Why I like Motorcycles

Ever considered doing it yourself? Pulling/filling a dent isn't all that hard and even rattle-cans can provide an excellent paint job. Kawasaki tank emblems and decals can often be purchased online (see link) or hand done with a little simple masking or practiced brush work and a clearcoat over the paint job provides excellent results. A person doesn't have to be a pro to obtain a beautiful paint job on a motorcycle... and if you screw it up then simple sandblast job and take it to the pros. LOL

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=kawasaki+vulcan+decals

 

Should not have happened! If getting rained on will damage a cycle, there is already a problem!

 

Good point, I might as well go ahead and try to do the paint myself... the results may be adequate, and if not I can just take it in like you say. The dent repair has to be done right though, and I simply don't have the tools or experience to get it done.

 

It was either the rubber seal which goes between the lens and housing, or one of the small plastic washers which go with the two screws that fasten the lens to the housing. I left the bike out during storms and all winter, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that water found it's way into a place it shouldn't be.

 

Not a problem as a "body shop" can pull the dent. Just tell them you want to try to paint it yourself. They don't mind.

A cool story on a "rattle-can" paint job.

I was at my local Harley dealer recently and a guy was there with a cool knucklehead Harley bobber painted in a turquoise blue and antique white paint scheme that looked great. I got to talking with him and it was a "rattle-can" paint job that had some unexpected twists when he painted it. He had exisiting "on-the-shelf" cans of spray paint that he'd purchased in the past and they were deep blue, pure white, and clear. When he started to paint it he started on the rear fender with primarily blue and white as the secondary color but when done he realized that he didn't have enough blue paint to continue that on the tank so he flipped the paint scheme to white with blue on the tank. No biggie and it looked good. Then he went to clear coat it but the clear was old and had a serious yellow tint when he used it. that yellowish tint somehow turned the deep blue into turquoise and the pure white into an antique white. It was NOT what he'd planned but when he stood back and looked at it the paint job couldn't have been better. It really made his Harley look like an old school bobber and that is what he really wanted in the first place.

Sometimes "mistakes" can actually be a very good thing.

 

I can't say enough good things about the YouTube poster { Competition Accessories }
and the proper ways of motorcycling.The guy lives,breathes and sleeps motorcycles.
Of course that's his business.He sells motorcycle stuff.
But his knowledge and advice on motorcycling is very helpful and usually spot-on.
I go back to the - Honda CB 1100 Forum - site and it's the same as another
site I frequented - M109 forum - where the owner of the site was a bully.
I can read the comments on - Honda CB 1100 Forum - but have lost all
posting priviledge { was banned }. Not for vile words,just because I dared to
challenge one of the Mods and the Owner over their many motorcycle mistakes.
Like insisting the Honda CB 1100 has a range around 200 miles and can get
50 mpg or better.Flat out bull. The bike has a range between 140-150 miles.
There's a lot of very mistaken motorcycle spiels out there.In fact,it's worse
than politics.It's like hairdos.Or clothes.
It's refreshing to know there are such wonderfully pleasant,good-natured
guys like - Reuben - of YouTube { Competition Accessories } who is relaxed
and confident enough to dispense with any bull and just tell it like it is.
he even did a segment about using a motorcycle as THE main source of
transportation.As a daily transport.of course he sells gears and has a huge cache
of all weather clothes and lives in South Carolina { very mototcycle friendly for weather }.

 

If your not familiar with Alsa Corp you should check them out. Awesome custom paints and many are available in "Killer Cans".
http://www.alsacorp.com

 

I picked up an HVLP turbine and gun. I've saved $thousands and now spray/clear the cars i restore and no longer drop $1k for a "basic" paint job.

Sherwin Williams has decent and reasonably priced automobile paint and clear.

It can be used on bikes and furniture as well

 

Using an HVLP gun is obviously an excellent choice for painting almost anything and is especially good for painting cars. The gun is inexpensive and the cost is really because they require a pretty good size air compressor (don't forget filters to remove oil/water from the compressed air). A touch-up gun also works well on motorcycle size paint jobs and can use a smaller (less expensive) air compressor.

Many don't have the compressor set-up though and for them I'd suggest either canned spray paint or perhaps a relatively inexpensive airbrush set-up like Harbor Freight offers and probably the "Quick Change Airbrush Kit" as well (for the additional paint cups).

http://www.harborfreight.com/16-hp-58-psi-oilless-airbrush-compressor-kit-69434.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/quick-...blog&utm_campaign=airbrush=sprayer-kit-102513

The airbrush is a bit slower than a spray can but it produces an excellent finish and a person can be very creative with an airbrush. The airbrush also offers a zillion different paint colors that can be purchased at any automotive paint store like Wesco. For about $100 a person can be completely set-up for airbrushing.

 

actually, quality spray guns for the turbine are expensive and HF doesn't sell them. I have the turbine, not a compressor and turbines aren't cheap but I got mine off Ebay and saved 1/2 and it was in great shape. They use low pressure and warm the air and throw nowhere near the "cloud" that air compressor sprayers do. But, they are less forgiving and you need a real good gun or you'll be sanding all of the orange peel. You need to cut the paint more than with a traditional sprayer too.

