I am considering stripping the paint on my bike ,mainly to make it less apealing to theives.Is there any functional reason not to do this?Maybe more prone to rust for example?

Paint is there for protection of steel frames. If you want to camoflage the bike, add another layer. You may need to rough the surface up with some light sandpaper.
Aluminium doesnt need paint, but if its there, leave it.

mtrydr,

heh I just noticed you are from vegas too... anyways a un protected steel frame (i.e. no paint) will rust, depending on the bike, almost any bike can be stolen whether it looks good or not. certain parts may make someone want to take it etc. I'd just get a good lock and chain and remove some of the quick release parts (i.e. seat clamp) if you want to make it safer.

If you're dying to take off the paint you can do it with sandpaper, but I really wouldn't recomend it.

Also what part of town do you live in and what bike do you have? maybe we can ride sometime.

Ok.So if I want to repaint, what is the best way?It doesnt have to look professional, if fact I dont want it to.Do I have to sand it ?How many coats, of what type of paint?

If the paint on the bike is in decent shape with no rust or major scratches then get yourself a scotchbrite pad made by 3M and sand down the top-coat. You just want to sand the frame so that the new paint will stick to it. You have to sand everywhere or the paint won't stick and will start to peel. The scotchbrite pad gets into tight areas better than sandpaper. If you have any rust than you'll have to sand that down to clean, bare metal and then prime the area.

Once you've sanded everywhere, clean the frame with some rubbing alcohol and let that dry. Get your paint, follow the directions on the paint can and spray the frame in light, even coats. More than likely the paint job will look unprofessional and will chip quickly since it hasn't been baked.

This is alot of work. You could also just get a some spray paint and invite the local graffiti artists to go to work on it.

I used to work in a autobody shop so here is the skinny on painting. Like thbirks said you could use a scotch brite pad on the bike provided no rust exists. rust = sand to the metal. If you sand to the metal you will have to primer the area. If you plan to do this all with spray cans, stop right now. In the vegas heat after one sumer the paint will peal and crack. The weather here is just too hot for the paint to last.

I'm actually thinking of repainting my MTB, although I know how to do a professional job, without access to a spray booth and a baking oven, there is no way that I can do it. I found this place on the web, they do bike painting;Class Act Coatings for around $100 (if I read right ) that is really not much at all for a paint job. Paint, primer, clear coat are not cheap and if you did it yourself you would have to pay for extra paint that you probably would not use. Anyhow I would either ask some of the body shops here in town if they would do it, or send it to class act.

wrap duct tape all around the frame

LOL

I agree.