Raga però,
sappiatele le cose prima di uccidere qualcuno coi commenti!!!......
"N.B. The clearcoat/raw finish which was standard between 2015 and 2018 has been discontinued as of 1st December 2018. We can still provide this finish, but it will not be covered under the BTR Fabrications warranty. "
E bravo @baffo82 , bella scelta di stile, approved!!
infatti mi ricordo che aveva avuto dei problemi con questa rifinitura, aveva fatto un lungo post sulla sua pagina FB,
"
A while ago now I figured out a way to clear coat my frames and integrate the logo into the process. This process and clearcoat made those stainless welds of mine POP! The frames looked so good when they were new, but it didn’t take long for the ‘tarnishing’ to start. The tarnishing is just the phosphate reacting and stopping the rust penetrating the steel, but it didn’t look great. Understandably a few people weren’t stoked and so I would re-powder them with a colour under warranty. I continued to offer the clearcoat with a warning until one fateful day.
For some people the clearcoat is make or break. “It’s the clearcoat or not at all.” and that was the case for one such customer. The clearcoat cannot be re-done. Stripping the coat means it won’t look the same again, and so I had to build a whole new frame under warranty. Now you understand I can’t keep doing things like that and stay in business, so it was decided to stop offering the clear. But as I said for some, the clear is make or break. What am I to do, turn away orders because I don’t want to clearcoat them? So the clear is available, but without a warranty.
I would have the occasional issue with our regular powder coater and it was decided to try somewhere else after the camel’s back had been broken. I found this place, highly recommended, coated frames for many big time bike builders. They could do what I wanted but not with the logo, for some reason it didn’t work with their process. “No biggie, at least they can do a mint job of the powder and I can live with that minimum charge, will just have to do batches.” So they did one frame, free of charge, that was perfect and I was stoked. “At last!” I cried.
It was bait for a big spiky trap.
So I have (had) four frames on order, three from our Japanese distributor, Yuris. All need to be clear coated, and it saves on shipping to post them all in a one’r. So a perfect opportunity to test out this batches theory. The one frame not going to Japan has been on order for nearly a year, too. Tam leaves around this point, after I had built one of the frames. There is untold amounts of things landing in my lap that I had no idea needed sorting. Everything is in both our names and it’s never as easy as you think to change things over. Reassuring, in case someone tries to steal ones details, but a huge pain in the ass when you have a 6 month waiting list.
Those four frames came back from the powder coaters rusty. I had to pay to get them released to postage, plus pay the postage. For them to turn up at my door rusty. A few hours putting masking tape with notes pointing out the bits that were unsatisfactory, and why, all over the frames before packing them up again and paying for return postage. One frame was re-processed and sent back for approval, I was happy and instructed them to proceed with the rest. Meanwhile still fighting with all the admin stuffs.
Twelve weeks since the frames left my door for the first time and two are still not good enough for me to send out the door. One is full of liquid that has seeped out during transit and made the powder-coat go all gooey. Both frames still have rust around the cable guides. My only option is to have them sand blasted and then rub them down with emery cloth to regain that bright shiny finish. Painstaking detail is required to get into all the nooks and it took three days to complete the two frames.
I decided to go back to my original supplier and hope to the high heavens that everything turned out ok this time. It was a complete unknown, blasting a frame - sanding back - and re coating. The desperation for them to come back in a condition I was happy to pass on to my customers, it’s not something I like to leave in someone else’s hands. I guess my bad luck ran out and these frames are having the finishing touches done right now. Head badges, stickers etc. It only just occurred to me that they could still get damaged in transit...
So, yeah. Clearcoat. So much fun. I need to make frames that don’t need paint. Stainless or Titanium. I guess I’m telling this story just to shed some more light on the day to day and maybe give an idea as to why it takes so-fecking-long to "just build a frame". I’m “Living the Dream” in the sense I get to build bike frames. That is what I wanted to do as a teenager, and the machines and tools I have in my workshop now were dreams too. But it definitely wasn't the dream to be dealing with problems like this, and they come at you all the time! But that's the price you have to pay. If you want to be a pro rider, you have to work your ass off in the gym, take the broken bones, and come back for more. It's just work that needs doing, get on with it. "
dopo si può essere d'accordo o no con le scelte aziendali