For me (a painter but my experience is confined to painting old streetcars
not bikes) it's really simple: did they paint PX-10s, Raleigh Pros, Cinellis etc. in the CR List timeframe with "powder coat" paint. If no t, then I wouldn't. Someone always has to "improve" on the original. Driv es me nuts. And this business about durability and chipping... you're ta lking classic bikes here, not a wheelbarrow. I mean what do you guys do with y our bikes, wrap 'em around lampposts or run 'em off cliffs? The original pai nt on my PX-10 (1969) looks as good as the day it left the shop. A good, mediocre factory paint job with plain auto emamel. Good enough then, goo d enough now.
Anyway, paint ain't paint. And cheapness and ease of putting it on ain't no reason to use it. The real cost and work of a proper paint job is the colour AND gloss match, the prep work and the application.... the paint cost is not even an issue. I associate "powder coat" with some Chinese-m ade "Raleigh" hydbrid. And surely you can't get it in cool original colours like Humber Polychromatic Lilac anyway?
Ah, that feels much better getting that off chest.... me, I'm off on my first ride on my 1981 Peugeot PXN-10e with its vintage Pearl White paint, thanks very much.
Peter Kohler Washington DC USA
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