1994 Serotta Colorado ATi - and a Lot of DIY Anodizing

mk one · May 31, 2023

A bit late but just read through the thread, some interesting posts.

Liking some of the colours, though personally I would have stuck with the plain Ti on the stem for this build. Agree about the lightness though, I have one also and with the matching bar, very light set up.

Looking forward to seeing more pictures of the frame coming together.

MuchAlohaNui · Jun 1, 2023

Frankenorange said:
I think the lightest in that period is the ti axled Specialized spd pedal. About 300gr/pair, i think. Everything else was around 350 with steel axles. There must be ti axled variants, out there. I thought the Stealth was mid 90's but seems to only just creep in, at the last.

Edit: there was a titanium axle available for the Shimano m737. That is early-mid 90's pedal. Maybe the first spd?

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll look into those, though am leaning more toward a platform pedal. Seems like everyone and their mother replicated the Odyssey Svelte Racing pedal by about 1994/1995 per browsing old magazines. There is a manufacturer called Shogun which goes all the way back to the early 90's (maybe earlier?) which made a carbon/titanium platform pedal with a weight of 108 to 130 grams per pedal. Maybe something like that, if I can find them?

Star12 said:
The Road version of the Titanium Grafton pedals, the Speedlite, is smaller in size and very light; just 262 grams for the pair according to BikePro.

Star12

Sounds hot...but also very expensive. There's a set on eBay for 450 euros, then that crazy guy in the US selling the turquoise ones for $1000.

Tomato said:
Paragon Machine Works actually

Thanks man. You are a walking encyclopedia.

Dr Dremel said:
The lightest pedals I know with a retro look are the Steinbach pdals @ 190g/pair. Not sure though if they are still being made or where to get them otherwise.

Oh

. There is a post on mtn-news with a photo of the pedals being weighed at 181 grams. Now...I need to find a set. Any leads?

mk one said:
A bit late but just read through the thread, some interesting posts.

Liking some of the colours, though personally I would have stuck with the plain Ti on the stem for this build. Agree about the lightness though, I have one also and with the matching bar, very light set up.

Looking forward to seeing more pictures of the frame coming together.

View attachment 745652

Sorry I wasted an hour of your time with all the reading.

. I promise I am not ADD or schizophrenic. Once the bike is complete I will be editing the first few posts with updated comments as the build went full 180 by about the second page.

The naked titanium is quite nice and looks good. Full weight of the stem and bars together? Make sure to swap out those bolts for aluminum or titanium and shave off 12 grams or so. The stems are totally underrated. Lighter than Litespeed of the same era (or very close) IIRC.

For this Serotta build, I am going full retard on the color scheme, so the sky is the limit at this point. Plus this is my motivation to learn how to anodize whether I botch it or not. Once I find the rims, I'll start building. In the mean time, I need to decide on cranks/rings then anodize accordingly. Overall, I have quite a bit of anodizing to do.

Also this Tune guy here in Germany, Christian..., I really hope he has another batch of Ti steerer tubes coming up soon. This is also stalling the build and I want to buy six or so to have on hand.

Dr Dremel · Jun 1, 2023

MuchAlohaNui said:
Oh . There is a post on mtn-news with a photo of the pedals being weighed at 181 grams. Now...I need to find a set. Any leads?

Quick google when I posted them above just came up with the Steinbach website, but I thought I remember they´re not available any more. I could be wrong though. The only other link was to this website, which looks like it´s been made on a Windows NT computer

Ingenieur Tec

They have a 2023 catalogue though (where the pedals aren´t listed anymore).

br0qn · Jun 2, 2023

What about Specialized Direct Drive Ti pedals? 245g for a pair.

Almost snagged a nice set of the chromo spindle last year on ebay but no idea how hard the Ti are to come by.

They are MKS made according to bikepro, maybe if you found the chromo set you could swap in a Ti axel?

