Regarding backing rattle-can paint jobs. I stumbled across an answer that handles large parts, up to and including frames, without additional expense. It does have a time disadvantage, however.
Last spring I painted a mid-60's Raleigh bicycle frame for a retro custom bike (based on a '48 BSA bicycle I saw at a vintage show), and while the paint job came out beautifully, it had the usual problem: Easy chipping. Disgusted, I took the frame up to the attic, hung it up in a far corner, and proceeded to forget about it for the rest of the summer.
That fall, I decided to give it another look. And discovered I had a beautifully hardened paint job. Finished the bike (it was going to be my work bike for this year, but I got laid off at the Honda shop and doubt that I'm getting called back) and the only chips on the paint are the ones from last year, pre-attic.
I've learned that baking paint doesn't mean 325 or 450 degrees F. It's something more like 150-190 degrees, or a slightly lower temperature for a longer period of time. Obviously, it's got a downside. Time. You tear down the bike, sandblast and paint the frame during the winter of 2009/early spring 2010, and you start rebuilding the bike fall/winter of 2010 for the 2011 spring riding season. For someone like me, with a dozen bicycles already hanging on the wall to choose from, that's no big deal. For someone who's got one motorcycle (in pieces, no less) that's a whole 'nother matter.
Obviously, I'm on a crash schedule of working on a few bicycle frames right now so I have ready to build this winter. Happily, none of my motorcycles need tear down and paint.
Oh yeah, that CB450 I was caffing out with my former (he got laid-off, too) co-worker at the motorcycle shop. Absolute frustration. The bike came out beautifully. The kid (sorry, but he's 24, I'm just shy of 60) rode it for two weeks and sold it. He was disappointed that it's wouldn't run with the SV650's, etc., or do the ton. Hell, a brand new CB450 back in 1967 had a top speed of just under the ton!
(Sound of my beating my head against the wall.) Unfortunately, I neither had the spare cash or garage space to buy the bike from him within the time frame he wanted to sell it (like, immediately, so as to have a down payment on a Ducati).