I'm curious as to what a decently priced paint job would cost for most of the bike if not all of it. I don't have the time or equipment or skills to do it myself or I would. I just want gloss and flat black but I want it done right. Got quoted 2500 but that's more than the bikes worth. You guys have any ideas?

$2500..... Holy moly    

Is that having the shop do all the work, in other words, you ride it there, then pick up the repainted bike?   If so, you might be able to save some money if you remove the parts from the bike yourself.    There's a few hours of removal and then reinstall a shop would have to do on a motorcycle.  

EFDIT : But.....   I'm laid off,  If you bring it to the east side of PA,  I would paint if for $2300    

I have the equipment and a bike need less than a pint of paint for 3 coats.  A pint is around $20.... plus some gasoline hardener for about $14.....  way cheaper than buying spray can paint and much better results.

HINT,  the $8.99 4 oz detailing spray gun from Harbor Freight goes slow but then you get almost no runs..

not wanting to toot my own horn here, but I posted pictures of my tank a few months back.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1262901203/22#22
The entire tank was painted with spray can Rustoleum and the total cost was about 50.00 Now granted I have painted a few, but 2300.00!!
This kind of result is not at all hard, it just takes time and prep work.
A year later and my tank looks just as good...and for 50.00 you paint it every year!

Find out where the local Squids get their bikes repainted...
They always know the best, cheap place...
They practically live there... ...

...

einheit13- that's a sweet paint job 550$ for that is a steal.  

Otherwise I would expect to pay about 200-400 for the tins painted off the bike.

Maaco will do your whole car for like 800$.  It's not a super pro wetsanded guaranteed no drips glass shiny job, but who knows what your getting at this shop you got the quote from.  I would expect perfect solid normal base coat clear coat job on a whole car to be 2500$.  For anything 500+ I'd expect them to take all the tins off for me..

For 2500$ on a bike I'd probably expect the whole bike to be disassembled the frame to be stripped and powder coated, and a custom design paint job on the tins.  It could go to 5000$ on a sport bike with some of those wild full body air brush jobs you see at bike shows, but on a cruiser there isn't much too them.  

OMG! I did the prep wortk on my 78 280Z and had it shot with emron & clear coat for $400......I just painted my front fendr, tank & side covers for $20 worth of materials and 16 hours of my time over a 3 day weekend (includes drying time between coats).......a good paint job is all in the prep a monkey can spray paint.....but can he wet sand?

1 remove the parts (less than 1 hour)
2 wipe all parts down with acetone to get rid of wax and rpep for sanding
3 wet sand 600
4 prime
5 wet sand 1000
6 lite coat of color
7 med. coat of color
8 wet sand 1200
9 lite coat of color
10 wet sand 1200
11 lite coat of clear
12 wet sand 1200
13 med coat clear
14 final lite coat of clear
14 steps - 14 hours...in 60F temp or higher with low humidity.....low temp or high humidity will screw with the drying time and cloud the clear coat.

that is how i did mine - supplies from auto zone

weracerc wrote on 01/27/11 at 13:57:17:

?????? why do you sand between coats??? there is no need to....

Took me a week, but that was because of my work schedule....
Spray can w/ duplicolor and clear coat with Spraymax 2K....
Degrease tank
wet sand w/400
wash with clean water
wash w/mineral spirits (100% )
quick coat of duplicolor adhesion promoter
4 coats of color
dry for 48 hours
scuff w/1000
wipe w/ mineral spirits (100% )
5 coats of Spraymaz 2K
let dry for 48 hours
wet sand w/ 2000
wash w/ clean water
buff w/ 3M polishing compound
let cure for another 48 hours
polish with Mother's carnuba wax......






Done in one day with just a wet sand and installed on the next day....

Before you start in on your bike thinking you can do as good a job as that, get some clean, straight sheet metal & do it on that.