Nuovo Retro Trek-powdercoating

      As you probably remember, however vaguely, I have been giving my favorite and only road bike, a vintage TREK 560, a face lift.  I needed to replace the bottom bracket and, since I wouldn't be using it for a couple of weeks, I decided to leave the old beauty at a powdercoater to have the "custom" (rattle can) finish removed and replaced.

It really wasn't a bad looking job but I got tired of scratching it every time I rode it.  Powdercoating is supposed to be the most durable finish available these days so I gave it a try.  One minor problem made it take longer than I expected, they use a very aggressive stripping method and my seat post is stuck.  Since I really didn't want to remove it, it took a few days longer to strip it by hand.  I was afraid they would try to charge more when I picked it up but the people of Pro Finish Powdercoating of  Grand Rapids were really nice, accommodating and did it for the quoted $115. 

   A lot of vintage bike enthusiasts don't believe in using powdercoat because it is thicker and obscures the details of the lugwork.  I really didn't see that in the result.

I used a high metallic color of silver, which I am told shows details more clearly.  I think the lugwork was very well defined and shows off the cast trademarks quite well.

My cat gave it his blessing and approval,so I continued with the finish work.  Being a tried and true vintage bike aficionado (aka obsessive nutcase) I couldn't leave it one simple color. The lugs had to be detailed, so I sweat through the evening news masking the headtube and those interesting cast trademarks

and then masking the rest of the frame to prevent any overspray.

    I was all ready to add some color and, after priming the headtube, sprayed it with a contrasting metallic gold.

    Those nifty little tradmarks were fun to play with, I simply sprayed over them, gave it a minute to set and wiped the excess off the lettering with mineral spirits before it completely dried.

When I'm finished, the lettering will stand out in clear relief against a contrasting base.  I am able to get period correct decals from a number of different sources, but since this is an unusual tradmark that Trek used for only a few years, I decided to dispense with any other identification.

More fun through the weekend.