Loving the Raw look show me your bike as iam looking for idea’s.

Cheers Ian

It did look like this.

DSC_0345 by i_ache, on Flickr

Now after a hell of a lot of work and as much swearing it looks like this.

P1000891 by i_ache, on Flickr

P1000889 by i_ache, on Flickr

This is totally bare metal I never polished it and havn’t done anything to it since. It doesn’t look all dull and oxidised either its still like the pics.

I bring you the Penance Super Niche.

Thrown together from assorted products I have regretted buying* so I could try out belt drive, and then raced in the SSUK to test it.

(*That’s why it’s called the Penance, the Super Niche is kind of obvious)

Not to be confused with my later Penance Ultra Niche which isn’t so much of a penance 🙂

liking the ultra-niche 🙂

Curtis pro street in raw steel.

Brian is that a Funk? I think they had straight stays, so prob not.

A quick google says “no”.

The bars are upside down on the ultra niche. Just thought I’d tell you.

Does that brake cable double as a lasso?

GlitterGary – Member
The bars are upside down on the ultra niche.

Not the way I ride it 🙂

Rusty Shackleford – Member
Does that brake cable double as a lasso?

Unfinished pic. Didn’t have a barb so I could shorten it, but yes very effective. 🙂

I’m not usually a fan of ‘raw’; most of the time it just looks messy and unfinished. But this one I think works really well, although it’s not mine.

My ‘stock’ raw 5 Spot. I love that it’s raw, I don’t worry about it as much.

another one of mine.
sadly still missing somewhere in south wales since it was stolen back November 2010

I’ve been thinking of rawing/polishing my Heckler and this really isnt helping lol

120mm 29er SS, ace bike for playing on

Herts_Vlog_Shoot_0013 by ukbikeskills, on Flickr

mine! 🙂

Ooh baby I like it raw.

Well, mostly raw anyway…

yeti dj, nude.

Great stuff, more please! That first Enduro is absolutely gorgeous! Really tempted to try it on an old frame now, any tutorials out there on how? Sandpaper grades etc?

Great pic Jedi. A micro second later and the sun would have been literally shining out of your…

🙂

Turner RFX 2008, Before:

and after:

Cheating raw…

o96192083 – Member
Great stuff, more please! That first Enduro is absolutely gorgeous! Really tempted to try it on an old frame now, any tutorials out there on how? Sandpaper grades etc?

Thanks. Depending on the quality/thickness of the paint your approach should vary. I wouldn’t and didn’t use sand paper as it will leave scratches and take away the detail of the welds, which on the Enduro look nice. Start off with nitromors and either a plastic scraper or some wire wool. I had to use shed loads of both as the paint was a real pig to remove, I think it was powder coat to be honest. It took over a week doing it for about 3 hours every night. Some people say the paint just falls off and it takes them less than an hour to do a whole frame.

Love that finish Hugor. do you ever ride it ? 😆

Thanks. Depending on the quality/thickness of the paint your approach should vary. I wouldn’t and didn’t use sand paper as it will leave scratches and take away the detail of the welds, which on the Enduro look nice. Start off with nitromors and either a plastic scraper or some wire wool. I had to use shed loads of both as the paint was a real pig to remove, I think it was powder coat to be honest. It took over a week doing it for about 3 hours every night. Some people say the paint just falls off and it takes them less than an hour to do a whole frame.

Cheers for the reply. I will look into the nitromors, not heard of that! And what about protection? surely with no lacquer it will just rust? Or am I wrong?

Does it have to be raw metal or is carbon allowed?

P1010660 by markxknowles, on Flickr

raw/polished is the best colour for a bike 🙂

roblane65 – Member
Love that finish Hugor. do you ever ride it ?

The shop took those pics just after they built it for me and used it for their website.

The good thing about raw bikes though is they maintain their finish very well.
That bike is 3 years old and if I clean it looks much like those pics.

Raw and retro!

How on earth do you stop that raw Curtis going rusty? Most bare steel rusts just sitting there!

o96192083

If its steel it will rust, what you could do to stop this is take it to the local powder coaters and get them to clear coat it. This will work much better than any rattle can laquer home job. Aluminum like most of the above bikes won’t rust.

Now if your lucky the paint will do this…

IMAG0586 by pten2106, on Flickr

IMAG0584 by pten2106, on Flickr

…leaving you with this…

IMAG0582 by pten2106, on Flickr

Trouble is the frame had been blasted & it took literally 3 hours of laborious flatting & polishing, with three graded mops & soaps to acheive this…

IMAG0588 by pten2106, on Flickr

At which point I gave up & had it powder coated silver.
Even had all the bits anodised. CLICK.
And then promptly sold it.
At which point the Wife went…
🙄

Takisawa you lucky git I wish my frame had bubbled up like that.

At least the metal under mine was nice and smooth. Although I did wish half way through that I had just had it powder coated in the first place.

Raw frames look the tits. When the paint job on my Lap. is a mess I might just strip all the paint off and go for the raw look.

Hmmm to polish or to powdercoat. My frame is anodised so could be tricky to strip and polish.

Out of curiousity what do you mean by “flatting”, is this sanding?

Raw is the awesomeness.

Don’t polish. Polished frames look guff. Raw does not. I am not bias at all. Ever.