Where to get a frame painted or powder coated in San Jose, CA

[LGrider]

I recently picked up a Ritchey Breakaway from a forum member that needs a new paint job. Does anyone have a recommendation for where to get this done near San Jose? I'm considering Silva Cycles now.

Since the bike will be spending a lot of time in a suitcase I'm more concerned about durability than attractiveness which probably means powder coat, correct? I've never had a frame painted before so any general advice would be appreciated.

[seric]

Are you willing to drive over the hill to Santa Cruz? I believe both Paul Sadoff and Rick Hunter use these guys:

http://www.powdercoatitsc.com/

[bitpuddle]

Isn’t Joe Bell just outside of San Diego? I’d love to have a frame finished by him.

[bikingshearer]

Originally Posted by bitpuddle

Isn’t Joe Bell just outside of San Diego? I’d love to have a frame finished by him.

Yes, he is. Unfortunately, San Diego is roughly 450 miles away from San Jose, which is further than Boston is from Washington DC.

[LGrider]

Thanks, I'll check out the Santa Cruz shop. I'm there fairly often.

[enr1co]

Contact Rick Stefani at D&D cycles in San Lorenzo.
Nice guy and does excellent work. Does paint for Rivendell, Ritchey and other local builders.

https://youtu.be/fTGtoTlJyh0

[homagesilkhope]

Flyworks (Allan Neymark) is also in Santa Cruz:

http://neymark.com/bicycles/index.html

[cadence90]

I have no direct experience with Bay Area painters, but:

Joe's Carbon Repair / Carbon Solutions (not San Jose, but close in Watsonville) have a good reputation.
I think they have a relationship with Calfee as well. They paint any material, not just carbon.

Another person to contact is Bernie Mikkelsen in Alameda. Good reputation from what i hear. He does powder as well.

Ed Litton, in Oakland or Richmond, is apparently one to avoid.
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[pavel]

I have a pretty good amount of experience with powder coat in san jose/south bay.

If you want durability over beauty, powdercoat is 100% your best, cheapest, fastest bet. You're not going to get a spray paint job turned around in any reasonable amount
of time if you're trying to ride your bike any time soon, and it will run you well north of $400.

Most recently I've taken a frame directly to these guys and had them powdercoat. No complaints. If I recall frame and fork was 125 or so with a week-ish turnaround.

http://www.scpowder.com

If you go to a bike shop they will take a cut and it will be at least $25-50 higher than driving over to the powdercoat shop directly. They are just the middleman in this scenario. I wouldnt go to Silva.

One thing that I want to stress to you is that no matter where you go, through a shop or directly, be aware that whoever ends up doing the actual work - they are usually not doing a lot of bicycle frames, so attention to detail is not always 100%. The trade off of cost/time/durability far outweighs the negative atmo.

Locally I have experience with Maas bros, RC refinishing and SC powdercoating (link above) over the last 7 years, as a onetime shop employee and as an individual.

Maas is in pleasanton-ish and you can only get to them through a shop. As I recall their quality fell way off around 2013 or so and we stopped using them.

RC refinishing - after Maas fell off I took one of my own frames to these guys, and it was good enough for us to use them through the shop, although I was never 100% satisfied. My first frame had to be touched up - as I recall there were little bubbles in one of the junctions and they didnt know to powdercoat part of the canti stud that *should* have been powdercoated.

Santa Clara I have no complaints with so far. If I remember correctly all I had them do was sandblast and clear coat my single speed Gunnar and it turned out very well.


General powdercoat advice - if you go directly to a shop, make it extremely obvious what should and should not be coated. They're not stupid and arent going to powdercoat your BB threads (one hopes) but just in case, mask off your steerer tube, canti studs, the breakaway joints, etc to make it obvious. Also when you get your frame back, take it to a local shop (I recommend Slough's in san jose) and have him face the BB and headtube.

PM me if you have other questions, I will try to help.

[mhespenheide]

If you want to open it up to mailing the frame out (which I know is the opposite of what you asked for...), these guys have done good work for a few forum members: https://www.groodybros.com/pricing.

[LGrider]

Thanks for sharing Pavel. I'll try the Santa Clara shop.

[Hindmost]

Yes work directly with a shop. Talk with them to be clear on how they prep a frame and mask of frame. Even then the guy you talked with in the front of the shop may not be the guy doing the work in the back of the shop.

Clean the s*** out of the frame before you take it in. Any oils present will seep out when in the oven.

Be sure how the shop will media blast the frame. Most media and pressures typically used at shops are too aggressive for bicycles.

Be clear how you want the final finish to appear. Powder coat comes in different sheens and clearcoat is possible.

[cnighbor1]

paint Rivendell frames

[LGrider]

Just a follow up, I took the frame to Santa Clara Powder Coating and am very happy with the work. It was $165 for both pieces of the frame. They masked it off pretty well, I should have been more clear that I didn't want the breakaway joint on the down tube coated, but it was simple to clean up with a file. I still need to make a few tweaks for fit, but I think this bike will get plenty of use between trips.

[stackie]

I've used Joe at Joe's carbon in Wastonville for a few touch up jobs. He does a very good job, and I've never felt like I paid too much.

Jon