Going to get my frame painted up but I am not sure whether to powdercoat it or stove enamel.

The powder coater says its tougher than enamel

The enameler says that enamel is as tough as powdercoat but it can be touched up!!

I ride in very rocky terrain so resistance of stone chiops is essential.

Any adice from anyone who has done either would be appreciated.

thought the powder coat was stove enamelled

Powder coating (done well) is very very tough. I had a DH bike frame done back in 1999 and although I’ve long since sold it, I still regularly see it at races (with it’s 3rd owner), there are deep gouges on the frame from uplifts and a few dents from crashes but none of the damage goes through to the metal, when I sold it, it must have been on 500+ uplift trucks/lorries/trailers and the guy I sold it to raced the entire NPS, SDA etc on it for around 3 years so must have done at least a similar amount of uplifts with it as I did.

I got my De Kerf stove enameled a few years back. The Argos blokey (incidentally, highly recommend using him) said that enameling looked better with a bigger choice of colours, but powdercoating lasted longer. Since I wanted something close to the original ‘petrol’ colour (Some say green, others say blue) I went for the enamel. It’s not that tough, so I’ll be going for powder next time. After about three years (one of very hard use) there are some scratches in the paint, none through to the metal. However, chainsuck did wear through to the chainstay, but was easily resealed with clear enamel and then touched back up later on.

I’d suggest a good powder coat – sounds like getting the right paint shop is at least as important as the finish you choose.

Triple S look good for powder coating, but I’ve never tried them. Has anyone any experience of them? If they’re as good as they sound, I may get them to do my respray next month…

Powder coating is definitaly tougher than enamel.

Powder coating used to be a rougher and more “industrial” finish, but that’s all changed now, TBH there’s probably not much in it in terms of toughness, stones pinging off the tyre are always going to take paint off. Go with which ever paint gives you the colour you want.

BTW – forgot to add, that powder coat cost me £20 IIRC.

No way I’d ever pay Argos prices for paint