Refinishing my Hutch - opinions please

[the_wheelie_king]

Hello everyone. Right - I've got a really straight Hutch XL24 that I've had for a year or two now. The first thing I did when it arrived was have it dipped and re-chromed on a copper base. The chromer did a great job, but the plating was thin around the bb shell which meant that the chrome looked a bit off-colour as the copper was showing through. Like an idiot, I tried polishing it out but obviously this just made it worse. Anyway, roll on a few months later and I now have some tiny little rust spots appearing around the bb and in other nooks and crannies like between the top of the seatstays. This aggravates the absolute crap out of me. 

Anyway, because I'm so finickety I've decided to strip the whole lot down and start again on the f&f, and this is where I'd like some opinions please. I've always had a hankering for candy red, so what's the best thing to do here? Get it re-dipped back to bare metal and send it to SBD so he can start from scratch? Or is it better to leave the chrome alone but emery cloth the little rust spots out and then send it to him - but would the paint adhere to the remaining chrome properly, and would you see the imperfections underneath? I know that getting old framesets re-dipped is not advisable, so is a second dip going to hurt the tubing?

I need to hear from all you peeps that know what they're talking about when it comes to this sort of thing, as I'm dreading the thought of doing something stupid and buggering up my pride and joy.

Cheers, Bob 

   

[diesel]

Both would look fantastic!

Chrome around the bottom bracket will always be an issue - As its soo difficult to jig around that area.

If you want it candy Red - And SBD's candy red is stunning - Your don't need to strip it before let Dan give it a quick blast with the sand and he'll be able to key to that.

Personally - If it were mine - Candy Red

[munners]

Dont think Dan does blasting.

[diesel]

OH I didn't know that - I though powder coating and blasting went hand in hand?

[Swivel]

No mate, I know dan can do paint stripping but that's it, no blasting, you need to get that done elsewhere then take it into him, i've done that a few times 

[mark 2]

I had an XL24 powdered over chrome and it had little popped bubbles on the surface where pockets of air heated up and burst. Had it chemically stripped and lightly blasted to key it and come out just fine.

[gm28]

Candy red.... tis the way to go. Had the chrome sand blasted before powdered, the finish is smooooth, no probs.

[brass monkey!]

SBD does a wicked Candy Red and Candy Blue 

ave it 

[TwoBobRob]

Dan knows a very good blaster.  He can have it blasted for you no problem (at a cost, obviously), he would just prefer to receive it blasted.  He doesn't blast onsite. He can also powder over chrome, with lovely results.   

[the_wheelie_king]

GM, that is EXACTLY what I'm after. That is absolutely beautiful mate. Can you tell me a) exactly what prep I need to do to get that finish, and b) where you got your clear background decals from - I'm guessing Del? This site really is the nuts...thanks for the info everyone. 

[gm28]

Bob, not sure on the exact prep as the my local powdercoater did it all. The original chrome wasnt too bad, but the forks were pitted and showing rust, so he blasted the all chrome to clean it up and then used a chrome "effect" powder coat to get the metallic look with a candy red laquer over the top. I got it done locally at Impreziv Finishing in Darlington, used him a few times, not been disappointed so far...

The decals are chrome lettering on a clear background, these I got as a set from John De Bruin in the USA (user id "powerbuyertoo" on the bay)....expensive but good quality.

Cheers Gaz