If you really have no tools or experience in diy why not just buy a restored bike. Much cheaper and you can still tell everyone you did it yourself as many here do. Hg if your only restoring one it makes no sense restore at all, just buy one finished. If this a hobby? and for most it is, why not learn from it and do it yourself? Maybe its just me but I see no reason to rave about what a great restoration I have if all I did was write the check. A-smerek I agree that we all can't paint in the dead of winter or some might live in apt. where they don't have the room. I understand that we all just can't do everything. If your a collector and just want a collection go buy them, I just have a personal problem with some passing off somebodies elses work as their own. Maybe I'm just pissed I can't afford to have someone else do all the work and take credit for it. Many have built beautiful bikes here, doing all the work themselves and others having sent out everything to be done by someone else. We seem to look down on the poor guy that rattle cans his bike and praise the guy that paid to have everything done. But which of the two put more work into his bike and learned the most. I painted my first bike 3 times before I was happy with it, but in the end I knew I had done the work and was happy with it. I believe Gary and his son Joe on here that rattle canned their bike and built it as a team learned more and have more pride in that bike that may not have turned out great in my eyes or RX, or Hg eyes than the guy that just wrote checks. I guess in the long run if your happy having someone else build your bike that is all that matters, as for me I'll build my own.:banplease:
IMO, it's a matter of
"Different horses for different courses"
Without question, the "best of the best", from a purist perspective, is a 3-stage, true candy color,done right right, from basic metal prep through the last shot of clear, with no shortcuts. The blasting, cleaning, dent repair, filling, sanding and sprayout all have to be done meticulously. The paint system would be from a single manufacturer... formulated to be applied as a chemically-integrated, multistage, UV-stable/durable/chemical-resistant, finish. Between the amount of skilled labor involved, price of quality paint (in sufficient quantity), spray & safety equipment, plus spray facility, it's an expensive proposition.
It's also not applicable to every bike project.
My only significant disagreement with what's been posted in this thread, so far, is the quoted $30 to media-blast an entire frameset. If I could get the same quality job done for that price, I'd farm them out. At current prices, it's easy to burn through $25 worth of glass bead, alone.
As for thinking that I look down at lesser refinishing jobs, please think again. The rattlecan gray father-son project mentioned in the above post is a classic example. I happen think the project is awesome, in its own right. The stated goals of that project were realized, the very definition of success. So what if it's not how I prefer to do things? It's also not my bike, son, or set of circumstances. FWIW, I appreciate what went into it, as well as someone teaching the next generation something that most of his peers will never know exists.
Bottom line: It's your bike, build it any way you think best. That's the only opinion that matters. Everything else is discussion...a.k.a. "bench racing".
