My steel hardtail frame is looking very second hand.
It’s got a clearcoat on it ATM which quite frankly is shite.
It’s pretty much all fallen off under the downtube BB area and some surface rust is forming.
I’m told that clearcoat will do this no matter who has applied it.

So any recommendations for a powder coaters near The Borders or Edinburgh?

I used a place by Loanhead a few years back. I forget the name – basically off an industrial estate out IKEA/Straiton way. Main jobs seemed to be vehicle/agricultural but were happy to take it in. Did a reasonable job, good value but it wasn’t any complicated or fancy requirements.

I’ve used Pentland Precision Engineering at Straiton in the past and got good results. Also got good results from Hendersons who were based at Jocks Lodge sorta area.

Would happily recommend / use either of them again

Pentland Powdercoating in Poltonhall Industrial Estate.

I’ve used Henderson’s in the distant past, good value and reasonable finish.

Thanks all.
Not looking for anything fancy but equally I don’t want the frame back full of shotblast and powder in the headtube/seat tube/BB.
Had a frame done back in the midlands and it took hours to clean everything up before i could rebuild it.

also used Hendersons in the past with decent results and they are used to bike frames or were!

As Hendersons have got back to me with a price and info that they mask and use bungs on all the important bits I’ll be dropping in to see them soon.

Now the difficult bit.
What colour to go for?

What colour to go for?

Bright Beige. Like, really really Beige.

Maybe metallic beige.

Elephant’s scrotum. Only second thoughts that’s maybe only available from Farrow & Ball.

Henderson’s lucky dip! They always have some great options that you’ve not thought of

How much, out of interest? I’m just along the road and have thought about getting my frame repainted at some point. Black, natch.

Pentland are ime way better than Hendersons. A long time ago now to be fair but when Hendersons did my mmmbop he managed to get blasting media into the top coat so half the bike was gritty- the frame was full of it so I guess it just escaped while he was doing the coating. His solution was to hope I didn’t notice, I ended up just walking out with the frame and not paying. He knows how to do it and he can definitely do good work, he just couldn’t be arsed and hoped to get away with it. I’v used Pentland a bunch of times, they’re definitely a wee bit industrial but I’ve never had a complaint with the work.

R&O Refurbishment in Blackburn are really good too, he’s mostly a wheel guy but he’s done other parts for me including my trials frame. It was a dogs breakfast, previous owner had brush painted it then used a belt sander to “clean it off” so it was all scratches and weird flat surfaces, he spent ages on the prep to get it back looking good. He’s quite picky about colours, basically if he can’t guarantee he can get more in future he doesn’t want to use it, which can be a bit tricky but I’d go back to him for sure.

Depending on the colours you go for at Hendersons, different people do the painting/powder coating. I’ve had 3+ frames and different forks done by them over the past decade. Initially, I got the impression that they were feeling their way a bit with bikes etc. as it wasn’t their main business. They do a lot more now and I think are probably more consistent in terms of quality and finish. I’ve always had good experiences and would use them again. There is also Andy Armour to consider. He has his own frame building business and does more specialised paint work too. Quality work and a good business to support too.

@jimmy

Email reply from them.

Hi Stuart,

We mask off the headset faces, bottom bracket threads and seat tube. Put old bolts in any bosses you want to keep clear or we can use silicone bungs when we powdercoat.

To blast clean and powdercoat in a single stock colour is about £80. Metallics from stock £100-120 ( we have a few). It usually takes up to a week. We usually prep things early in the week and powder Wednesday or Thursday.

Hope that’s helpful

Kris at Hendersons

Wow, that’s a decent price!

That’s very cheap? sure that’s not wrongly written. I though most places were now around the £200mark for strip & coat.

@coconut.
Had another quote from somewhere else and the price there is in line with Hendersons.

Hendersons. Did my inbred in a lovely ivory colour paint and black powder coating on my swift fork. Both excellent finishes and lasted very well.

I got a quote a couple of years back for about £250 from Armour. That was a 70s style 2 tone Dawes job with self supplied decals.

That’s paint though and more fiddly than a straight coat. I thought it was reasonable then as it included full prep with an existing shoddy blowover.

Went with Pentlands Powder Coaters in the end.
£65 + VAT.

Turned out pretty well for the price 😁

As you can see it was showing signs of use before.

Now looking a fraction better.

Looks pretty plain until the sun gets on it.