Favorite ti finish

[Dan Le foot]

I’m beginning the search for a new all ti frame. (non painted) Considering all the usual high end builders.
I like the brushed finish on Serotta and Seven over the matte/dull finish of Moots and Kish.
What is your favorite look on unpainted ti frames?
BTW. Which look does the Eriksen’s have? Never seen one in person.
Dan

[dekindy]

I liked the Serotta polished finish initially. However if there is a finish that does not show imperfections better I would want that over polished.

[Andrewlcox]

I love to see the welds and the burnished tubes. Never painted.

Andy

[rwsaunders]

I've owned a brushed finish Ti Serotta frame and now a 3/4 paint/polished Ti Serotta frame. The brushed finish showed less dirt and smudges, but both clean easily with pledge. It seems to me that the brushed finish gives you more color options in terms of headset, tape and saddle. I know it might not make sense to some, but I might miss the paint if I went back to an unfinished Ti frame.

[tuscanyswe]

I liked the Serotta polished finish initially. However if there is a finish that does not show imperfections better I would want that over polished.

Brushed is the best finish if you are looking for a very long lasting finish with as little imperfections as possible.

Ive had natural (dark grey), brushed, polished and the blasted moots finish. In sunshine i think the Moots finish is the most beautifull but it does look abit dull in shade. Overall id go with brushed since its so easy to maintain and still looks nice. Polished ti is a pain in the ass to maintain if at all possible imo.

[flydhest]

My favorite finish is the Serotta brushed or matte Ti with the polished decals. I have the polished finish with regular decals and regret not having done the other. The polished finish, at least at the time I got mine, was considered an upgrade or higher end and the brushed or matte was what was available on the Concours. I prefer the "lower brow" version. Just looks more industrial and shows less stuff. I tend to ride my rigs hard and put them away wet, so to speak, so if you are fastidious, your taste may be different.

[dekindy]

If I get my Legend refinished can it be changed from polished to brushed?

[tuscanyswe]

Ive never tried to go from polish to brushed but i would guess it would work. Im guessing that going in all kinds of directions with a scotchbrite pad (to sort of ruin the polished surface) and then finishing of with all strokes in the same direction with the same pad would bring a brushed result but you better consult someone in the know first! Or try it out on some none visable surfaces atleast.

If its possible i would do it myself if i were you.

[dekindy]

Ive never tried to go from polish to brushed but i would guess it would work. Im guessing that going in all kinds of directions with a scotchbrite pad (to sort of ruin the polished surface) and then finishing of with all strokes in the same direction with the same pad would bring a brushed result but you better consult someone in the know first! Or try it out on some none visable surfaces atleast.

If its possible i would do it myself if i were you.

I would not try to do it myself, no way!

[tuscanyswe]

Those were my feelings the first time i put a scotchbrite pad on a frame to. Then i learned there really is nothing to it but then again ive never gone from polished to brushed. Just moots finish to brushed and refinishing brushed frames.

[happycampyer]

If I get my Legend refinished can it be changed from polished to brushed?When I had my Ottrott refinished, the painted ti couldn't be polished and needed to be brushed, so the polished ti was refinished to brushed. So the answer is yes.

It's hard to tell from the photos (http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=75682&highlight=ottrott), but Serotta's brushed finish doesn't have quite the same depth of lustre as Moots' bead-blast finish (the seatpost and stem were bead blasted), but it is very similar.

Eriksen uses a bead-blast finish, the same as Moots (which makes sense). Here (http://gallery.me.com/threadgill/100128/seatpost%20cluster%20weld%20detail/web.jpg?ver=13131024230001)'s a detail of my Eriksen-built Hampsten Strada Bianca.

Of the seven or so Moots I've had over the years, I've noticed that the bead blast can change from more silvery to more gray.

I picked up a used IF Ti Crown Jewel here a while back, and I have to say that I also like IF's shot-peened finish. It takes a little more work with Lemon Pledge to keep clean, but it's very nice.

[thwart]

I mean, talk about industrial art... that's really elegant stuff.

[bike22]

painted ti is the best.

[gearguywb]

painted ti is an oxymoron

[AngryScientist]

for me, the classic clean look of the Merlin is my favorite, dont know what specifically you'd call this finish.

http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af153/aero_dynamic8/DSC_0695103.jpg

[tiretrax]

go with brushed. painted still chips and will drive one crazy. if it's brushed, then it can be refinished with a scotch pad, as mentioned above.

