a lad i ride with was discussing rawing his frame and was pondering the best way to do it. I suggested the good old Nitromours route but this is immensley messy.
Its an alu frame – would it be best done by teh pros as it would need a clear coat over i guess??
can you get clear powdercoat?

any recomendations?

I would think thats the best way to, and i’m confident you can get clear powdercoat.

Nitromors is very messy, I found it hard to get all the frame paint free. This was not a problem for me as I was painting it new york taxi yellow. i’d send it to a pro but that’ll cost!!

I have seen some brand new ‘raw’ Intense frames recently and they look great, particularly around weld ons like cable guides – you get a slight colour change. Real working mans industrial p0rn. I’d be interested to see how you get on (pics). I think a commercial chemical dip would be the best way, having Nitromorsed some ice axes you just cannot get all the paint out of the nooks and crannies and I would think on a frame that would be the welds. Good luck.

Helped a mate Nitromors his 6yr old 5-Spot, with VERY intricate CNC’ing..took some work, but the results were well worth it, and cheap! Wire wool and a scraper were the olny tools used 🙂

Never again. Not with decent powdercoat anyway. I’d get it done professionally.

If it’s a quality powdercoat it’ll be a nightmare. Wet painted is possible but will take patience and elbow grease. I did it many years ago on an Al frame and then polished it (when that was the vogue) looked good initially but hard to keep it that way. It also depends on the series of Al, 7000 series will oxidise quite quickly, 6000 isn’t so bad.

Im very tempted to do the same to a cannondale optimo frame I have, so will be keen to see other suggestions on this thread.

I have heard horror stories of how certain chemicals (potentially nitromors) have a damaging impact on the alu, potentially leading to premature failure etc.
Also, paint/laquer etc struggles to stick to a polished frame as it needs a keyed surface.
Also, that chemical dips and shot/sand blasting is bad for the alu.

Its hard to know what is true/rumour/nonsense!

I had an orange sub and rawed the rear triangle with nitromorse,steel wool and a scraper. Used a micro screwdriver as well for the tricky bits. Buffed it up the laquered it. Came up smashing but it was time consuming and tricky. If I can find a pic of that bike I will post it. Great it was.

Thing is it won’t look like a factory-raw frame, with extrusion marks, felt tip pen writing etc on it – it will look home-done, and unless you polish it or get it bead blasted, probably a bit crap (IMO).

why won’t it al (apart from felt tip marks – which you wouldn’t wnat any how??)

Here is my rawed Giant Reign.

It used to be white and I had it dipped by a powdercoaters who did it for £25. All it needed was a rub down with a washing up scourer(repeat every few months for a burnished look) and it looks proper lush.
Stickers are an ebay job for a few quid, which I’ll replace if they get mangled.

Paint is soooooo last year…

[/quote]cynic-al – Member
Thing is it won’t look like a factory-raw frame

I’ll conceed that it wont..raw frame finish looks like scafolding tubing..my mates had been scratched with wire wool, which gives it a sparlkly look rather than dull

Here is my rawed Giant Reign.

whats the “growth” on the frame after the “T”??

EDIT: Didnt see the one at the other end, cable guides?

that looks great – the giant. Where was that done?

I once spent a long miserable time rawing a demo 8, save the misery and get it dipped!

is dipping 100% safe though?

Definitely maybe?!

cruzheckler – Member
why won’t it al (apart from felt tip marks – which you wouldn’t wnat any how??)

The raw frames I’ve seen look as described above – like scaffolding tubing, which I presumed was the look you were after.

I did my Enduro, it used to be a horrible poo brown colour like this.

DSC_0343 by i_ache, on Flickr

After lots of Nitromores, scraping, rubbing with wire wool, swearing and even seeing if brake fluid would work. I finally managed to get it to look like this.

IMG_0028 by i_ache, on Flickr

IMG_0029 by i_ache, on Flickr

Its not perfect there are a couple of small bits of colour in places that you don’t notice unless you are looking for it but it looks quite good in the whole. I havn’t touched the finish since I did it in February.

i thought this sounded like a waste of time until i saw kayak’s picture!

Dipping is not 100% safe with every bike, some dipping processes can damage the welds and cause them to crack, pretty sure this is if they have a high magnesium content in the weld’s.

That Enduro looks the mutt’s.

Yes please.

that looks great – the giant. Where was that done?

I had it done at a place in Leicester but I guess any place coming under ‘chemical stripping’ will do it for you.
Newtech Powder Coaters

Its not completely devoid of elbow grease but lets face it, it is mostly… 🙂

Dipping is not 100% safe with every bike, some dipping processes can damage the welds and cause them to crack, pretty sure this is if they have a high magnesium content in the weld’s.

Not sure about that, but I have personally never heard of a frame cracking from dipping. Have got several friends with rawed intenses, Giants etc who race DH and no problems. Since I rawed mine its been hammered constantly with some good old Morzine abuse too, no problems…

I totally love mine now. I was bored of the bike before and was looking for a change. Rawing it, and a few new bits has really made me like it again. Looks are important to a degree…

My Reign, looking duller of finish and up to its nuts in foliage, yesterday…

whats the least dodgy method?

I personally think dipping is. They must dip all sorts of aluminium parts. The place I went had certainly done a lot of bikes.
Ask their advice.

Thanks PJM.

I’m in the same camp as kayak in that refinishing a frame gives it a new lease of life and makes it interesting again. That doesn’t go for just rawing a frame but also for having it repainted or powdercoated. When I get a bit bored of this or it goes out of fashion I will just get it coated in a colour that I fancy at the time.

You not liking the white paint rob? 😉

Lol not me this time.

Call Orange they where happy to strip my bike, they also said that it can cause problems with SOME weld’s, they suggested i find out what ally my bike is made of, i have no reasone to disbelive them. Argos can do it too.

It’ll take about 5-7 hrs to remove all paint.The secret to it is to work on several areas of the bike at once & then when it starts blistering reapply some more Nitromorse,& then even reapply again 3-4 times if needed as you really shouldn’t need to have to work at it to remove the paint.Did two frames last month like this in two days,easy

I thought Nitromorse had lost is umphff.
I like the idea of ‘Rawing’ ,y frame when it needs a change. Purhaps next year when I need new bearings.

Holy thread resurrection Batman 😉

If you have the frame dipped would it then be a case of buffing it over with say wire wool or as someone mentioned above a washing up scourer. Once this was done would you get it clear powder coated only some said it doesnt take well as it needs a keyed surface.

I’m in two minds as to have my Heckler frame rawed or polished