I'm not saying that the Klein painters weren't good, but they weren't perfect either. The smaller flaw in the paint observed was from a brand new bike and the second larger flaw was from a bike that hasn't faded a bit. These were out and and flaws, not fading over time. I'll see if I can get a decent picture of it. Problem is the bike is a place where I can't get good light, we'll try.
If you find a good painter, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to find one that is every bit as skilled as one of Kleins. For the most part, their paint jobs aren't really that complex, with exceptions of course. But a fade, either front to back or linear really isn't that complex in the scheme of things. Take a look at the scrapbooks of some custom painters for an examples of some really complex work. OTOH, I've had some work done by a woman who had some great looking examples both in her scrapbooks and in her shop but the work she did for me really, truly sucked rocks, absolutely awful! Recently I saw a motorcycle with a $12,000 paint job, now that was amazing and amazingly complex.
The neon colors, by their nature, aren't as durable. A paint shop told me that they are dyes and not pigments. I've been involved in art and can say that inks that have dyes in them last a few years before looking so-so. Archival, pigmented inks are designed to last for 100 years. I'm not certain if the current neons aren't more durable than they were 17 years ago, but they still aren't as durable as most non-neons. I park my neon-colored fade bike in the shade when I can so as to preserve it as much as possible.
'guin