[tuscanyswe]

for me, the classic clean look of the Merlin is my favorite, dont know what specifically you'd call this finish.

http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af153/aero_dynamic8/DSC_0695103.jpg

that would be brushed, nice bike!

[John M]

I have a Moots made Hampsten and a bright brushed Merlin. Different, but like them both. The bead-blasted looks fine if not clean and is well suited for it being my rain bike. They gray kind of hides the dirt. The Merlin just looks dirty and is more effort to keep looking good.

[mso]

My vote goes to Seven. Easy cleaned with a little pledge. I also had a half paint Serotta that was very pretty but for an all Ti Bike I'd go with the Brushed Seven.

[Villgaxx]

mootsy. strongy.

[jr59]

I liked my Merlin with the brushed finish, but I went 3/4 painted with the spectrum.

[93legendti]

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showpost.php?p=847151&postcount=1

[mcteague]

Brushed finish is best. Polished is a pain to keep shiny and scratches cannot be fixed by the user. Bead blasted has the same issue with marks. With a brushed finish, all you need is a ScotchBrite pad. However, if you buff it up with the pad you leave a really clean patch. After a while it will achieve the patina that we all know and love. Regular use of Lemon Pledge keeps things pretty.

Tim

[tuscanyswe]

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showpost.php?p=847151&postcount=1


That bike looks very nice. Dont think i ever saw ti with red panels. Have you some pics of the complete beauty?

[93legendti]

That bike looks very nice. Dont think i ever saw ti with red panels. Have you some pics of the complete beauty?



The pic needs to be updated:
http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=81701&highlight=concours

[rustychain]

I found the polished easy to maintain with occasional metal polish and elbow grease to spruce it up. Mine looked like new for ten years of hard use.

[Dekonick]

My favorite finish is the Serotta brushed or matte Ti with the polished decals. I have the polished finish with regular decals and regret not having done the other. The polished finish, at least at the time I got mine, was considered an upgrade or higher end and the brushed or matte was what was available on the Concours. I prefer the "lower brow" version. Just looks more industrial and shows less stuff. I tend to ride my rigs hard and put them away wet, so to speak, so if you are fastidious, your taste may be different.

Me2!

[Jeff N.]

Brushed finish is my favorite. Seven ( as an example) has it dialed. Jeff N.

[Jack Brunk]

Brushed. For a road bike I think it's a no brainer. Same for off road.

[Dlevy05]

That merlin has a nice finish, those are pretty durable, if I'm not mistaken. How do blasted finishes hold up in comparison? The seven with the walnut blasting that popped up in the classifieds recently and the above moots that thwart posted are my favorite types of finishes, although I haven't owned such a frame, yet.

[happycampyer]

That merlin has a nice finish, those are pretty durable, if I'm not mistaken. How do blasted finishes hold up in comparison? The seven with the walnut blasting that popped up in the classifieds recently and the above moots that thwart posted are my favorite types of finishes, although I haven't owned such a frame, yet.The picture twart posted was actually the Eriksen-built Strada Bianca that I linked to in the previous post. Here is a similar close-up of the seatpost cluster on my former Compact SL.

http://gallery.me.com/threadgill/100167/seatpost%20cluster/web.jpg?ver=13152530400001

Even taking into account the difference in lighting, as I mentioned before, the finish is bit more silvery than what I've gotten more recently from Moots and Eriksen. Here's a more recent Moots:

http://gallery.me.com/threadgill/100167/DSC_0027/web.jpg?ver=13152534310001

The walnut-blasted finish on the Seven that xjahx was selling reminded me a lot of IF's shot-peen finish.

[tuscanyswe]

Gotta love the fact that you can determine the "shades" of grey on new vs older moots / eriksen. exellent!

Keep it up!!

[erolorhun]

The classic matte Moots finish which I hope will be "replicated" when/if I receive my custom Beep-Beep

[Dlevy05]

I just realized my question was already brought up in a past thread. sorry!

[happycampyer]

Gotta love the fact that you can determine the "shades" of grey on new vs older moots / eriksen. exellent!

Keep it up!!C'mon, you've had way more ti bikes than I have!

P.S. As I said, Serotta's brushed finish is pretty similar. Wish I had a close-up. 54ny77 now owns the frame, and I think he did post some close-ups a while back.

http://gallery.me.com/threadgill/100167/DSC_0016/web.jpg?ver=13152544150001

I don't have knowledge on this subject, but maybe someone does.

