The paint on my winter bike is looking somewhat past its prime these days and I’m thinking about stripping it back to a raw aluminum finish. Has anyone attempted this and how did it work out for you? I’ve done it on an old steel frame many years ago and that required blowtorching off a top-layer of plasticized-lacquer-stuff, so I have a good idea of just how much work it is, but I’m more interested on the intricacies of working with aluminum.
If I strip it back to bare metal, should I do anything to protect the frame from corrosion afterwards and what options do I have for putting some decals back on it? It’s a Specialized Allez if that makes any difference, nothing particularly special, just thinking about giving it some love over the holiday period.
I stripped a Trek 2300. I used paint stripper for most of it and then used a sand blaster to get the bits of paint from the dropouts. (actually walnut shells)
I primed and painted with enamel.
As soon as I got the stripper off the aluminum stated to oxidize so I needed to prime quickly. I don’t know if that oxidation is enough to protect the frame from damage.
aircraft stripper will take it off. That’s what I used, just be sure to get all of the residue off of it.
Waxing it should help protect it after that.
As for decals, buy what you like and stick them on, they should stick around for some time unless you are very very rough on it.
First of all determine if the frame has been painted or anodized. If it has a shiny finish it is almost certainly painted, if it is more of a matte brushed finish it is anodized. If it is anodized you will have to have it professionally removed and is probably not worth it. If it is painted you have a couple options, media blast it, chemically strip it, or sand it off with increasing grits until you get to bare metal. In the end it is probably easiest to find the local auto body paint store and buy the materials and ask questions there.
Bare, un-anodised, un-painted aluminium isn’t usually terribly attractive or hard-wearing. It will scratch very easily and have a dull appearance. I’d probably re-paint it. Or polish and laquer, or look into getting the frame anodised.
The frame is definitely painted, rather than anodised, so I was thinking of going with the chemical paint-stripper method and polishing it up afterwards. I polished an old set of bars a couple of years ago and they have held their shine very well in my slightly damp garage, so I was hoping to achieve something similar with the frame.
The other issue is the carbon forks, which I was thinking of simply sanding down and repainting black, because I presume the carbon underneath won’t be particularly aesthetic.
If you polish it I highly suggest clear coating it afterwards. It will give the polished finish a lot more durability and reduce the oxidation that will occur otherwise.