Hey guys. I have a 01 lowrider and I've been rebuilding it for the last three years and I've finally got it back mechanicly sound and the last thing I want to do is have the frame coated. I'm looking for some advice on the tear down. Now I'm pretty confidant I can break the bike down pretty easily. My question is mainly about the neck. I've never had the forks off before and I wanna know once I get the trees off what else needs to be removed. Also what about the vin that's on the frame. That will obviously be coated over. Is there a certain process for the vin? Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

I had a frame done a few years ago. The stamped vin wasn't a problem, it was still readable with the thicker powder coat. I heated and peeled the vin label off and had a local car graphics company make me a new one for about $10 (nobody around here cares about that sort of thing as long as the new label is correct, might be illegal to do where you are??).
Make sure you thread old bolts into every threaded hole. the powder coater can tape off area's with high heat tape or just wipe the powder off before baking.
As careful as I was, I still missed things and spent a lot of time sanding off powder coat to make parts fit back on ( shock studs, swing arm bearings etc...)
I sandblasted the frame myself. The powder coater insisted on doing a zinc primer first, followed by gloss black (two separate bakes) for a better finish.
I will say, that the finish was phenomenal, it looked awesome.
However, when putting the bike back together, sometimes a bit of the topcoat would shear off the primer base when tightening down a bolt.
I don't know why the adhesion wasn't what it should be, I think I would go without the primer next time.