I just called a powder-coaters to get a rough quote for frame and forks. They said they have lots of experience with bikes.

PC – ‘Can’t really quote until see the frame, whether it needs blasting’

MR – Currently painted, so presumably needs blasting.

PC – ‘Right then, well, depends if there’s rust?’

MR ‘?’

PC – ‘I mean, if there’s any rust at all, once it’s in it’s in, and it will come back, so we can’t say how succesful the job would be unless we see the frame first.

MR – ‘I see. So, even a ballpark figure for blasting and basic powder-coat?

PC – ‘Well, it could be £70, it could be £200. Depends really until I see the frame I wouldn’t know.’

MR – ‘OK thanks I’ll see if I can get the frame over to you this week for a look’

__________________

£70 – £200?

Should I get me coat? 8) Sounds quite high to me, almost comparable to a proper paint job by Argos (£165 for enamelling include shot blasting, priming and clear lacquer)

Not my first powder-coating rodeo, but it’s been a looooong time. Anybody had a recent powder job done? Interested to hear how much and whether it was a good job. Any Three Counties (Hereford/Worcs/Glos) recommendations appreciated

Local PC to me (NE England) charges £59 for a two part frame. That’s stripped, threads masked and bunged. Top job 3 day turn around.

LSN in castleford do a perfect job, all threads masked and coating so good it looks like paint for £40 frame and forks, all colours/gloss/metallic etc.

£200? Nope!

Tripple S are meant to be spot on..

*edit – of course I meant to say ‘wide quote – wide berth?’ 😳

LSN sounds great, shame so far away

Warren done and excellent job on a steel HT for me and a few other parts
while he was at it 🙂

http://bristolmotorcyclepowdercoating.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/bristolmotorcyclepowdercoating.co.uk

PC – ‘Well, it could be £70, it could be £200. Depends really until I see the frame I wouldn’t know.’

MR – ‘OK thanks I’ll see if I can get the frame over to you this week for a look’

MR – ah right, so what’s the extra £130 for, is it prep work and such? if so could you explain what it is you’d need to do? etc.

ie: The difference is going to be down to some extra work/process involved, you could go to the next powder coater who says £50 flat rate, and you then get a crap job because he doesn’t do the prep work the first guy would have done (and charged you for)

It sounds to me like you were actually speaking to someone who knows what they’re doing, and the complexities involved and wants to make sure they do a good job so wants to see the extent of the work needed before quoting you.

Dropped a steel frame in to one under spaghetti junction yesterday. 50 notes. Nice blokes. Talked about thread masking and all that. I’m hopeful.
Pick it up in a week.

Powder Coatings

I’ve owned a powder coaters for 26 years and £200 is absolute b$%^&&ks. He’s right that if it needs blasting he has to factor that into price but we would charge £40 to £50 all in. We don’t do many at all as we are set up more for industry as opposed to 1 off’s. I have heard good reports of both triple s and LSN who specialise in that field. Any advice I can give let me know.

While you always see cheap prices around on these threads, I’d agree with amedias that a more detailed conversation is in order, possibly in person and with the frame. Labour isn’t free, and any painty type job, the prep is what makes the difference between a top job and one you try not to look too closely at. Even daft stuff like understanding that threads or PF BB’s getting powdered and baked is going to be a potential problem or maybe popping out all the bearings/bushings so you get protection everywhere and definitely stuff like stripping strategies and media. I’ve seen coaters around Sheffield asking for prices up to 200 quid although they’re definitely the exception and the top end – and I’ve no idea if they’re actually worth it. Bear in mind there’s always the possibility of an ‘eff off’ quote too though…

Sounds to me like a ” I don’t really want the job” quote

He’s right that if it needs blasting he has to factor that into price but we would charge £40 to £50 all in.

Teamslug, at £50 you’d be undercutting every other local powder coater I know around here by about £20 (even the crap ones!). £60-80 seems to be the going rate round here for handing over a tatty steel hardtail frame and getting a nice one back. Anything FS or trickier or needing special treatment is nearer £100.

Not arguing with you BTW, £200 does seem inordinately high which is why I suggested OP actually ask the guy what the extra cost would be for, for all we knwo the guy maybe covering all bases and the £200 figure is what he would charge for an FS if it included removing bearings/pivots etc. Also, ‘forks’, is that rigid or Sus lowers?

Anyway, just pointing out that you’re either very good value or possibly selling yourself short 🙂

I don’t really want the job. :-). Try to stay from the public they are a PITA !!!. Some of the candy and metallic powders are expensive and require 2 coats so maybe he was covering himself. I tend to do them cos I like seeing an old wrecker turned back into something new.

TBH I wish there were more decent options around here, we’ve got one coater who is good, at sensible prices and does good prep and decent job, but they take forever to do it and only do limited colours.

We’ve got a few others that are marginally cheaper but do a noticeably poorer job, but do offer more colour choice.

And we’ve got one who is dead cheap, does some colours and is a lottery on whether you get a super-thick unmasked nightmare back, or something half decent depending on which one of his guys actualyl does the job.

If I could find the holy grail of good work, decent colour choice, and quick turnaround I’d gladly pay +£30 over the other guys for the job.

Loads of good advice thanks. It’s a 1980s 501 f+f with old paint intact and v little rust spots showing on chainstay

Of course I don’t expect to pay £15 like the last one I had done in Brum twenty years ago (crap job btw, was a soft finish and frame eventually rusted out underneath – but really just want to gather some ideas what to expect and compare options/costs. I guess it’s a bit of a postcode lottery combined with who is working that day and how rushed they are. Adding up the cost of respray/coat plus all the time dismantling, cleaning and rebuilding I could probably buy the same bike in much better condition from ebay for less. Bike restoration is definitely closer to a costly vanity/labour of love rather than a make-do and mend/less-waste mentality. Otherwise I’d just carry on hand-brushing mismatched enamel to eventually match same efforts of its former owner!!

No wonder so many go to the skip :-/

‘He’ was a ‘she’ by the way. Unless he had a very high voice!

I’ve used Triple S myself as well as LSN but they are more expensive, less choice of colour and the finish isn’t quite as good (although better than some power coats I’ve heard about). Bloke I talked to there wasn’t very nice either.

I drive a 2 hr round trip to LSN and I don’t mind as it’s so good.

Orange charge the following which includes facing, reaming, new pivot bearings, decals and head badge:
Pricing

Hardtails (including decals and return postage in mainland UK) – £200
Full suspension (including pivot kit, decals and return postage in mainland UK) – £250

So based on that I’d say you could get it done for cheaper and a decent job.