Powder Coating

One of our most popular "colors" is clear powder coating. It looks magnificent, as you can see on many of the bikes in the photos. We've always sold this as an experimental treatment, but the powder coater has assured us that it should be as good as any, and the frame is treated with a strong rust inhibitor before it's painted. Our short-term tests have involved salt-water and repeated wetting and drying, and no problem. We've had two frames come back in about 3 years and 90 frames. One was inadvertently not treated with the rust inhibitor--we know that for sure. The other was from the same time, was probably in the same batch, but we don't know that for sure.

Anyway, instead of being 95 percent confident, we're now about 75 percent confident in it. It's probably best to not get clear--or any powder coat--if you ride in a corrosive, salty environment. Although polyurethane enamels (wet paint) aren't as tough from the outside, they seem to be more protective from the inside than is powder--clear or not.

We continue to ride original cleared frames, and not a hint of a problem, no rust, no nothing. And these are the oldest ones out there. But still...

If you get clear and it rusts, you can get your bike repainted. The powder cost less initially, so you can afford to do that (presumably). A local painter can do it (we have decals), or you can strip the bike and send it to us, and we'll run it through our local painter and not profit a cent for it. You still have to arrange reassembly, and pay the freight, but we'll make any repaint easy and affordable.

If you feel tricked into getting the clear powder...you probably were  not. We've had excellent luck with them, but two out of ninety have "failed." Nevertheless, if you feel that way and present it nicely to us, we'll cover the cost of another powder coat--not another clear--or split the cost of a single-color wet paint. In any case, you pay the freight. We think this is fair. And bear in mind, we're riding the oldest clear powder coats and still, no problem.

Sept 19: We're getting tube samples tested for corrosion: Powder and Wet. Will report the results when we get them.