Originally Posted by
abdon
Or at certain point it may be best not to fight it and just get another bike. A rattle can spray job is crappy, no matter how good you make it look good it is too soft and prone to blemishes. A professional job is likely to be more expensive than the rest of the bike. Either don't buy the bike in the first place or if you did already, sell it. Then wait for a better model to pop up. Honestly paying twice as much for a bike with an original paint job is often cheaper than paying for a paint job on a ratty bike.
The thing I like about repainting is that it gives you an opportunity to add things like water bottle bosses. Powder coating is cheap and durable. It's also difficult to undo, so I try not to do it on anything that seems special. I guess we all have a different line for what's special. I powder coated a late 80's Bianchi Mondiale. I went for professional paint on a 70's Stella SX-76, both with bad paint when I got them. I re-sold a '73 Raleigh International that had decent paint because I couldn't modify it the way I would have liked without destroying the paint and I knew someone would love it the way it was. I'd probably powder coat an International that needed new paint. I know some people hate powder coat, but I'm not one of them.