I don't know if I've got the right forum but I don't know where else to post this. I'm thinking of painting my frame. I want to do it myself and not in an expensive artistic manner. I'm thinking more utilitarian. It's a 1994 Novara Rondonne that has severed me well on the wet & dirty roads of Juneau Alaska. The last time I painted a frame was 40 years ago and I used Rustoleum, I was not unhappy with the results. Does anyone have any tip, suggestions, or advice?

The last cheap job I did was on a touring bike I made for under $45 of tubing and junctions cost. I used Sears marine deck paint. This was a catalyzed paint (epoxy enamel) that had roller application instructions. It had it's own primer, also using a hardener. I used a couple of very nice animal hair brushes which cost more then the borrowed paint. The job was passingly acceptable and lasted years. Andy.

Brush painting like you did before is the least expensive durable solution. Thin the paint and use several light coats and you'll actually get a pretty good looking paint job. For a few bucks more you can add a hardener to most enamel paints (like Rustoleum). Tractor paint and yacht paint are good alternatives to the Rustoleum stuff that some say are even more durable.

If you don't mind spending a little more, a couple hundred bucks will get it media blasted down to bare metal and powdercoated. Powdercoating is about as durable as it gets, but you'll have to completely strip the frame (including removing the headset and BB), and it's significantly more expensive than the DIY options.

I don't recommend rattlecan painting. Lots of people do it and get nice looking results, but it's arguably more work than brush painting (frames are tricky to spray) and far less durable. Without 2k clearcoat (a little expensive and dangerous without the right protective gear), the paint will fade/yellow rapidly and chip/scratch very easily.

I just repainted a Trek Valencia and it turned out great. I used auto paint in a rattle can and about 4 coats of clear. It turned out beautiful. It's all in the prep. Wet sand between primer coats and a final buff out will make it look beautiful.

You really need to use some kind of catalyzed paint for durability. Rattle can paint in general is too soft. A good 2 part auto paint yields a fantastic finish if you shoot it with a Preval sprayer.

I've painted several bikes using spray cans and I also think that good prep is the key. Anytime that I've tried to cheap out by not removing all of the old finish the result was a paint job that chips easily. These haven't.

Love how you put your name on the one! Awesome!

a black undercoat and a transparent green over that made a nice black with a green patina on the bike I repainted in 1958.

Unless you really want to do it yourself I'd look into powder coating.

More durable than most paint and they will prep the frame as well since that's part of the process...

Thank you all for your response. This looks like a good cross section of availale options. I'm waiting for a call back on a powder coat estimate but I'm sure it's going to be more than I want to spend. I really had not thought of using a brush but I will look into that further.

One thing that lowers the cost of powder coating is combining your job with that of others , using the same color .

as I note in conversations with a powder coater, Here , the electricity to heat the Oven

to the pizza scorching temperatures needed to melt the powders, is the most expensive part ..