Leave it? Or paint it?

My roommate's boyfriend came over today and took a gander at Goldie. Benjamin is also learning how to fix bikes and has been eyeballing some off Craigslist as well. It must be Portland, we're all obsessed with bikes. I read a statistic that said that 7 out of 10 people who live here own at least one bike. I know so many people that own more than that, myself included. I couldn't bring myself to sell my old cruiser with the bear bell and the cushy seat.

Anyway, Benjamin comes over and we're talking bikes. He thinks I should leave the color just like it is. He says it gets mega points for style. I don't disagree, after all, I named her Goldie for a reason. But there's something in me that wants the pristine finish of a not-scratched-up bike.

We both agree that there needs to be some improvements, a new seat for instance. New brake wires for sure. Some metal things to hold the brake lines to the bike instead of the plastic zip tie things that are holding them now.

Apparently there's a place in town that will paint your bike for you for a mere $120 bucks. They dip paint it and you don't have to worry about the massive sanding and painting job yourself.

But painting the bike myself doesn't seem like it would be that bad. The worst part would be taking it apart and putting it back together. As for paint, I'd just take it step by step.

1) take bike apart
2) use paint thinner to clean bike of grease and all weird foreign things and dirt
3) dry it
4) sand it with fine grit and then use white primer
5) dry the primer, then sand the bumps
6) repeat last step
7) wet sand it with super fine grit
8) let dry
9) paint with desired color
10) let dry then finish with a clear epoxy

It's not rocket science. But Benjamin kept whispering "and don't paint it" between every little conversation about what needs to be done. Haha, she is cute, but I think I still want to paint her gold. Maybe a rose gold with a pearly lustre to it. Yeah. With brown accents for grip tape and seat...