But that's not logic, it's emotion. The fact that many people feel the same way perhaps raises the resell value of an original paint job on a bike, which is a logical reason to not do it.

As someone pointed out in this forum once, an exception would be for a historical bike. Would you repaint Greg Lemond's 1989 TdF time trial bike? On the other hand, Bob Roll (Bobke hisself) came by the shop I was working in at the time after a TdF Merckx bike he wanted to consign. There were dents in it, touched up swathes of paint, and a couple of cable guides were rusting out. It sold at considerably less than a brand new Merckx. The guy who bought it thought it would be cool to have a TdF bike, I remember everyone he rode with thought he was a poseur, and told him he'd better watch for potholes, the idea being it was one more good whack from falling apart.

Common bikes, like PX-10's, Raleigh Internationals, Competitions, etc. had crappy paint to begin with. I think they're worth more, and look better repainted.

One man's opinion.