Strip paint/powder coating from Aluminum bike frame & forks

[TheDukeOfIce]

Hello forum,
Have a non-Oakley question for folks. I recently picked up a well used Specialized Crosstrail mountain bike. The paint/finish is scratched and chipped — and the raw aluminum look is damn cool.

Any tips or chemicals you would recommend?
I’ve read that dichloromethane would work well, but isn’t sold regularly and requires special gloves and mask to handle and clean with.
What about those hard “paint removal” brushes that attach to hand drills? Would that scratch the base metal too much?
Trying to DIY this so hopefully not having to take the frame to professional media blasting....

In the research phase of the project, interested if your thoughts and feedback.

 

[Jon the Don]

@Wavecloud

 

[WavecloudCustoms]

Elbow grease and brown scotch pad

 

[Jakeracefox]

I’ve polished aluminum before and depending if frames scratched up you may have to sand it from 200 up to 1000 to get any deep scratches out. If it’s just paint that needs to come off maybe aircraft paint stripper, most airplanes are aluminum. Once you get it down so there is no paint or scratches polish with compound to a mirror finish. Polishing takes a while but it’s very rewarding when you see finish product. All aluminum I did was on race quads so it was usually always scratched pretty bad

 

[TheDukeOfIce]

Elbow grease and brown scotch pad

I’ve polished aluminum before and depending if frames scratched up you may have to sand it from 200 up to 1000 to get any deep scratches out. If it’s just paint that needs to come off maybe aircraft paint stripper, most airplanes are aluminum. Once you get it down so there is no paint or scratches polish with compound to a mirror finish. Polishing takes a while but it’s very rewarding when you see finish product. All aluminum I did was on race quads so it was usually always scratched pretty bad

Thank you gentleman, appreciate the information and advise.

I’ll work on the front fork first, before attempting the frame

What are the different types of finishes for aluminum, and how does one go about getting to that? My only metal experience is automotive related, and mostly rust removal....

I like the sheen of metal (and love Oakley’s Ti & Plasma finish(s) on the X Metal frames), so likely wouldn’t go full polished on the bike.