Pics coming soon.

Fixed chainstay area:

They’ve made a tiny indent in the stay where the tyre goes but they are still chunky. You can see the difference here:

Workmanship is excellent, and customer service was good. I only wish they’d explicitly said something like ‘if we crimp it any more it’ll be too weak’ because now I”m wondering if they’ve erred too much on the side of caution and reduced clearance.

What size tyre do you normally run?

Looks like great work. How about getting it stripped and cleaned completely, some stickers made up in the red you like (original colour) and then clearcoat it to show off the lovely metal ness.

One of the best looks I had on all the frames I’ve owned was a simple raw on one 456. Just loved the way it looked. Rode quite nice too.

At least if nothing else it will allow you to keep an eye out for any more damage whilst you decide on a final colour if you don’t like it clear.

2.35s. They used to fit with the sliding dropouts in any position, now it’s really only the rear most position. And even then there’s less clearance for mud. Just a bit of a shame really, cos that was a cool feature, but maybe it was overly optimistic for Salsa to build it that way in the first place. It still rides ok with the dropouts at the back but I preferred them in the middle.

I think I will ride it for a year or so and see if I still care and maybe get a second opinion.

Did it snap on the section where they had bent it for tyre clearance? If so, perhaps its better they didn’t do it?

I had a salsa horsethief (non split pivot) the one where the stays flexed. They snapped in almost the same place.

Sometimes simpler is better.

I like the idea of a raw finish over some stickers

Did it snap on the section where they had bent it for tyre clearance? If so, perhaps its better they didn’t do it?

In my case, it snapped because I’d heavily gouged the chainstay after chainsuck caused the chain to get badly jammed, which in turn was because I had the BB spacer on the wrong side. This is what irritates me – would it have been strong enough as it was without my poor bike assembly skills?

Those chainstays were weak anyway – lots of stories of them cracking on the internet – but on the other hand, I’m not hardcore MTBing on that bike and I’m pretty light on kit so I might’ve got away with it. Could Argos have crimped them a bit more than they did, but not as much as Salsa? The Argos stays looked like they were thicker tubing than the original ones – would this have been enough? Who knows.

And yes, the raw shot blasted finish looks amazing but sadly there’s no way of ensuring it stays that way!

What spacers have you got fitted to the BB now?

I’ve just managed to buy a new 2016 El Mariachi frame, I must have a look at how thin they are?

Repair looks good Molgrips. I gave up doing a proper repair on mine and just bought a Stanton Sherpa. I’ve built it up now with exactly the same kit and it is good but quite different in good and bad ways. Tyre clearance is outstanding though.

Just checked my frame and it’s linked on the inner and outer of the driveside chainstay. I hope that’s intended. I do intend to run it 1x so hopefully it holds up. Not sure what my warranty length is will find out once I register it.

@fudge9202 You may yet be ok. Mine was fine for a few years on the NDS, which is the one that other people have had fail. Mine only snapped cos I mangled it up. Bloody brilliant adventure bike though, I love mine more than I’ve ever loved a bike!

Anyway. Painting day:

Painting tent set up – fortunately that seatpost is a tight fit:

Primer on – a couple of runs in it, will need to sand and add another coat. The paint may be advanced powder coat type no-run stuff but the primer is just normal primer apparently. It’s not easy to spray from a good distance onto a bike tube, most of the paint misses!

I wouldn’t recommend trying a chainsuck plate. Went through this with Principia Mac B frames back in the 90s – the chainsuck plate is a bodge that never really worked. The force of a chain jamming up into the stay can’t be inderestimated! We found that it with moved of damaged the plate – or worse just got jammed in the plate.
You may find with the new stay layout that it doesn’t happen so much, but 1x or maybe 2x would be the best way to sort it. Get rid of the granny ring. Definitely worth the initial spend.

Yes, 1x is in the near future for this bike once I have found the cash. I’m strongly leaning towards stripping the Trek for it actually.

@molegrips This might be an option if you have cranks, all you need is a chainring of your choice

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/shimano-slx-1×11-speed-upgrade-kit-with-11-46-652950

Ta fudge – I actually have a chain and cassette too, so I only need shifter, mech and chainring (stealth ad!)

So – paint’s gone on, and I’m not sure tbh. Either it’s not gelling well or it’s actually reflecting the shot blasted finish underneath the paint. Try as I might I could not get it to gel into a glossy finish like car paint does, it’s orange-peel-tastic. And it’s not like I’ve never sprayed from a can before.

Ok so I used oblique light to show it up – in reality it’s pretty even. Not sure if I should leave it like that or try to fix.

Did you heat the frame with a hairdryer and stick the cans in a bucket of hot water before spraying? Not a great time of year to be painting.

Personally I would be going to a powder coater, I’ve has steel frames blasted and powdered for £35 before.

I would also be tempted to crimp a few more mm clearance….

I did it in the internal garage, with a heater on. It’s not as warm as the house but definitely over the minimum 10C stated on the can. I couldn’t see my breath. I’ve had this effect before with spray cans but when the panelling is too hot, not too cold.

