paint off then sent it off to a sister factory to remove the last bit. Other factory had some less corrosive acid so to reduce any risk of damage to the metal. They seem like a really good company so no pitchforks yet.

Heard from them yesterday…finally ready after a month! But they said, metal shows some light pitting as if it’s been shot blasted. I think it could have been when hammerhead rebranded the Thumper they factory stripped them and repainted with new decals before sale. The guys reckon a filler primer was used hence such a bitch to remove.

Skip to collection today. All wrapped in plastic so could only see some light pitting. Not great I thought. Going to need a powder coat. On closer inspection it looks a bit balls’d!

So the question to the STW hive mind is what the ****? Is it structurally knackered and whom should I aim a pitchfork for? Could long exposure to the formic acid have exaggerated previous pitting damage?

Thanks in advance

Chris

That level of pitting severely decreases structural integrity – scrap IMO

😥

I’m no expert but looking at those pics I’d be binning that I’m afraid

****

I think it could have been when hammerhead rebranded the Thumper they factory stripped them and repainted with new decals before sale.

I cant see that happening – it just wouldn’t be worth it commercially.

Gutted is a massive understatement!

I was under the impression acid dip was the most conservative method of paint stripping 😥

Looks a bit like galvanic corrosion, any chance it was left in a stainless tank?

Are the chain and seat stays both damaged?

I have some Thumper parts in the garage.

er yeah, what they said.

Scrap.

Looks more like corrosion than blasting damage.

Thanks all. As I thought left in the tank too long.

Chapaking: chain and seat stays knackered. Front triangle might be salvageable. Any help would be incredible

Scrap.

😯
Blimey.

looks like terminatormites have eaten it!

This build has been planned and bought for for 5 months…maiden voyage was planned with my buddy mbqwerty on Monday….looks like it’s a hardtail day

Have I got a case to get compensation from company who knackered it?

It looks like it was dipped in caustic – which certainly softens paint but eats aluminium too.
Drop some aluminium foil in washing soda & see what happens.

Bin the frame

It will also be like that inside the tubes as well. Deffo scrap.

No way would I ever acid strip a frame. Dichloromethane / methylenechloride (what used to make nitromors work before it went ‘green’) would be the eyeball melting product of choice I’d want using if I was paying someone to strip a frame for me

I assumed ‘chemical dipping’ was a safe bet…evidentially not!

Assuming that as unfortunately it was cash in hand I’m completely screwed here?

🙁

my thought was caustic had been used – the opposite of acid, but actually, more effective at removing paint so I wouldn’t be surprised it was used. Was the process described as chemical dipping and you assumed acid, or was it described as acid stripping? That would affect the validity of any claim.

Also, if it was caustic used, the guys should have known this was a no-no for an aluminium frame, but maybe they didn’t know and thought it was steel?

also in case there was any doubt, it’s only fit for the bin. The inside of the tubes is likely to be even worse since the digestion there would have started immediately (these areas not being protected by paint initially the way the outside was) so front triangle gubbed too I would say

It was described as chemical dipping. Only heard the mention of formic acid when the chap called me to say it looked slightly pitted.

Once I’ve discussed it with the company it’ll be on the nearest bin. 😥

“slightly pitted”!

I wouldn’t acid dip a frame personally as I’ve had bead blasting done to great effect before on some suspension forks which would have got the finish you wanted.

Problem is this sort of company probably don’t deal with delicate aluminium bike frames and might not know that major damage can occur from even slight defects. That’s the risk you take though, using harsh industrial processes to treat delicate bikes. Personally I don’t think you have any claim against them, maybe a chat with them might stop it happening with someone else though?

Really sucks though. 🙁

Sorry I know I don’t have a full set of stays intact.

No worries Chapaking…pretty evident now I’m on the lookout for a full frame. Appreciate the STW community has a diverse financial range but mega pissed off as this was from whole family birthday and Christmas presents for last year. It meant a lot to me. Better start saving!

Stealth pissed off WTD: XL 130-150mm travel 29er

Just in case anyone was loosing sleep over this one.  The MD of the company agreed that it had been left in the chemical bath too long and they had knackered my frame.  They kindly offered me some compensation and my replacement frame is due this week.  Happy days.

New (to me) bike build pics to come!

That reminds me of the time I used a product called Ali Brite to clean up an old tandem.  The ally bits come up a treat with it.

Imagine, thinketh I, how great these bits would look if soaked in this stuff.  Like new!!

So I stripped off the cantis and some gearing gubbins and left them in a bowl of the stuff overnight.

In the morning I had….a sludge that choked you if you got too close.

Over the next few days, I realised that every piece of unpainted steel in the shed, garden tools, saws  etc had turned very rusty.

I sold the rest to a young chap from London.  He arrived on a moped.

That’s a great result, nice service there from the company