Today I taped off the panels and sprayed the red. The red that Yamaha typically used was a very bright red so spraying it over the white keeps it nice and bright. Lots of taping- it’s very important to get everything completely covered because any slight mist or overspray on Read more…
I saw this over at asphaltandrubber.com and just wanted you to see how dangerous quick refueling can be… Apparently, no one was seriously injured in the accident but it is pretty spectacular.
Today I spent a lot of time laying out the blocks in the stripes. Lots of measuring and then trial and error until I got the proportions and angles I wanted. Since the bodywork on this bike is obviously not the same as on the bike in the museum, it Read more…
While I am working on the RZ500, my friend Jerry is up in North Carolina reassembling the SL 350 that we painted the bodywork for a few months ago. It is really coming along nicely and as you can see from this set of pictures, it will be a sweet Read more…
Last time we sprayed a white base coat and 1 coat of clear on all the parts in preparation for laying out the graphics. After wet sanding everything with 400 grit so the red and blue base coats will stick, we mounted all the bodywork back on the bike so Read more…
Today I sprayed on the Polar White base coat and then 1 coat of clear so that while we are remounting the bodywork to lay out the graphics we don’t have to worry about getting dirt, fingerprints, etc on the white base. I will sand it all with 400 grit Read more…
Just a quick update- here are the parts all primed, sanded and ready for base coat paint. Since the base coat on this bike is basically just white, the parts will not really look any different in base coat- just a brighter white.
Well, today we are going to put the epoxy primer on the sanded and prepped parts. The first picture is the hand made aluminum gas tank. The 2 holes are where the relocated oil tank fillers stick through. Most paints don’t stick well to bare aluminum so it is important Read more…
After I stripped the bodywork off of the RZ, I went to work getting all the old paint off of the fairings. Lots of sanding! Since the parts were old and used, there were also some spider cracks in the gel coat from bumps, flexing, etc. These require repair by Read more…
I am starting on a new project this week that will be super-fun! This RZ500 is owned by a client who is trying to create a road legal replica of Kenny Robert’s last GP bike. So we have some pictures from the Yamaha museum in Japan that will serve as Read more…
This really makes sense since the average rider age has been going up each year and older people obviously are more easily injured and take longer to recover than younger people. Add in other preexisting medical problems (heart, blood pressure, etc) and you have the perfect storm. One thing everyone Read more…