Previous owner of my Inspired had brush painted it. I got it powdercoated.
Coach enamel can be pretty self-levelling especially if you can get the hang of quick wet coats and not repainting (which personally, I suck at, but it’s an aquirable skill) But the thing is, it’s also not very tough. Well, that’s complicated. It’s very hard, so it resists some damage really well but it#s also fairly thin and doesn’t have amazing adhesion, which means it chips like a mofo on bikes. And clearcoat doesn’t really help much with that. It’s a wee bit like glass- glass is super tough and resists damage and scratches until you hit it with the exact right thing to break it, and then it shatters. But for enamel paint the exact right thing is every rock.
(btw Most times roller or brush painting cars is mostly about the sanding step, the idea is that if you’re going to knock the whole thing back anyway with a machine sander, it doesn’t matter that much if you start with a gun or with a roller. But sanding bike frames back is a bloody nightmare, so many curves and edges and shapes and inaccessible bits. For a bike, I’d want the best possible finish straight from the application, and as little post-work as possible. But then I’ve only ever painted one frame myself and the whole process sucked, I will stick to cars and motorbikes in future)