Orange peel like that is usually because application is from too far away. The solvent part volatilises before the droplet lands on the frame and it’s too jelly-like to settle out and blend with others into a smooth skin.

Could you have asked Argos to put a yoke in there to execute decent tyre clearance better than over squished, weedy tubes?

I have rattle canned several bike frames over the years and can turn out a good finish, smooth, shiny and no orange peel.

But dont bother any more as the paint is just not hard wearing enough and once you factor in labour and materials its as cheap to get it blasted and Powdercoated.

For a hardwearing paint job really you need proper 2 pack which isnt viable at home, even tried some lacquer that is supposedly 2-Pack from a can(some catalyst reacts as its sprayed out) was shite, nothing like proper 2 pack paint.

You could lacquer what you have got and after some flatting and buffing after the final finish it will look decent enough, but I’d imagine a trip to the powdercoaters will be inevitable at some point.

I like the rugged effect personally. I’m all over it!

Even the best paint jobs come off with heal rub, falls, general wear and tear. Having a rattle can to touch it up is 2nd to a raw finish for me.

My new bike is black for this reason. Its hard to get black wrong.

Good look with the build.

Just to be clear, this is spray.bike paint, and I can confirm it’s NOT the same as standard car rattle can paint. It’s much thicker for a start and it smells different.

I think the problem at first was I was using my normal car paint technique, which was too quick. Because it’s thicker and evaporates faster, you need to be much closer and apply more thickly than car paint – in a way that would have car paint running like a toddler’s nose. The instructions say you need to be 5-12cm away from the tube to spray – well, this is actually pretty difficult because you just cannot get the can that close in many areas.

It is however very even despite being peely, so I think it’ll look ok with the lacquer on. However…

I’d imagine a trip to the powdercoaters will be inevitable at some point.

This was always the plan – this is only a stop-gap and also an experiment out of curiosity. To be honest, I might take it back to Argos for a full respray later on – having seen that they have the exact same colour and finish, and how good their quality is.

I might also ask the for some more crimping at the same time.

Just buy this On eBay 😀

Item no 372860745929

Nice bike that. Wonder what the chain stays are like 🙂

`A Ti El Mar frame on eBay also. Lovely looking bikes.

I’m surprised Argos didn’t crimp the stays a bit more tbh.

I’m now paranoid about the frame I bought 🙁

I’ll swap you for one with reinforced chainstays? 😉

I’m surprised Argos didn’t crimp the stays a bit more tbh.

Yeah I think they thought I was a clumsy biffer who breaks frames. This is my first breakage in 30 years of riding.

Molgrips – if its’ 1 x 10 stuff you’re after I have a Zee mech and shifter going spare that I just haven’t got round to putting on ebay yet? PM if its’ any use 🙂

I really need 1×11 – well, ideally 1×12 but that’s too big an outlay currently! Thanks tho.

Hmm, clear coat is on, but it’s going to need a rub down. I figured out how to get the clearcoat to gel into a nice gloss under direct spray but all the overspray ends up powdery on the frame and is not glossy. So it’ll need a rub down with something or just a cutting compound.

It’s a bit smoother with the clear coat:

You can see the run in the top pic, but I’ve no idea what the blotches are – didn’t see those in real life!? B*gger

Paint looks good, hopefully its robust.

I think I’d have gone for clear coat straight over the raw 😎

The peel effect wasn’t too bad but it wasn’t the same – can’t apply paint evenly across a tube at the same time. So I decided to sand it gently with 1200, then rub with a finishing pad and finally T-Cut. The results aren’t bad at all – not a high gloss, but more than satin. Looks a bit like a snooker ball. I wish I’d bought lacquer with sparkles now, or maybe done something else a bit more adventurous. But it’ll look ok when I get the stickers.

Certainly looks and feels like powdercoat and feels pretty bombproof.

Looks really good! Who’s doing the stickers for you?

Thanks. A mate has offered to convert my tracing into Illustrator, then I’ll send them off to a printer. I’ve lost the head badge though, need to clean out the garage and try and find it!

I added some more clear coat today and rubbed it down a bit more with some better quality 2000 grit I found instead of 1200, so finish is a bit nicer.

However, I’m really not overly happy with the fix. Fitted the cranks and there’s really not that much room between the chainrings and the stay. Previously, with the spacer fitted correctly, there was loads of room – the chain would never have got caught. But now I think it will. With that and the lost clearance, I think I am going to look at crimping it at some point. I’ve got some ideas…

Looks good now it’s painted
What speed os your cassette? I have 10 and 11 speed Shimano mwchs and shifters I wouldn’t want alot for….

Can’t believe this is just at £275 with two hours to go , anyone after a bargain(possibly)
Item no eBay 372860745929

Blackm, if he’s not interested in the 10s I may be, especially if clutch mech and shifter with it too. Want to convert my lads bike from 9 to 10