I shot a pickup with single stage from paintforcars.com. The paint kit was under $100 and I picked up a couple of quarts of acetone at WalMart to reduce it further. Masking from Harbor Freight, a roll of paper from WalMart in the shipping/office section, sandpaper from HF, the paint and acetone and I did the truck for well under $200 and it came out great with single stage.

the paint from that site isn't bad but for "keepers", I use Sherwin Williams base/clear

 

There are YouTube video of guys using just can spray paint and having excellent results.
The trick is to make sure and wet sand the tank smooth down to almost metal
and then applying the can spray paint { using the best can spray paint } in layers
and with a circular motion.If you are looking for a flat black finish,then there is no
reason to have a professional shop paint yer tank and fenders.Plus the weather has a lot
to do with how the paint dries and therefore the quality.You need a warm and dry
environment.

 

Absolutely correct.

I typically use 600 grit wet/dry (using it wet with a touch of soap) to initially sand whatever I'm painting. Then apply the primer, basecoat (color), and clear and I use 1600 grit wet/dry (using it wet with a touch of soap) between coats. When finished I sand it with 2400 grit (wet) and then polish the finish to a perfect shine. The results are "show quality" when these steps are followed.

 

Of note on my Stone Free II chopper project I'm using pearl red, pearl white, pearl blue and pearl black paint plus clear and all I have to paint is a helmet, the tank, and rear fender (that's all of the sheet metal on the motorcycle) so I'll be buying a quart of each. Each paint kit (with hardener) cost about $60 and I could buy a gallon for $90 but I just don't need a gallon of any of the colors. So while I won't use all of the paint my basic paint costs are $300 but I also have some gold leaf work (and I'll be using real gold leaf and not the fake gold leaf) so my total cost is going to be somewhere under $400 in materials.

That might seem like a lot but when compared to having a professional do it where the cost would be more like $2,000 it isn't.

It is after all, a show bike so the high cost related to the paint job is sort of to be expected.

 

Anyone have tips for painting plastic? The rear fender on my bike is plastic. From what I've read, I should sand it a bit to add texture for the paint, and that a primer is not needed. I'd kinda like to lay down a primer first for good measure anyways.

 

Went riding today with a dude who has a Yamaha Warrior 1700. Damn, what an incredible bike. Pretty proud of my 500cc kawi though, she kept pace like a champ.

 

It is one of the only metrics that could compete against me when riding my 2002
VTX 1800.The Warrior also sounds awesome { uses pushrods and single-pin crank }.
I seldom saw the almost rare - Warrior -. I think it had a run of less than 10 years.
The VTX 1800 fell victim to saturation and the much more stout sounding VTX 1300.
Which also used a single-pin crank instead the dual offset crank on a VTX 1800.
I was considering a - Warrior -.However I didn't want the outmoded " pushrod ' design.

 

They only make 82 horsepower, on a 500 they might seem fast, but its about like a sportster(10 less horsepower, 500 less cc's, and over 100lbs lighter then the 1700)

 

I wasn't too impressed with it's performance, especially for such displacement, but more impressed with it's appearance and sound. I'd imagine that he was slightly disappointed that he couldn't make me that small in his rear view.

Kawasaki got it right with the EN500 and EX500 engine. High reving parallel twin, strong powerband, and six speed transmission. I've spanked several Sporsters, Shadows, Boulavards, larger Vulcans. I even annoy the occasional sport bike.

 

ohh i see, lol.

 

The Warrior evolved from a really lug of a motor { Road Star } pushrod engine
that made just 58 h.p. to a Patrick Racing in class hot rod engine.
The engine was bored out a little bigger with all new technology on the internals
like ceramic coating.The biggest feature from the slug Road Star was dramatically
bigger air box.Bigger muffler and high tech fuel injection.The Road Star had
little in the way of RPM capablilty { very low cut off or rev limiter }

 

Using a primer is still a good idea but use a high quality primer (a spray can works as long as it's not something like Rustoleum). I just purchased a primers/filler in a spray can at Wesco and it cost about $20 as I recall.

I must admit I'm no expert on painting plastic though.

 

A friend of mine died this afternoon. Be safe out there.

http://wishtv.com/2014/05/23/motorc...V_News+(WISHTV.com+|+Indianapolis,+IN+-+News)

 

Sorry to hear that Bud.

There was a fatality near here as well just the other night. Very tragic... a guy at work told me the girl who died wasn't experienced, and that her Dad was in a car behind her.

http://www.newspressnow.com/news/local_news/article_53fe5842-272b-5cf2-b507-0aed29c2c642.html

It's dangerous out there.

 

My condolences as well.

 

The circumstance of the accident (i.e. drifting over the center of the road) indicates a very new and inexperienced rider that probably didn't take the Motorcycle Riders Safety Course.

New riders often don't follow the "look ahead where you want to go" (a motorcycle tends to go where you look) and push down in the handle-bar more to tighten the turn that the basic course teaches. I've been around new riders that have this problem of not being able to negotiate a turn properly because they don't look far enough ahead into a turn. Their focus is perhaps 30-50 feet in front of the motorcycle instead of perhaps a 1/4 mile ahead in a sweeping turn.

How very sad that her father actually witnessed the accident as well.

All motorcycle accidents are very tragic.