IF makes it sounds like shot peening is the ONLY worthy type of finish. Anyone have any input?


http://www.ifbikes.com/?id=40&keepT...t=400&width=500
This has been discussed before and, while it may increase the life of the frame (from say 400 to 500 years), it doesn't have a practical effect. If it did, Seven would shot-peen their frames—Mark V is about a geeky as they come from an engineering point of view regarding what he will and won't do to titanium.

[Kontact]

People complain that polished is hard to maintain and unable to be touched up, but the same thing applies to blasted finishes. Blasted shows scratches, and only more blasting will change that.

Brushed is the best user serviceable finish. Polished is nice - I had a Classic polished and it looked great for a long time.

I also have a clear coated Ti frame, like Spectrum does. Nice, but it can get chipped.

[spamjoshua]

I love this bike...

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-X8GnZmQfOEM/TmU6Fxt0vgI/AAAAAAAAFZU/xqXzxtwvAC0/s1024/ZancPaint01.JPG

I love what firefly is doing with brushed + polish + anodizing:

http://fireflybicycles.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/FF-032-Studio-10.jpg

Firefly Gallery (http://fireflybicycles.com/gallery-2)

All of the welds I have seen on Serottas have been immaculate. Just perfect.

Allot of great choices out there...

[Dave B]

I like moots finish, smooth.

IF's shot peen was nice. Bill use a pumice soap and it will clean it better then pledge. That is straight from Joe and I always had great success with it.


Tyler's stuff at FF is really nice. They are doing some fun things, which is a huge amount of freedom he didn't used to have. I love seeing their work and while some of the stuff looks pretty crazy, it sure makes fun pics for us fodder.

[jr59]

What finish?

When I finish paying for it!!! :p

[dekindy]

I like moots finish, smooth.

IF's shot peen was nice. Bill use a pumice soap and it will clean it better then pledge. That is straight from Joe and I always had great success with it.


Tyler's stuff at FF is really nice. They are doing some fun things, which is a huge amount of freedom he didn't used to have. I love seeing their work and while some of the stuff looks pretty crazy, it sure makes fun pics for us fodder.

Will this work better than Pledge on Serotta's polised finish? Which Pumice soap option as there are several?

[roguedog]

hey, i thought i remembered reading that once a ti frame is painted, the only natural finish it can be returned to is polished. is that right?

[dekindy]

hey, i thought i remembered reading that once a ti frame is painted, the only natural finish it can be returned to is polished. is that right?

I am pretty sure that I have read that the finish has to be rough so that the paint will stick and that a painted frame can be repainted but not taken back to natural because it would involve removing too much material.

[thinpin]

I love what firefly is doing with brushed + polish + anodizing:


Agreed.
Leni Fried does lovely anodising with Ti as well. I love her stuff. Very quirkey. One day....Leni Fried (http://www.titaniumarts.com/pages/bikeart/bikeart.html?content=2#)

[happycampyer]

hey, i thought i remembered reading that once a ti frame is painted, the only natural finish it can be returned to is polished. is that right?I am pretty sure that I have read that the finish has to be rough so that the paint will stick and that a painted frame can be repainted but not taken back to natural because it would involve removing too much material.The Ottrott above was a demo originally painted with an "inferno" paint scheme, which meant that the headtube and part of the top and downtube were painted, among other places. Serotta's policy at the time was (and I'm pretty sure still is) that painted ti can only be refinished to a brushed finish.

dekindy, I think what you are thinking of is Serotta's policy about refinishing carbon—once it's painted, Serotta won't refinish it to nude carbon, it has to be repainted (which is why I had the carbon tubes of the Ottrott above painted).

[Dave B]

Will this work better than Pledge on Serotta's polised finish? Which Pumice soap option as there are several?


I think for Serotta's finish, much like Moots...pledge works fine.

IF's shot peened was a rough surface, not like you find on a Moots. The pledge didn't work in as well so the pumice did a better job of "cleaning" it. IF also had a smoother finish on their Ti stuff (shot peened was an option) and Pledge worked well on that too.

[Ramjm_2000]

Have to agree with Mr. President on cleaning techniques. I also used pumice soap on my IF Ti CJ. The shot peened finished looked cool but did show scratches pretty easily as did my previous VaMoots. I decided after my IF that the "blasted" finishes were not for me.