General Cycling Discussion - quality paintjobs

looking to get one of my bikes professionally painted. Single color but glossy/candy green. Know of anyone I can ship my frameset to and have them beautify it? Which would look better: powder coat or liquid? I want the color to look like candy glass.............

I called local automotive people....7 in total so far....and none of them are willing to paint my frame. (in this economy why would you do that?!).

Cyclart is the best I know of. Not cheap tho.

http://www.cyclart.com/

Can't help you with a suitable shop because of where I am, but I suspect the reason the auto shop turned down the job is because they're not really geared up for it. Spraying large, almost flat panels is very different to painting thin tubes from a number of different angles. Also, painting a bike frame calls for specialized masking, and a certain amount of cleaning out of threads afterwards. I got a quotation for a frame I have, and it would have cost four times what I paid for the bike, so I decided to do it myself. After much consideration, I decided on Hammerite dark green, having tried the paint out on some brackets I was about to use for another job. The finish looks good, as long as you load the brush enough, but not so much that it sags. I may actually practice on another frame first, when no doubt I'll learn a few useful lessons before tackling the important bike. I've heard some people expressing reservations about the toughness of a powder coated finish. Someone here posted a picture of a recumbent he'd done in yellow Rustoleum, and that looked fabulous, although I've heard a few doubts expressed about that finish too, in terms of its resistance to scratching. The best finish of all was probably stove enamel, but I haven't heard of anyone using that for years. Two-pack paints seem to be the latest thing, and I know somebody who sprayed his old car with that and got a really good job. I think that's a tough enough finish.

Some other options if you want a pro paint job and the auto guys won't do it --

1) Look for custom motorcycle shop in your area and go see them.
2) See if you have custom car club in your area -- they might have suggestions.
3) See if you have a local vocational school that has auto body repair as a course -- ask if they can do it as a project, or hire one of the students.

Brainstorming over.

looking to get one of my bikes professionally painted. Single color but glossy/candy green. Know of anyone I can ship my frameset to and have them beautify it? Which would look better: powder coat or liquid? I want the color to look like candy glass.............

I called local automotive people....7 in total so far....and none of them are willing to paint my frame. (in this economy why would you do that?!).

Geez, man- if you're in Portland, why not take it to Class Act Powder Coating: http://www.classactpp.com/ or Brooker Enterprises: http://www.brookerenterprises.com/
Either can do any effect you like. Class Act also does liquid painting, but the powder job they did for me was superb. BikePortland did an "infomercial" for Brooker earlier this year: YouTube - Brooker's Powder Coating

I agree with Proofide: auto shops won't touch this. It takes very different skills to paint a bike than to paint a car.

Geez, man- if you're in Portland, why not take it to Class Act Powder Coating: http://www.classactpp.com/ or Brooker Enterprises: http://www.brookerenterprises.com/
Either can do any effect you like. Class Act also does liquid painting, but the powder job they did for me was superb.
I agree with Proofide: auto shops won't touch this. It takes very different skills to paint a bike than to paint a car.

awesome! I have heard of Class Act, mostly through local frame builders here in Portland....but don't know much about them.....

Do you have pictures of the job they did you wouldn't mind uploading? Thank you!