Striping Paint From a Carbon Bike

[Attica Bikes]

Hi Guys,

I have a couple of retro Giant carbon fibre mountain bikes that are half painted and have pealing lacquer on.

What are your suggestion to best strip the paint and the lacquer back from the frame which out damaging the carbon.

Have looked at may be using some wet n dry sand paper but just want to get some advise first before i make a hash of it.

Regards

Iain.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

 

[Globalti]

Get in touch with Atlantic Finishers in Bury.

 

[amaferanga]

Wet and dry will be ok, but don't use anything too course. I've removed lacquer from a couple of carbon stems and a crankset, starting with 200 grade. I then used 400 and 600 to finish them. If you plan to respray then there's no need to take it back to bare carbon anyway. Using my 200/400/600 process it take a good 2-3 hours to do the stem and probably double that to do the cranks so I certainly wouldn't want to do a whole frame.

There're plenty of places that'll respray carbon frames, but it's expensive and probably not worth it for old frames.

 

[Attica Bikes]

Thanks Globalti, Bury is no far away from me so I'll look them up for sure.

 

[amaferanga]

Thanks Globalti, Bury is no far away from me so I'll look them up for sure.

Make sure you're sitting down when you ask for a price.

 

[Globalti]

The man is very very good; he repaired an ali frame that TNT had damaged and it came back looking like new, you really couldn't see the repair to the paint or the graphics.

While I was at his place I saw a carbon frame that he had resprayed, it looked stunning. He told me it's not uncommon for people to respray or re-lacquer carbon frames that have become a bit ropey.

 

[amaferanga]

I've only ever heard good comments about their work, but for an old carbon frame its quite unlikely that it'd be worth it.

 

[Globalti]

As I've discovered recently, carbon frame technology is advancing at such a pace that a 2013 or 14 frame is dramatically better than an older frame. Older frames are just a collection of carbon tubes smoothly joined together whereas modern frames are truly monocoque and handle much much better as a result. Is it worth messing around with an old frame, given this rate of obselescence? It's not like it's a lovely old hand-crafted steel frame that's worth reviving and riding for years.

 

[02GF74]

don't be so sue that carbon frames have made steel, aluminium and Ti obsloete
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=274996

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

don't be so sue that carbon frames have made steel, aluminium and Ti obsloete
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=274996

All that thread proves is that some people have a poor perception of carbon through buying cheap bikes which have previously been owned by a number of people and then crashing them.

The post is also on retro bike. A forum dedicated to old bikes so your not going to get a balanced view. Your going to get a percentage of "steel is real" and craftsmanship fanboys before the discussion even starts.

Post the same thing on a bike tech forum and you will get a different response

 

[broadway]

All that thread proves is that some people have a poor perception of carbon through buying cheap bikes which have previously been owned by a number of people and then crashing them.

The post is also on retro bike. A forum dedicated to old bikes so your not going to get a balanced view. Your going to get a percentage of "steel is real" and craftsmanship fanboys before the discussion even starts.

Post the same thing on a bike tech forum and you will get a different response

Not that cheap, it's a 2011 Marin CXR Team, cost £1500 secondhand according to the owner.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=266892

 

[PaulSecteur]

An alternative that might be worth looking into is getting it wrapped. There are car detailers doing very good jobs doing car colour changes with wraps, it might be worth seeing if your local ones could do a bike, or alternatively ask if they will sell you the offcuts of the wrap and do it yourself.