Yeah I was afraid of that. Painting or decal specialist should know. I wish I had my '89 Cannondale in front of me (deep in storage), I think the decals were under a clearcoat, but I could be wrong about it having a clearcoat at all. 2K paint might be different, in not having solvent that evaporates, but is instead a 2 part curing paint, but not in my wheelhouse of knowledge.

I had a steel frame sandblasted and powder coated in a single color for a reasonable price. Is the Shiv carbon?

I painted a carbon fork. I ruined it. I took a high gloss red paint and sprayed it, several layers. Looked good. Between layers, I'd wet sand I, I think around 1500 grit. I did this several times until it was very uniform. It looked pretty good. Then I sprayed it with a layer of high gloss clear coat and in the next few minutes the entire thing went full on alligator skin. Actually, I don't know the technical term. All the paint cracked uniformly in the same way a mud puddle in the desert dries. After the clear coat dried, the effect sort of settled down but it couldn't be polished or buffed out since the clear coat was covering the cracking.

I tried again with either longer or shorter cure time for the initial coat, same effect. I'm sure the clear coat and paint were incompatible even though everything I read said they were. I got so disgusted by the project that I binned the whole thing and put the steel fork back on my bike.

If I were to paint a frame again, I'd do it on a dumpy commuter to make it look less attractive to thieves.

There are some pretty high quality rattle can paints out there. You might be okay. I'd highly recommend avoiding a clear coat.

It sounds like you've got a lot of bikes. One bit of advice I got once, and I'm not sure if it's even true, is that high quality spray paint can get as hard as a good paint. The problem is that it takes much longer to reach its hardness. I think his plan was to hang it from the rafters for a year. I think I read someone here was going to build a greenhouse to keep their frame in, to speed up cure time.

Some people pay extra for that antiqued look on antiques!

"... Of course it would be worth more if it hadn't been refinished." - Antiques Roadshow

I'm partial to industrial wrinkle-finish paint, though not on bikes, it's high drag and hard to clean.

Different brands of paint with different incompatible thinner/solvent. Very common.

when U ride one of these color is irrelevant ... your kit is irrelevant ... your times are the only thing that is relevant, it's a race not a parade unless of course you are a professional poser >>> LIKE ME

I LOVED looking at my old road bike, the aesthetics was part of the reward. I didn't race. But it was my first good bike. I kept it immaculate looking its whole life.

I love my heavily modified 20" folder. But it's just not the same.

There are different perspectives on the aesthetics of the look of a bike.

I like a clean bike with complimentary colors on the components. With bikes, a little more bling usually does a lot more than a little less IMO.

There are others who don't care if their bike is scratched, dirty, tears in the saddle or whatever. Not trashed, not neglected, running well with no concerns for appearance.

To each their own. I would guess though, that you'll ride a bike that you like more than one you don't. Even if the only thing you dislike is the looks.

I do ride a bike that, more or less, looks like that. Wouldn't call myself a poser, just slow. And I do like looking at my bike. Even if it is old by standards today. Don't care. I like it and I intend to ride it so long as I and the bike are capable.

That's my feelings about my old road bike, only good bike bought new. So many miles together, I can't bear to sell it. Perhaps if I still rode a road bike, I might want something newer. But I'm in folder-townie mode now.

a tri bike is aTRI BIKE ... it aint a fixie or a roadie or a MTB or a foldup and the guys who ride them are mostly hard core physio cats sooooo if you are just a slomo rider you're gonna stick out when you ride your candy apple sparkling painted TRI BIKE down to the craft brewery or grocery store ... so if you don't mind looking like a poser deluxe re color it to your heart's content but don't be put off when some young kid on a Fixed gasses you on the MUP