Note: I posted this over in the Mechanics forum, but so far no replies, so I thought I try here as well...

I purchased an old steel Nishiki frame off eBay and am building it up as a fixed/singlespeed (thanks Sheldon for the inspiration). The paint was in pretty tough shape (bleached by the sun, some chips, decals just about gone), so I decided to have it bead blasted and powdercoated gloss black.

So far, so good. But I'd like to put a few decals on it, as well as paint the lugs a contrasting color (gold maybe?), and spray on a lacquer clear coat (to protect the decals/lugs). Should I:

1. Go for it.
2. Go with Plan B (i.e., use 1shot for the contrasting color, lay on the decals, but skip the clear coat).
3. Forget the whole thing and just stick with a simple powdercoat.


Thanks in advance.

A simple answer. Ask the shop doing the powdercoat if it can be clearcoated and if so, with what.

I would do the decals and skip the clearcoat. If you damage the decals later they will be a lot easier to replace and the clearcoat will not do anything for your powdercoat.

I vote for 3. or maybe 2. 1 seems like a lot of work for an old steel Nishiki frame you bought off eBay. but then again I ride a plain gloss black frame.