Hi - please excuse the long posting...
I have just finished re-painting the steel frame of my older road bike for the second time, so thought I might share the experience. I assume part of the attraction here is for your wife to do the painting herself - as it was for me. Now, the results you get are directly related to the time and effort spent on preparation. One can simply paint the bike as you find it, with minimal dismantling or preparation of the old paint surface. Chances are it will look worse than when you started and as the paint peels, will go downhill from there.

In my case, I wanted a finish as good as I could get so preparation was thorough - all the old paint and surface rust was removed using paint stripper, plus emery paper and a wire brush to get down to clean bare metal. This is by far the hardest part of the job, but well worth the effort to prevent further corrosion. Spray paints were chosen, and first up was an anti-rust primer. I let this dry for a few days to get a good bond before adding colour coats (silver with blue detailing). Then a coating of clear laquer was added for more protection and to enhance the finished appearence. It was tricky to spray evenly, and into all the tight spots without overcoating and the resultant "runs". Now patience is required to allow the finish to harden before I attempt to re-assemble.

The time taken to do this: For a full breakdown of the bike (I have all the tools required) about an hour. Stripping & cleaning the frame, probably 3 hours. The painting step involved 10 minutes spraying, then waiting for each coat to be dry enough for the next application. 2 coats primer, 2 coats colour, detailing colour, 2 coats clear laquer. The colour & laquer coats were applied in one afternoon. Overall, quite an investment in time and effort, but I want the bike to be protected from rust and to look nice. I was able to hang the frame outside from the washing line whilst painting - good ventilation and plenty of room to move around the work.

I mentioned that I had painted the bike once before. On that occasion I used a product called Hammerite - I believe similar to the rustoleum products in the US. One thing that influenced this choice was that the "hammered" finish would disguise any poor spraying techniques on my part than would a smooth finish. It lasted well and looked pretty good. This time I was more adventurous and used Plasti-Kote gloss spray enamels. The finish is much better, though time will tell how it stands up to use & weather etc.

The bottom line is: how much work are you prepared to put in? It is best to do a job like this in a thorough manner, but I can understand that some would find it daunting or offputting. On the other hand, it is very rewarding to see the end result and own a truly individual bike.

Good luck,

Ed