Originally Posted by jrickards

I have a late 80's Bianchi Strada LX that I purchased for $150. Some might consider it classic, some might consider it vintage, I consider it a nice, new-to-me my-only road bike that I'd like to enjoy riding on centuries and other rides. It has some cosmetic deterioration as a result of 20yrs in a garage that I'd like to clean up but, because I don't consider it to be a classic or vintage, my clean-up needs are just for my personal desires.

Some of the decals are scratched and partly torn up but I know I can get replacements from "that guy on eBay".

It is black with some scratches and a little bit of rust showing in a couple of places. I'll use the OA treatment to clean up the rust. I'd also like to put an overcoat of paint on it, black of course. I'll remove the decals, take the parts of the bike so I have just a frame and fork (or maybe I'll keep the fork on and just mask the chrome bits).

Do I need to prepare the existing paint such as with a brill-o pad or with primer?

After painting, I'll put the new decals on it, could I overcoat them with a clear coat (over the whole bike, not just the decal areas)?

I wish there was a sticky that covered all this. I went to randyjawa's web site and although he talked about whether or not to paint and spray-bomb vs paint shop, I didn't find much in the way of DIY painting procedures.