I respectfully suggest that most of the work of a really, really, good respray is invisible on completion, particularly for a lugged bike. Perhaps the new generation of paints is more forgiving, but "prep" rules. Period. Les Lunas and my wife shared a booth we built in a shed in our back yard a couple of decades ago, and Les was a magician with Imron. But, the paint was almost an afterthought. The first and most important work was getting the surface absolutely clean, and absolutely right. This meant mm by mm inspection of every surface, tiny infills with body putty with immaculately sanding, and absolute devotion to phosphating, after which nothing got touched. Then 2-part epoxy primer, with all imperfections sanded down to bare metal and redone. Iterate till perfect. Only then did the imron get sprayed, with (of course) exact masking of lugs, etc if needed.
Susan still has an absolutely gorgeous tricolor fade Les did, from a pinkish champagne at the fork to a deep lilac in back. At no point can you see an actual color change.
And it has virtually no chips or scrapes, maybe 25 years later (albeit with not that many miles on it). Imron is very flexible, but if the prep and primer aren't done right, it don't matter nohow.
This level of care, which I expect of Joe Bell, Peter Weigle, and the other masters, is not cheap. Getting 98% of the way there is feasible at lower cost, I'm sure, but getting the absolutely right, with a finish that will stand up for decades, that's a trick, and worth paying for -- for a very special bike.
harvey sachs
mcLean va.