I’ve been thinking about this since Dr. D’s recent thread. There were many posters on that thread seemed to feel $1500 was not unreasonable for a paint job on a bicycle so I wanted to ask just what you guys consider a good paint job? Now I know there are a few bikes out there (some Colnagos and most any Tommasini come to mind and I’m sure there are a few others) that have factory paint jobs that are pure artwork. But those don’t represent the vast majority of bikes we collect here. I went to a few painters’ websites (Joe Bell and Cycleart and a few lesser known) to see what they offered and the guys charging the big money seem to be offering that sort of over restored show quality paint job that might look great on that Tommasini but I don’t need one of those.

Now I’ve never been to a bicycle factory and certainly not one from back in the day, but I picture in my mind a big rack with bunches of frames hanging from it and Giuseppi or Pierre or whoever, paint gun in hand spraying frames by the dozen and getting paid for how many frames he paints per day or something. Certainly that’s what the paint on most of my bikes looks like. And really, that’s all I need if I’m going to get a bike painted (ok, there could be an exception here or there but you know what I mean). So no 27 coats of hand rubbed lacquer. No clear coat so deep it looks like you could reach into it. Hey, my factory decals came on top of the paint.

So, a good paint job for me means a durable, shiny factory style paint job, clear coat only if that was original, and no Artist required, just Joe the painter (and not Joe Bell - sorry Joe ) with his paint gun. So what do you guys think. Is that good enough for you or do you want the show quality job?