tarwheel 

I've got a Gunnar Crosshairs frame and fork that I bought used last year for commuting, but the fit turned out to be less than ideal. I also decided I wanted a new touring frame (Soma Saga) to replace my Bob Jackson, which will now be used for commuting. So, I plan to sell the Gunnar. It's a nice riding frame with tons of clearance for big tires and mounts for fenders and racks. However, the paint is not in great shape. The previous owner had it repainted, so it's not original, and it has rust spots popping up here and there. I could touch up the rust spots, but I'm thinking about having the frame and fork powder-coated, which I could get done locally for about $100.

Do you think the investment in a new paint job would pay off when selling the frame? One potential problem is that I would have to pick a color, and that choice might not appeal to everyone. I was thinking of painting gloss black or red.

CV-6 

No. Your thoughts about color are bang on and you likely would not recover the cost of a repaint.

cycle_maven

Almost never worth it to repaint a frame to sell. The only exceptions are for rare and desirable frames painted factory-exact in a full restoration.

If you think you can get $100 more for the Crosshairs frame than you paid for it if it were powder-coated, then go for it. Otherwise, just unload it and get the Soma.

frantik

if i were going to pay for a freshly powder coated frame i'd want to pick the color

fietsbob

IDK the Local Bike Market where You Live

Maybe if you go Full Replica and it's a prestige maker.

I got a Tubes replaced repair , and full redo on a Masi in the 80's think I made $40 over cost,
But got the Buyer's AlAn Super in the transaction. Moved over his Parts except the seat Post..

Gunnar after a Repaint will look just like any other TIG welded Frame.

Soma Surly and so forth are TIG too ..

tarwheel 

I wouldn't want to do a full replica because the Gunnar decals of that era were really ugly, plus that would cost an additional $50.

My intuition is the same as others who posted, that it probably wouldn't pay off to get it repainted.

r0ckh0und 

Ya......I passed on fully restored Schwinn Voyageur earlier this week. I just couldn't live with the repaint. I would only do a repaint on a keeper.

mobilemail

Small world, eh? :-). It was good to meet you!

randyjawa 

Have a look at Should I Paint My Bicycle? For me, the answer is a solid no - you will not recover the cost, let alone add value to the bike. My opinion, not cast in stone fact.

DIMcyclist

I tend to agree that it's almost never worth it to repaint the frame; however, "almost" does imply exceptions...

I'm facing a similar dilemma with a pretty nice Univega MTB frameset I picked up over the summer (with the interest of clearing out my spare parts cache, I snagged two Univega framesets in VG condition, one of which I've built & posted about elsewhere on the forum; at the moment I'm addressing the other frame)...

I could build this frame into a really sweet commuter, and sell it for about $125 - $150, thereby getting a pretty close return on the original cost of my old parts + the frame (which was $35).

Then again, I could also get it powdercoated (which would effectively make it a new frame) & re-decaled for about $125, and it would easily sell on our local CL for about $250, which neatly pays for the new paint (and allows someone to own a very solid bike in excellent shape).

It wouldn't cost me anything in terms of cash, but for the past three months I've been wondering whether it's really worth the extra effort.

tarwheel 

Here's where I'm leaning. The Crosshairs is really nice, light-weight frame set with lots of clearance for larger tires and fenders, and mounts for fenders and racks. It doesn't have the original paint job and the repaint done by the previous owner was not great. I hate to sell the frame for peanuts but would like to see someone continue to use it for commuting or cyclocross.

If I can get it powder coated locally for about $100, I'll probably get it repainted. It's worth the gamble to me because it's a really nice frame set. Personally I don't think the lack of original paint or decals is a big deal because it's not a class bike anyway, and a new powder coat should be a plus for either commuters or cyclocrossers.

kroozer 

If I'm not going to keep a frame then I don't put anything into it, and price it accordingly. I think a lower-priced frame is usually easier to sell, and of course it's a lot less work. Let the new owner do it.

lostarchitect 

I wouldn't do it. I very much doubt it will raise the selling price by $100, if at all.