aluminum fork refinish

the fork looks fine to me. refinishing will likely cost you more than a brand new $80 carbon fork
from performance and potentially damage what is currently a perfectly decent component.

sand blasting, if not done correct can remove excess material and weaken it. chemicals may
potentially affect the metal [not likely, but depends on the alloy & solvent] and the heat of
powder coating runs a very definite risk of damaging the adhesive that appears to be on the head
tube/crown joint.

again, i would leave this fork exactly as is if it were mine.

jb

peter z said:

Hi folks,

I'm considering having an older Al fork stripped and refinished. The fork in question is a
SAKAE Litage FX. It looks like Al forks bonded to an Al crown bonded to a steel 1" threaded
steerer tube.

Some pics at members.shaw.caforkOpen ↗. You can see the fork-crown bonds in the pictures. I
assume they are chemical bonds as opposed to welds. But I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure the steerer
tube is bonded with chemical but that will not be getting stripped or painted.

I'm pretty sure I want to have them powder coated as I'm not after a show finish and the 'natural'
look would not be right for the rest of the bike. I assume the 400 degree paint curing temps are
fine for a fork like this?

My question is more about stripping the old paint. I've searched the google archives of this group
and there appear to be three camps regarding stripping the old paint:

1. Sand blast, as chemical strippers eat away the bonding agents (even if the strippers are safe
for Al).
2. Chemical strip, as sand blasting will destroy the Al.
3. Media blast (plastic or walnut), as this is presumably harmless to the Al and the chemical
bonds.

My dilemma stems from the fact I have access to a great powder coater who has done lots of Al
parts for me before for my cars and motorcycle. None for my bicycle yet. However, he only does
sandblasting AFAIK, no media blasting. I'm not sure yet if he has any experience with bicycle
parts, won't be able to find out til next week.

Can anyone who has experience with this please comment on the pros and cons of each method? Any
other suggestions are also welcome.

Thank you.

-Peter

peter z said:

Hi folks,

I'm considering having an older Al fork stripped and refinished. The fork in question is a
SAKAE Litage FX. It looks like Al forks bonded to an Al crown bonded to a steel 1" threaded
steerer tube.

Some pics at members.shaw.caforkOpen ↗. You can see the fork-crown bonds in the pictures. I
assume they are chemical bonds as opposed to welds.

Certainly does not look to be welded.

Quoted message said:

But I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure the steerer tube is bonded with chemical but that will not be
getting stripped or painted.

I'm pretty sure I want to have them powder coated as I'm not after a show finish and the 'natural'
look would not be right for the rest of the bike. I assume the 400 degree paint curing temps are
fine for a fork like this?

I would question that. You are talking about heating the glue that holds it all together to 400
degrees, and then riding on it. Check with either your powder coater, or the maker.

How about smoothing down the current finish with careful sanding, and then painting it?

--

David L. Johnson

__o | What is objectionable, and what is dangerous about extremists is _`\(,_ | not that they are
extreme, but that they are intolerant. --Robert (_)/ (_) | F. Kennedy

peter z said:

I'm considering having an older Al fork stripped and refinished. The fork in question is a
SAKAE Litage FX. It looks like Al forks bonded to an Al crown bonded to a steel 1" threaded
steerer tube.

Some pics at members.shaw.caforkOpen ↗. You can see the fork-crown bonds in the pictures. I
assume they are chemical bonds as opposed to welds. But I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure the steerer
tube is bonded with chemical but that will not be getting stripped or painted.

I'm pretty sure I want to have them powder coated as I'm not after a show finish and the 'natural'
look would not be right for the rest of the bike. I assume the 400 degree paint curing temps are
fine for a fork like this?

My question is more about stripping the old paint. I've searched the google archives of this group
and there appear to be three camps regarding stripping the old paint:

1. Sand blast, as chemical strippers eat away the bonding agents (even if the strippers are safe
for Al).
2. Chemical strip, as sand blasting will destroy the Al.
3. Media blast (plastic or walnut), as this is presumably harmless to the Al and the chemical
bonds.

My dilemma stems from the fact I have access to a great powder coater who has done lots of Al
parts for me before for my cars and motorcycle. None for my bicycle yet. However, he only does
sandblasting AFAIK, no media blasting. I'm not sure yet if he has any experience with bicycle
parts, won't be able to find out til next week.

Can anyone who has experience with this please comment on the pros and cons of each method? Any
other suggestions are also welcome.

Angel Rodriguez and I designed that fork in 1987.

Don't heat it that far. No powder for this one!

Wash it thoroughly. Scuff out the finish by wetsanding with 600 wet/dry paper. Seal with any normal
primer/sealer. Repeat wetsanding and sealer if desired, then spray as usual.

The fork crown extends quite far into the blade and thins gradually at the bottom with epoxy-
retaining patterns in the crown. There is a very large epoxy-filled contact area between crown
and blade.

You'll degrade the epoxy at high temperatures.
--
Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Andrew, thanks for the definitive answer. No powder indeed. I'll live with
the silver color for now. Rest of the bike is dark purple, which'll make for
an odd combo but I've seen worse 🙂

Thanks again!

-Peter

"A Muzi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Angel Rodriguez and I designed that fork in 1987.

Don't heat it that far. No powder for this one!

Wash it thoroughly. Scuff out the finish by wetsanding with 600 wet/dry paper. Seal with any
normal primer/sealer. Repeat wetsanding and sealer if desired, then spray as usual.

The fork crown extends quite far into the blade and thins gradually at the bottom with epoxy-
retaining patterns in the crown. There is a very large epoxy-filled contact area between crown
and blade.

You'll degrade the epoxy at high temperatures.
--
Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971

peter z said:

Hi folks,

I'm considering having an older Al fork stripped and refinished. The fork in question is a
SAKAE Litage FX. It looks like Al forks bonded to an Al crown bonded to a steel 1" threaded
steerer tube.

Some pics at members.shaw.caforkOpen ↗. You can see the fork-crown bonds in the pictures. I
assume they are chemical bonds as opposed to welds. But I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure the steerer
tube is bonded with chemical but that will not be getting stripped or painted.

I'm pretty sure I want to have them powder coated as I'm not after a show finish and the 'natural'
look would not be right for the rest of the bike. I assume the 400 degree paint curing temps are
fine for a fork like this?

My question is more about stripping the old paint. I've searched the google archives of this group
and there appear to be three camps regarding stripping the old paint:

1. Sand blast, as chemical strippers eat away the bonding agents (even if the strippers are safe
for Al).
2. Chemical strip, as sand blasting will destroy the Al.
3. Media blast (plastic or walnut), as this is presumably harmless to the Al and the chemical
bonds.

Mercian Cycles would not refinish my Cannondale Pepperoni fork because the steel steerer is
bonded to the aluminium blades (it's a unicrown design). That was for enamel, but the
temperatures are similar.