According to the vintage Trek website my wife's 710 built in 1977 was painted with Imiron, so it is at least authentic for some of our older bikes. I enjoyed your post.
Keith Kessel Shreveport, La. USA
On Thu, January 1, 2009 8:47 pm, Harvey Sachs wrote:
> With reference to his Romic, Jerry Moos wrote:
>
>
> <snip> I'm almost sure Ray pained this with Imron, even though it is a
> mid-priced touring frame, probably Tange tubing. I know Ray used Imron
> almost exclsuively for his top frames. Some say the alleged toxic nature
> of Imron may have contributed to his early death.
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>
> Dupont Imron is a fabulous product when done right. It is a catalyzed
> paint, activated by a polyisocyanate. The class of stuff that caused major
> problems at Bhopal. It is a neurotoxin, and beats up other organs right
> good. I'm told that it was standard practice that any painter found
> without full respiratory protection in a booth where Imron was used was
> immediately fired - whether or not a can was open. If you want headaches,
> read MSDS #7 at
> http://pc.dupont.com/
> .
>
>
> Les Lunas, who had painted for Bruce Gordon, Steve Calvert, and others
> in Eugene, moved east to work at Bell Labs. We met through Jim
> Papadopoulos, and together adapted an outbuilding as a spray booth.
> Because I'm bearded, I never painted with Imron - just can't feasibly
> get good protection without positive air supply. But, Beloved Spouse did
> some lovely work on frames there, including a Town & Country triplet she
> shot in a fantastic cabbage purplish red. After careful mentoring by Les.
> That booth would change its air completely about every 6 seconds,
> but we still had a firm rule that no container of paint or solvent was
> opened until the fan was on, and all in the booth were masked with the
> right masks. All spraying was carefully done with the gun downstream of
> the breathing zone. And so on.
>
> Why am I bothering you with all this? I believe that we all have a
> serious obligation never to ask for painting with this stuff w/o being sure
> that the painter isn't sacrificing his health so you can save a few bucks.
>
>
> I suspect that only painters who are obsessive enough to do all this
> protection right well be obsessive enough to spend the huge amounts of time
> that are required to get the surface exactly right, too. Les was religious
> about surf prep. Not just the phosphating and avoiding any skin contact
> after that, but touching up all surface imperfections after shooting the
> Corlon (?) epoxy primer, so he got a perfectly smooth finish.
>
>
> Done right, Imron gives fantastic results: a real "wet" look of
> incredible glossiness, and wonderful durability and resistance to chipping.
> Of course, that may not be completely authentic for our older
> bikes, but... :-)
>
> Susan and I had prior experience painting with more conventional
> enamels, which also require care. But Imron was a huge step up in quality,
> and in consequences if not done right.
>
> Your mileage on this one won't vary.
>
>
> harvey sachs mcLean va usa.