My friend found a BMX bike at a garage sale for $8. This was a bargain, so he picked it up. The bike worked well, but it was definitely in need of care. The previous owners had tried to paint it, but did a horrible job. For one thing, they didn't disassemble or even mask off parts of the bike, so everything had over-spray on it. Also, they put the paint on so thick that it never cured properly and had runs everywhere.  It was clear that we would have to give this bike some TLC.

Our first job in restoring the bike would be re-painting it. We enlisted the help of several sheets of sandpaper and several days to get rid of the old paint. After that, we hit it with a nice, even coat of primer, to prevent rust and provide a surface for the new paint to bond to. We used 4 cans of Real Orange spray paint to give the bike a new lease on life. In addition to the four cans of paint, we used a whole can of clear coat to protect the paint and make it last.