Any anon good in metallurgy?
Not sure if it's the appropriate place for my question but I need to protect my bare steel bike from the salted roads of Canada and I was wondering what are the most corrosion resistant coatings and treat ments? Manganese phosphate, zinc phosphate, ed coat. And what about the paint? Powder coat?
get a zinc-rich powder coat, talk to your local marine shops where to get it done.
Doesn't powder coats chip easily? I have a lot of gym equipment that were powder coated and chipped off easily after a few months of light usage
Real powder coat is hard as shit.
>Doesn't powder coats chip easily?
Powder coats are one of the most durable non-metallic coatings you can get. Decent ones, anyway. About the only thing that might work better in your case is a thick zinc (think like light posts and street lights), nickel, or copper plating. I have no idea how much a place would charge to plate a bike frame, though.
Paint.
Why do Canadians ride bicycles in the snow? Idk how it will look on the outside but tubular engine mounts in aircraft, you dump hot linseed oil around in them.
I knew a dude who was building a steel base for a tower and he got it powder coated with the same zinc-rich stuff the city used for powder coating outdoor steel items like service panels or street lamps.
So, thst
cerakote?
are you painting it yourself with a rattlecan or are you having it done in a shop? 99% of canadians are riding around on standard painted + clearcoat frames and they don't rust very quickly. my own bike has many scratches and chips in the clearcoat and paint but the metal is still shiny, though I don't ride in the winter that much.
Steel? Nitre Blue. I'm sure you can find a product from Birchwood Casey that will work but nothing's going to beat dipping your frame in several hundred pounds of molten saltpeter.
Just for shits and giggles he could charcoal blue it and probably come out money ahead. Three or four bags of the cheap Cowboy stuff from Sam's and a day or so to let it soak in smouldering coals and wala!
plastidip, plastic doesn't rust and when it starts looking like shit you just peel it off and apply another coat.
> plasti dip
Have you priced that frickin shit? Used to be cheap, but they jacked up the price when that stupid dip your car meme took off that’s popular with the mouthbreathers.
Problem with plastidip and powder coat is it’s not repairable, and if water gets under it rust spreads underneath quickly.
Just use a high zinc rustoleum primer or see if someone will zinc dip your frame, then regular paint. Repairable.
Why do Americans love dipping shit in plastic?
Dont you find it repugnant?
it's about the same price as most spray paints around here. you could probably cover a bike three times over in one can, not sure what you're on about. if you aren't a moron you aren't going to just "get water under it". apply it correctly and store your bike in the conditions someone that cares about their bike would store them in. try not to drop your bike into the ocean for 12 months.
if you want to be super cheap you can probably do truck bed liner but it's going to look like ultra shit.
> get water under it
Ok, just never get a scratch on it. On a bike. Good idea.
Liner, plasti-dip, powder coat, are all susceptible rusting even if you get a pinhole in it. Or you could use zinc like car manufacturers have been using for the last 100 years.
The reason those surface coatings don’t work was driven home when they banned epoxy-coated rebar. It rusts faster than uncoated rebar because the water creeps under the epoxy coating. The zinc protects the steel by sacrificing itself in a galvanic reaction…. It even protects it from small scratches right through to the steel. They bolt lumps of zinc to steel structures in the ocean because it protects the whole structure.
Why is your bike bare steel? It should have been painted after it was built, unless it's stainless steel. In which case you don't need to paint it.
Cerakote. Various other gun coatings. Check the Brownell's catalog.
Let is accumulate a decent coating of rust and then slather it up with this shit.
converter works pretty nice but the converted layer isn't any stronger than rust and can still rub, scrape off, chip, etc. I don't know if it would last long on a bike. some kind of bluing would be more durable.
Hot dip in zinc.
Use 316 steel, get bike that doesn't rust for 10 years. EZ
Think about rust as anti-theft feature.
Any thin chemical coating like bluing will get damaged by dents from using the bike. It’s why cars are zinc coated AND painted. The paint is thick, the clear coat is hard and together they protect the metal against scratches and impact, the chemical coating underneath protects it from rusting.
I painted mine with 3 layers of hammerite 6 years ago and it’s been fine. But powder coating would be best if you can afford it
Serious question, why all these complicated and expensive suggestions while you could just paint it yourself and watch regularly for corrosion? It's a bike, not a boat. What's wrong with paint on a bike?