Can a Bike Frame Stay Primer
 

This may seem like a silly question but I've searched the forums and nobody else has been dumb enough to ask, so I will :-p

I just found an old FUJI Sport 10 Speed a neighbor was throwing out so I snagged it and took it apart. I have no immediate plans for it but I don't want the surface rust it already has to get worse sitting in my shed. I'm thinking of cleaning it up, taking it down to bare metal and just priming it for now. Many of the articles I've read said letting the primer go 24 hours + is a good thing, but I've also seen posts about having to go from primer to paint within a certain time frame.

I'm planning to use Duplicolor enamel (since I know all paints are different).

Thanks for any insight in advance.

- Justin

The primer will hold a final coat better if it is relatively clean and fresh. But my commuter bike was primered over 20 years ago and never got a finish coat. It doesn't look like much, but that was my intention (urban camouflage). If/when I decide to put a finish coat on it, I'll take it back to bare metal and re-primer it first.

primer is stickier than paint and attracts a lot of dirty finger prints.

but it does provide a good protective coat.

you could just oil it up instead if you intend to store it.

Primer is porous to hold the final layers of paint. As such, it's not waterproof. You'll want to seal it with oil if you want to leave it primer-coloured. But forget about doing the finishing layers of color later. Or you can clearcoat over the primer.

i gotta agree, you can leave it primer, but id spray clearcoat over it to help protect it from oils and dirt. if you decide to color it later on , you can sand down, primer and paint then. should be ok.

It's not worth sanding down twice so I guess I'll just go with the good ol' standby of painting it solid black like my current road bike. Thanks everyone!