I’m currently painting my third, a Schwinn LeTour, and put the first coat of paint on yesterday:


Here’s what’s worked well for me, and plenty of folks have commented on the quality of the finishes:

I don’t usually strip them. Its too hard to get in all the crevices, and there’s no good reason in my mind to do it if there isn’t excessive paint build up from prior sprays. They don’t strip cars for resorts, right?

you do need to clean thoroughly and sand thoroughly. I like 400 grit for this. It must be perfectly clean and You must go every inch. If there is any contamination, your paint won’t stick. If you don’t rough up the whole thing with sandpaper, you’ll get poor adhesion. Take your time and do this right.

Spray your primer. I like krypton 2-in1 filling primer. Spray a light coat. Then, when it’s dry, take 1000 grit and sand any defects. They’ll be there. Again, take your time. Don’t just use your eyes to find them. Run your fingertips lightly over it. They’ll find things your eyes won’t see.

Now that half your primer is sanded off, go prime it again. Repeat until you’re fully primered and can’t find defects.

Now you’re ready to spray. If a bike is worth it, go to an auto paint store snd have them blend a can for you. You can get a perfect match for your color, and it’s much much better paint. If it’s not worth it, plain old rattle can will work. Some are much better than others.

Read the instructions and follow them. Spray very light coats. You don’t want runs. They’re hard to fix. You can always spray another light coat.

After the first light coat, inspect for defect again. If you still find them, light sand with thousand grit again.

if you plan to clearcoat, apply stickers now, then spray your clear.

After you finally have it sprayed, leave it alone. If you used auto paint, don’t touch it for 3 days. If you used rattle can, leave it alone for at least a week. That stuff takes forever to harden.

When it’s hard, you gently wet sand with 1500 grit followed by 2000 grit, then a polishing compound.