I’ll try to keep this as short as possible - buddy of mine up in GA picked up a Zipp 2001 complete bike - not all original but close enough. He thought the paint job on it was not the original since it had Zipp and Oakley stickers that weren’t original, so tried to strip the crappy paint off… long story short, it didn’t work out very well. So he offered me a “deal” on the frameset and I am not sure if this is beyond hope based on how deep he took the paint off. He got quite a bit done on the one side before stopping - the last pic shows some of the paint that didn’t get touched. (The opposite side of the frame has some paint missing where it looks like he removed the stickers but is otherwise intact).
Hoping there are some experts out there who can help me decide if it’s worth having redone or if it’s now parts and wall art. I just couldn’t bear to have it get tossed or put in an attic somewhere… I don’t wanna say how much I paid to save it but all insights are welcomed…
So long as he didn’t start shredding off the carbon layup then yeah, it can be saved. The level of how “saved” depends on how much time / $$ you’ve got to invest in it.
The lazy man solution is to get it even and then re shoot it.
You need to ask him what he used to remove the paint. Paint removers are solvents that would attack and weaken resin used to build up layers of CF. If he touched that frame with a paint remover then it’s toast.
You need to ask him what he used to remove the paint. Paint removers are solvents that would attack and weaken resin used to build up layers of CF. If he touched that frame with a paint remover then it’s toast.
That looks like maybe it was done with heat but hard to tell.
Well it would be toast if heat were used as well, but the reply I got was aircraft stripper. Apparently he thought it was aluminum at first, not carbon.
I did a lot of research on how to strip paint from carbon fiber. The answer is: Soda Blasting at very low pressure. Not sand blasting, but soda as in baking soda. However, finding someone with a soda blasting machine is very tough. I know one shop here in Houston that has it, and he is also a custom CF fabricator for race car body parts. Carbon Fiber Technologies. He has a page on FB.
Probably Klean-strip or Rust-oleum. Will fix electrical gremlins on a Cessna 172 by removing corrosion and old paint from the fuselage skin panels. But kills a CF bike frame dead. Sorry.
These are collectors items aren’t they? I’d imagine most people aren’t going to ride them. My LBS has one hanging up and it’s been that way for 10 years, so perhaps there would be people out there not that bothered by the fact the carbon may have been damaged/compromised.
I found a carbon repair expert in Ohio who was interested in it for his personal use. Unfortunately I don’t have pics but he completely restored it and used a gunmetal grey paint - turned out beautiful! Very glad I found someone who could bring it new life. I have a small collection of “vintage” framesets from back in the day and they speak to the start of triathlon and the evolution of those bikes.
(But of course my favorite is still my “Miami Vice” Dave Scott Ironman Expert, which I still ride weekly)
