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Seen a nice steel frame that's pretty battered that I like, bike I've always wanted to ride and I've always fancied giving a frame a custom paint job or restoring one.
What kind of costing would I be looking at?
Not sure if powder coating or respray would be better and I'd like to get some of the brands decals too which are available.
Cheers in advance, as always.
I've had good results from Argos Racing Cycles on a couple of occasions, one on a steel frame (they also did a minor repair on the frame).
I know the website looks a bit basic but they're very experienced.
You can get far fancier stuff - have a look at fatcreations and doktorbobby on Instagram if you want the truly artistic custom paintjobs - but that is also much more expensive!
The world is your oyster mate as you can get a reasonable powder coat in a basic colour for sub £50 or spend hundreds on a fancy wet paint job. Doesn't have to be expensive.
Good start is just a quick google of 'powder coaters near me' - you'll find a lot that just do fences/iron work etc, but if you find any that do car/motorbike parts that's usually a good start. There's a good chance they've done bikes before, ask them what prep they usually do. If they talk about masking threads etc then you're probably in safe hands.
+1 for Argos.
I bought an Indy Fab steel deluxe which had seen better days; kept the frame but sold off/gave away everything else.
Argos removed the EBB grub screw bosses and filled; did the same for one set of bottle cage bosses; filled some dings; blasted back to bare metal and then a 4 coat wet finish with original IF decals.
Perfect finish and they supplied touch-up base and top coat...for a modest charge.
Not the most expensive but not the cheapest.
I would use them again.
This mob have been used plenty by the retro crowd and are at the lower cost end of the spectrum.
These are more expensive but very good.
After that, Argos and the like will do whatever you want, depending on how deep your pockets are. I never bother with invisiframe or stuff like that because you can get a whole new paint job for a similar cost.