Remember the battle scarred red frame I got so
excited about during my last visit to Maldon Shot Blasting & Powder
Coating? (http://www.ctc-powder-coating.co.uk/) Well, as I suspected, it was a
genuine Greg Fuquay.
Fuquay was an American builder, trained by Serotta
cycles, who spent much of the 1990s crafting some very unique road and mtb
framesets, before returning to Alabama and his earlier aerospace career. This
one features his trademark combination of TIG welded and brazed construction.
Sure, most TIG welded steel framesets, especially
production bikes have brazed bottle bosses, cable guides, mudguard eyelets and
carrier mounts. Few combine the two structurally.
Speaking of which, the tatty aesthetic was
apparently down to extended indoor trainer slavery-hence, sweat induced
corrosion/pitting along the top and seat tubes. The dent damaged seat stay was
filled with brass and smoothed flat for a modest £18, before passing through
the iron-oxide blast cabinet.
Structurally sound, there was little trace of
internal corrosion, so threaded areas masked and on with the phosphate base coat.
While this baked in their curing oven, Graham heaved a huge box of chrome
effect powder across the workshop and fed this into the gun. Several minutes
later, the frame emerged ready to receive said electroplate effect.
Graham weaves around the tubes, shrouded in a
silvery mist. Within five minutes, he’s done, given a quick visual twice-over
with extra powder added around the bottom bracket shell. Then it’s returned to
the oven for another round of curing prior to receiving a protective clear coat.
While generally an advocate of protective lacquers,
in this instance it tempers the sheen, giving a nickel effect under normal
light.
However, when properly applied, polyester powder
coating will trump wet spray finishes like stove enamels and 2pac in the
durability stakes. Therefore, clear coat is very much optional. Total cost for
his transformation came in at £116.40 including VAT.
As for the the Rosso Red Oscar Simonato Columbus
frame; it re-emerged in this extremely fetching metallic blue. Another specialist
finish, which brought the price to £110 including VAT-£45 over a standard gloss
blue such as my Holdsworth’s-RAL 5024 (assuming no post blast remedial works
are necessary).
Right, that’s enough distraction for me. Time I was
back at my desk, penning some more adventures for the characters in my series
of children’s stories.
