DownhillGuru

Here's a pic of the 'Dale. This is the look I'm trying to replicate. Looks to me like there's only a clearcote and decals? Anyone anyone?

Thanks Mampara

Dudes I need your help!! So Friday arvie I went to visit an old mate Nico of Rodeo Rally Biker Build Off fame. Now this man knows his stuff when it comes to fabrication and painting. "What's this ***?" he asked " I don't paint F@#king bicycles". I explained that all I wanted him to do was spray on a few clear coats. Ofcourse now I know that bare alluminium will oxidize, but I was convinced that a clear coat would do the trick? By now you've guessed that I'm going for a 'brushed' Alu look. I don't want a polished frame. I had a Cannondale road frame with this finish and this is what I'm trying to recreate. (I'm sure the Cannondale only had a Clear cote). Nico has suggested that I go for Silver Anodizing, apply the decals and then spay on the clearcote. I'm worried that I won't achieve the shiny brushed alu look. So what i'm hoping is that you'll tell something to the effect of: "Don't worry about anodizing! the Alu used for MTB frames is of a grade that will take years to oxidize under the clear cote". Please share your expertise with me..

Sand blasting may have been better / easier but I was not keen on giving my frame in for Phillemon to blast away on. Mampara, close man! but I'm going for a 'brushed allu' look instead of a polished look. What you think of my decals? I'm quite proud of my efforts as far as they're concerned.

Why thus step?? Didn't the steelwool take off all the paint or what? I'm very interested...about to start a similar process No the steel wool didn't remove everything. I wore my thumb nails right down trying to get into the grooves around the welds with the wool. Even now I'm coming across feint paint marks which I'm working away with a fine grit water paper. (Edited to fix my bad spelling)! DownhillGuru2009-07-03 04:10:34

Sorry I'm adding in small doses. It' the only way I can get the posts uploaded. Sammajoor, you will see the outcome as soon as it's finished boet. Will probably take another 2 weeks. I know you're all used to looking at 'before and after Pics'. K so my fingers have been too raw to continue sanding the frame so I've spent some time working on the new decal artwork instead. Hope you like... Don't ask about the carrot!!!

9/10 attempts to update the post the site hangs on me!!! Is the hub dead slow the last few days of is it poor connection speed? I'm trying of 2 different PC's with seperate 3G connections.

I hope this blerrie works now. Ok so on tuesday evening I spent some time (in the kitchen now as it's frikkin' cold in the garage) using a dremmel type tool spinning a small wire brush. had to go gently to avoid the allu from becomming pitted.

I'm battling like hell with posting updates! It's either my connection speed or the site. Very frustrating when you've spent 20mins typing and adding pics only to have the site hang on you as you try to update

Sorry Ou's I'm battling with this Frikkin' site suddenly. Dam well keeps hanging onn me

So I've decided to bite the bullet and 'Pimp my Ride'. As opposed to sending my bike off to my local bike shop and commissioning the pro's like Cycle Art or Token freak to do a custom paint job, I've decided on a finish which I'll hopefully achieve with a little help from some friends. I hope this can make for some interesting reading. So here goes: This is my current ride. I bought it off a fellow hubber earlier this year. I'm really happy with this ride as it's so well suited to the type of riding I enjoy (Agressive All Mountain / Freeride). It's pretty much standard spec apart from the KS Cobra seatpost (Sweeeeet!!), I changed the bars to my favorite risers and the seat is a temporary item I borrowed from Hillbilly after mine was trashed on the Lesotho Thin Air Challenge! Damn that seat is ugly!! So last Friday my assistant and I started wrenching: So after a few glasses of my favourite fermented grape juice, this is the progress with my assistant (now restrained due to bike part being resorted a doxen times) and the 'Garage Lappie Thief in the background. ...Saturday morning and we're ready to start stripping the paint. No turning back now! Good bye Maroon hello Allu... I'm done with the paint stripper and start the painfull process of scrubbing the frame with steel wool. After 3 hours my finger tip are raw and the frame looks like this... DownhillGuru2009-07-02 08:46:49

I agree with Rawoke. Benzine is the way to go when removing glue residue. Wouldn't attempt using it on my 'Floppie' though!

RACING SNAKES!

I think you're going to have a problem with the dropouts on your existing QR frame. Maybe hillbilly could shed some light on this subject?

Howzit Hog? Can you believe we're still being slated for owning Marzocchi's. Remember the spare seal we found after we finished servicing our forks? Well no need to worry! it came from my 20mm bolt through axle! Thanks to Johan for working that one out! I'd recommend this course to anyone who enjoys working on their bike/s themselves. P.S loved the chirp about Windhoek Light!

Wouldn't last 5 min on my rig!

Paraffin on the drive train and Dishwashing liquid everywhere else

So do I bru, So do I

You mean "are" the best!

It's not luck boet! It's commitment! It has involved a lot of sacrifice on Glenn's part. It's the stuff your wife reads about in the 'Country Life' mag (while you're busy reading Tread or MBR). Chucking in the corporate life, Moving to a small town and spending 3 years of your life building MTB trails with little to no income! How many of us would have the b@lls to attempt that? We're in the process of getting the website up and running, marking the trails and sorting out the logistics. Will post details once the trails are officially open. Thanks to the Swampdogs and everyone else who joined Glenn and the rest of us 'hangers on' for the weekend. Regards from the self proclaimed "DownHillGuru".

Now why did I only come accross this post today!! Frikkin Hell !! Any Space / Cancellations for Saturday?

Yeeehaaa, What an awesome weekend I had. Meeting like minded people, Parking off next to the camp fire with a glass of fermented grape juice and not to mention the cool riding. Thanks to Glenn and Albert for organising the weekend. It was a pleasure meeting you all. Hope you'll join us there on a regular basis. Now if only the muscles would loosen up!!!!! Damn I'm stiff!!!!

Currently my favourite is the 'Rim Trail' in Waterval Boven. 8kms for awesome riding which points in the right direction (downhill). Boven is probably MTBiking's best kept secret at the moment, but won't be after this weekends official / unofficial opening! Glenn is still working through some land access issues and the trails still need to be marked. A permit system still needs to be introduced to control access on SAPPI land, so there's lots of work to be done. Anyone wanting to experience Boven would need to contact Glenn directly. I'll post pics and info after this weekend (if Glenn allows me to). DownHillGuru (self proclaimed)