Originally Posted by 50PlusCycling

I once had a Pinarello painted by Cole in the Miami area, but he no longer seems to be around. It is a shame, because he did a wonderful black paint job with a mix of dark purple, and just a touch of sparkle. A few coats of clear over the decals and the bike looked incredible, and the paint was very durable. He applied a small decal on the back of the seat tube which said *Paint by Cole,* I didn't mind, he deserved the advertising for the quality of work he did.

You can get your frame painted at a good car body shop, most will do a far better job than you can do yourself. But if you are handy, you can do it yourself and get good results if you use the right paint. My last paint job was on Columbus tubed Atala. I used 3M gasket remover to remove the old paint, and used canned spray lacquer which I bought at an auto parts store. A good result depends on good preparation. I removed every trace of the old paint (which was not hard with the 3M stripper, it left only the bare metal), and making sure there was no trace of oil or grease. The next step to a good finish was painting on a cool and dry day, which can be hard in Florida. If the day is too humid, the paint will dry with some haze in it. If you spray right, you can get a mirror like shine. With lacquer you can sand and buff out imperfections, and drying time is minimal. On the negative side, lacquer is easy to scratch.