Hi,

Ok, so after spending the best part of a day stripping the paint off my Fug 4 frame and getting a bit bored with it (see here http://www.flickr.com/photos/32526989@N06/...157609260423713 ) I thought about how much it would be for shotblast cleaning and powdercoating.

Phoned up CY Finishers in Newbury and they have quoted 'about £350' for the frame to be blast cleaned, zinc primed and then powder coated in my choice of colour. This sounds really tempting when I think about the headache of cleaning the underside of the tubes, then having to undercoat all over in something like POR15 and then topcoat the whole thing in my colour. Ok so powder coating isn't the be all and end all, but I had my XT600 frame done about 7 years ago and it still looks new with bit of care. It's going to add to the build costs a lot but is very tempting. Wonder if they'd notice a friends bike frame fixed in and a set of steel wheels too........ :D
Anyone else found good prices and does this sound like good value?? Shame though as I have just bought 2 ltrs of RAL2004 pure orange....
I guess the great thing is to trial build and fix everything as I go then strip it down and get it done and then it should all just bolt back together... ha ha just like Haynes says :)

Just to add an update I found Wessex Metal Finishers near Salisbury (http://www.wmf-uk.com/custom_car.htm ) who have done a berrin buggy frame before and the cost was £300... maybe I should spend the day on the phone as the price keeps coming down. Who knows I might get it down to £200 by the end of the day :D

I painted mine with 2k, would have had no qualms of paying £350 to get it blasted and coated, but what do you do when you chip it getting in or weld a bracket on. That is my only real issue, wheels were cooked, blasted and coated though. You hopefully also realise you can't just blast off powder coating if you want to change colour or re-coat at a later date.

I used CY finishes 6 years ago for the same price, and its still good today B)

Yeah it is going to be the way to go for durability and cost wise for the hassle it seems to be a winner.
I think that the best way is to do a total trial build with everything in and working to make sure that there are all the brackets I want/need then strip it down and have it powder coated to finish it off. It's a long winded way of doing it though.

Tigger - did CY zinc primer the frame before powder coating? Wessex didn't mention it and I think it should be done for durability.

Yes they did, without it the coating will not stick, so be careful of so called cheaper prices, they are probably only giving you half a job.. :angry:

I did exactly what you are thinking, fit it all together make the brackets etc then strip and powdercoat the lot including the suspension...then I changed my mind <_<

...so make sure its what you want!

Yeah, I suspect that I will end up doing much the same. I keep swaying between having bodywork and having none which means I either need mounting tabs or not! Don't want to have 'em if they don't need to be there. Everyone says to go with bodywork though, it no fun getting peppered in the face I guess.
Did you get them to do the beam front seperately or on the frame. I was toying with having it done if it is part of the frame :D but don't want the problems of breaking the coating if I need to take the beam off (though why I would need to I don't know). Would be good to get the spring plates and rear arms done at the same time so they all match.

I had all mine done seperatly, as I wanted to jig everything square on the final build up. I think I would want to powder coat everywhere so when it goes together you know it is sealed nicely against the elements B)

I must admit, I thought you were nuts doing it all by hand.........thats a mother of a job.....the trick is to do a dummy build before you apply final paint.....that way you will find all the extra brackets and tags that will need welding on, or tubes that will need hammering for clearance, like frame horns on an IRS conversion - anyway......once fully built, tear it all down again and send off for powder coating........thats how its always been done......even on amarican chopper!!.......go for a brighter colour, as the fug chassis is a real work of art, bobs is a great example!

for now just get a few cans of primer and paint it over, then build the fug......dont be in a rush to apply final paint - otherwise you will regret it