Just picked up a lovely, but rather rough looking hardtail frame and thought I’d have a go at a repaint myself. What’s the best method for removing the paint? It also has a front mech stop that ruins the clean lines a bit, so I’m tempted to remove it, but obviously cautious about damaging the frame so tips would be appreciated.

Cheers/

Blowtorch and wire brush is the simplest and least-messy method. Don’t burn the paint, just heat it and the brush will bring it off.

Braze-ons are easiest to remove with an oxyacetylene torch, but can just be cut off and filed down.

I’ve had some success with a hot air gun. Some bits just peeled off in big pieces.

Good thread title shortening on the mobile site btw.

Failing that, I’ve had good results with a product called Synstryp by Starchem. Be warned, it’s nasty stuff. It still contains the strong chemicals Nitromors had removed.

Used it on a Kinesis frame. Painted it on in a thick layer in a well ventilated garage and 20 minutes later half the paint was on the floor.

If you go this route, cover all bare skin, use heavy duty nitrile gloves and have lots of forced ventilation going.

That thread title got me going as all I could see on my mobile was
Stripping paint and removing bra..
Haven’t bothered reading on 😥

If it’s that nice, why do the paint yourself?

Strip & powder coating will be about 50 quid and very likely to look much better than a diy job.

Thanks guys. Heat sounds less likely to cause damage to me, so might try that first, but not sure I trust myself with a blowtorch enough to not damage the metal.

I fancy trying something a bit more interesting than a standard powdercoat. This sort of thing. But if it all goes wrong then powdercoat it is.

Im doing this at the moment with an old Kona frame, i dont have access to OA so am removing v brake mounts and all the cable guides by hand. I firstly remove the biggest chunk i can with a grinder and cutting disk, then remove a bit more with a flap disc, before moving onto filing with hand files then jewelers files before finishing with emery cloth.
I use a jubilee clip tightened on either side of the mount/braze on to give a bit of protection should i slip with the grinder/file.

Do not underestimate the time needed to do this!!!!!!!!

Thanks guys. Heat sounds less likely to cause damage to me, so might try that first, but not sure I trust myself with a blowtorch enough to not damage the metal.

Steel frame? You won’t be able to get it hot enough to do any damage with a blowtorch.

Steel frame? You won’t be able to get it hot enough to do any damage with a blowtorch.

Great, thanks. Any chance that I’ll end up melting of the cable stops that I actually want to keep?

Not by accident, no – if they’re silver-soldered instead of brazed, a blowtorch would be hot enough to get them off with concentrated heat.

But really you’re just playing the torch over the frame gently and brushing, not firing it full blast at one point – if he paint actually blackens and burns, you’re using too much heat.