Stark Drive Torque Manufacturing & Development: Part 4 Coatings

When we produced the V2 prototype of Stark Drive Torque (SDT) and Stark Drive Torque Max we knew it was something special and wanted it to stand out. Therefore decided to go for hydro graphics instead of simply painting the frame as we have done in the past.

On our visit to our coatings partner, we spent some time discussing what we were after as well as how we wanted torque to be perceived as the number of types of hydro graphics designs are literally infinite, at his factory, on hand he had over 2500 styles with a warehouse and access to an additional 100.000 styles

The process to apply a hydrographic is not especially difficult but that does not mean that it does not take exceptional skill, especially when the shape is as complicated as the frame for SDT. On our first attempt in fact, the shape and size was somewhat underestimated and resulted in an incomplete coating. As you will see below in our video we had to then clean, dry and repaint the bike base coat so that it could be coated again with the design. The second attempt was much more successful as you can see from the final photos.

When we go into mass production, those whom opt for a hydro graphic coating instead of painting, the process will not be done by hand, instead it would be done by machine to ensure a consistent result and accurate repeat-ability.

I describe the process in the videos below however basically these work as follows:

1. frame is prepared with a base coat of paint of any color, this base coat would then show through any transparent sections of the hydro graphic.
2. hydro graphic design is prepared and released from its backing
3. Component is slowly dipped into the hydro graphic bath so that the design wraps around the component
4. component is removed carefully from the bath such that no overlap of patten transfers
5. component is washed and sprayed with a final coat to seal in the design

The process is arguably faster than regular painting and gives you the ability to add some very wild and unique designs to your bike. we will be offering a limited number of these during our launch of Stark Drive Torque on Indiegogo when we launch in August 2019.

The final result you can see below, it looks quite striking:

SIncerely

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC