Powdercoating was never intended be used on motorcycle frames. One day someone decided to to it and thought it was a good idea and then it just sort of took off because it was 'cheap' IMO powder coating belongs on handles of garden tools and outdoor furnature etc and maybe the odd small bike parts like shock springs.
Yes you get what you pay for.
Powder coating is easy and usually cheaper than paint. Im not a fan of powdercoating and would never get a frame done. If you really want to do it though, make sure the powdercoater uses an etch primer on the frame first otherwise your just wasting your money getting it done. The real cheap coaters do it onto bare metal with no primer. As soon as you get one little chip and expose the bare metal, moisture/cool air starts rusting the bare metal very quickly and if you dont notice it, the rust quicky works its way under the powder coat and then it starts to peel and fall off. Also a lot of powdercoaters will not take the time to mask things off like bearing mounts, threads, studs etc but most painters will. That is one of the reasons powercoating is cheaper. This means you have to clean the thick coating off when your re-fitting parts to the bike and you can have trouble fitting things like swingarms or shocks. When you have any imperfections in the frame a painter will apply a high build undercoat and rub/sand it back so the surface is smooth. Powder coaters dont do this. If there is imperfections, they just keep building the coating up till the surface is smoother but that also then makes the coating way too thick all over. Bottom line is that ive seen far too many bad powdercoat jobs so i couldn't really reccomend it.
Paint is also more maintenance free or should i say easier to maintain than powdercoating. If you get a chip in the powercoat and you haven't got a etch primer under it, basically if you dont touch up that bare metal spot asap, you may as well get your frame re-done again. if you get one little stone chip in an event, mud.water will get under the power coat and start rusting away with in hours/days, especially if its salty mud/water. If its painted and it happens to chip, it will only chip to the undercoat or primer and not back to bare metal so then you dont have to worry about it rusting right away and you can then touch it up the next day or what ever. How ever if the paint process is done right and the correct preparations and steps are used and the paint hasnt been applied real thick, then the paint shouldnt really chip at all, you might just get a scrape/rub mark.
Being in the restoration business, i only paint frames. I often get bikes that have been half started by someone else or the owner has done as much as they can and they usually have gone the cheap way of powdercoating and it hasnt been a very good job. Almost everyone i speak to that has had frames powdercoated has regretted it and wish they just got it painted. More often than not we end up getting their powdercoating stuff stripped off and then paint the parts after they realise that the powdercoating job isn't as good.
