Complete beginner - looking for painting advice
Hi, yesterday I found a really nice old (Vintage?) Schwinn on Craigslist. It has no identifying markings except for the plate on the handlebar stem that says Schwinn. I'm guessing it is about 20 - 30 years old, and is made out of aluminum.
It really needs a new paint job, and I was wondering what my options were. I'm hoping I can take it somewhere and get a power coat. Where can I start to look? Should I talk to Automotive shops, motorcycle shops? Anyone have any idea how much a process like that would be for a bike frame?
Plan B is to spray paint it, but I want it to look nice, and one of a kind. Unfortunately I have Zero experience with painting of any kind, and am not exactly artistically inclined. Any good options I can use here? I'm hoping to do several colors.
How would I go about Identifying the Metal? I've read you can't just paint aluminum, that it needs to be chemically treated to make it more Porous.
Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm gonna go snap a few pics of it now to add to this post for anyone curious.