MuchAlohaNui · Jun 2, 2023

Dr Dremel said:
Quick google when I posted them above just came up with the Steinbach website, but I thought I remember they´re not available any more. I could be wrong though. The only other link was to this website, which looks like it´s been made on a Windows NT computer

Ingenieur Tec
They have a 2023 catalogue though (where the pedals aren´t listed anymore).

Thanks for taking the time in looking around for those pedals. I like the original HTML website this guy has. Basic and takes ages to load the catalog. Nostalgic. I'll email him and see if he's still active. Quite a few claimed sub 5 kg bikes on his website.

br0qn said:
What about Specialized Direct Drive Ti pedals? 245g for a pair.

Almost snagged a nice set of the chromo spindle last year on ebay but no idea how hard the Ti are to come by.

They are MKS made according to bikepro, maybe if you found the chromo set you could swap in a Ti axel?

Thank you for the suggestion. Definitely something to consider. There seems to be a lot of options, but availability is definitely an issue. Maybe I'll get some Schwinn platforms and go barefoot if I can't find anything.

MuchAlohaNui · Jun 8, 2023

Time for some aluminum anodizing DIY! ...er, maybe not. I practiced on the Paul Thumbies as they don't have much surface area and are small parts. When I was in the US, a few posts back I used Whink Rust Remover to eat off any residual anodization to bare aluminum. I assumed that also etched the aluminum too, via straight-chemical process but I don't think that was the case at all. Evidenced by my first result.

Could also be my Sodium Bisulphate (pool pH chemical) ratio, but should be around 25% solution which is fine. Maybe the lead anode I used wasn't sufficiently clean and sterile, but I am pretty sure my assumption of the etching step is incorrect and I need to electrochemical the etch before doing the anodization step. Anyhow...check out these 'amazing' results. The color is supposed to look a straight deep blue similar to the header on this website.

12v @ 0.3 amps for one hour during the anodization. 15 minutes submersion @ 40 mL dye and 1 L distilled water @ 80 C.

Dr Dremel · Jun 8, 2023

Do you think the light colour result is caused by residual old anodising still left on the surface of the parts? Or is the etching step there to get a clean surface free of (Aluminium) oxidants? I´m trying to better understand the process and thought the etching is only necessary if you have old anodizing on the part.

MuchAlohaNui · Jun 8, 2023

Good question. These parts started their life as anodized black. I removed the anodization mechanically then hit with the Whink to remove residual color. They are bare metal aside from the tiny bit of dye I got on the parts today.

The etch step creates a hard, sort of ceramic layer over the aluminum which has sub-micron sized pores. This step must be done electrochemically. The etch process creates these tiny pores that are then filled with the dye color of choice and clog up with pigment particles.

My failure is totally noob user error and the result is strikingly similar to my first titanium anodizing results where the color was missing. I am pretty sure I missed the etch step in part by making false assumptions on the process and simply not reading through the manual I have.

MuchAlohaNui · Jun 13, 2023

I think I solved one issue and discovered another inadvertently after I did some reading. The first issue was not putting the parts into the anodization solution right after etching. My assumption was that the etch lasted in a staged state ready for color application. This is incorrect because of the second issue. All metals exposed to air begin oxidizing almost immediately. I forgot that fact. The last time I had stripped the remainder anodization was in the US, basically two weeks transpire and the etch has had an oxidative, semi-nonconductive layer grown on it just by virtue of being exposed to the atmosphere.

Enough yapping. Paul Thumbies are officially done and ready. Next up is the Mag 21 / Michael Dengler brake bridge that bolts the fork legs together and holds the brakes to the fork legs. This part may be fricked up upon first go as I had to keep checking the amperage and increase amperage to get the device to climb to 12V and stabilize before the amperage naturally drops on its own as the anodization layer is grown on the metal surface.

Paul Thumbies took 12V at 0.300 Amps and 90 minutes before reaching PAR (@ 0.107 amps).

Also...Grafton or Kooka cranks? Grafton's require a massively wide BB. I like both styles. Which do you like?