I've been using Oregon Powder Coating for 20 years to build
bikes for folks. Never again.
Since moving to the new facility, the quality, care, and
workmanship have fallen off perceptibly.
What went wrong? First, the folks that used to work there
knew how to do bikes -- just sandblast and keep the threads
clean. Maybe not simple to do, but simple to understand.
This time at the front desk I was quoted a price under $200
for sandblasting and painting, and then asked if it was ok
ot put the frame in the oven. I did not understand the last
request or understand it was going to be 800 deg, so i just
said sure. Mistake. I was charged for both the oven and
sandblasting, so the bill was around $270. I was not told
the oven was $75 more and would save them time. Worse, the
oven caused expansion of the Lugs (its a steel brazed lugged
frame from Italy) and made some of the lugs come undone at
the edges. The frame should of been just wqas it has always
been in the past.
It gets worse. Many of the threads have powder coating in
them so now I need to find someone with an Italian tap to
rethread them (70's bottom bracket, Italian Threads). So
that will be another $50.
Oh, and there was paint over the other areas of the fork
where the crown goes, so I need to file that down now, and
there was still tape on the bike! What the heck. That's just
lazy, and the lack of proper plugging is just not knowing
what they are doing anymore -- i guess they have a bunch of
new hires who they have not trained and are not given the
time or incentive to do quality work.
Never again -- next time I will find a small shop where i
can talk to the person doing the work to see if we are on
the same page about quality.
So sad. It was so nice before when I could just trust them
to do a good job. No more. read more