From Aprilia’s press release- NEW YORK – May 4, 2010 – Aprilia USA, the North American importer and distributor of award-winning motorcycles, announces the Ride Like a Champion tour, an education and training program for Aprilia dealers, just in time for the 2010 riding season. Aprilia dealers, who received product Read more…
Well, the bike is taped off to paint the blue stripes and you can start to see the final design coming together. We still haven’t decided if we want to paint the large red number plates on the lowers like the factory bike. It might be a bit much. I’ll Read more…
Actually, just this past weekend, thank-you. I went up to visit my friend Jerry in NC and one of the things we wanted to do was take all of the bikes in his collection that run on a short ride. We got through about half of them. They were all Read more…
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…
In today’s installment, we are spraying on the silver base coat that gives the metallic look to the translucent candy red top coat. When you are using a tri coat system like this, the base coats need to have hardener added so that when you spray the red top coat Read more…
The SL has a mix of materials used for it’s bodywork- steel for the tank, aluminum for the fenders and plastic for the side covers. In a case like this, the best primer to use is an epoxy primer like PPG’s DPLF. It sticks to anything and anything sticks to Read more…
My friend Jerry is currently in the midst of restoring his 71 SL 350 and since I did the paint work for him, I thought it would be cool to post the progress for everyone to see. The bike was not a total wreck, it was just showing its age Read more…
From a friend with “connections” to Buell… “Speculation about the bike indicates a displacement of 1199cc with much less weight and more horsepower than the current 1125R, it’s the kind of bike you would build if you were planning on World Super Bike competition, or more to the point, the Read more…
Unfortunately, we will never get to see one of these on the road but the picture is intriguing in a “what if” kind of way… I do wish we could see it from the front with headlights, etc since it looks much better than the 1125R.
Very cool if you haven’t seen it yet. Obviously not intended for anything other that urban areas, but still a great idea. Their website says that they are not planning to import them to the US in the near future since their main market is Europe and NZ but I Read more…
BMW is so proud of this video that they sent out this press release- Awarded S 1000 RR Dinner Spot most successful BMW film on YouTube with more than 1 million clicks. With currently almost 1.4 million clicks the S 1000 RR Dinner Spot became the most successful BMW film Read more…
This is a copy and paste straight from Buell’s website. 185 HP- very nice. Check out the rest of the specs, it is pretty impressive. Obviously not street legal, but I suspect that some of the nice pieces will filter down and be available to those who bought the last Read more…
Now that the Street Rod is done, it is time for it to find a new home. The paint is beautiful, the aluminum is polished and the bike is completely serviced including new tires. Priced at 8999.00, it is about 2500.00 under NADA book value. The 07 Street Rod was Read more…
This is a glimmer of hope in an otherwise very bleak powersports industry. The fact that BMW is adding dealers may just be wishful thinking, but I suspect that they are planning on converting some owners of other brands. BMW has a great lineup now with the addition of the Read more…
So, if you haven’t ever seen this, it is worth watching. This guy lives up there and obviously has the course dialed in. But still, this is impressive. The guy filming is also on a Wing and you can hear his footpegs scraping in every corner. (Thanks for the link Read more…
Press release from BMW- HUSQVARNA NAMED MARQUE OF THE YEAR FOR 2010 AMA VINTAGE DAYS Woodcliff Lake, NJ – February 2, 2010…Husqvarna, BMW’s off-road motorcycle marque, will celebrate both its heritage and its future as the Marque of the Year at the 19th Annual AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, July 9-11 Read more…
I finally got around to updating the Kawasaki page in the galleries. Check it out for a few custom painted Kawasakis. If pearl white with pink flames is not your thing, there are a few others!
I have fixed a few bikes when guys have hit deer, and it is always a lot worse than this. The fact that he kept the bike up and didn’t crash is amazing. Probably more luck than skill, but hey, it’s better to be lucky than good sometimes!
Well, if you haven’t seen this, it is just great. He hadn’t ridden any bike in a year and he jumps on maybe the hardest, most beastly bike ever created and rides like it is 1975. Pretty cool.
This is not surprising considering the state of the industry and the economic conditions. Many dealers I have talked to are struggling to even stay in business so the manufacturers are obviously hurting as well… At any rate, they are not doing anything that some of the big auto companies Read more…
It really seems like a simple and obvious thing to do- call a customer after the sale and make sure they are happy. But apparently it doesn’t happen very often. That’s because sales people are pressured to sell and once a bike is sold, they move on to the next Read more…
Lots of time and effort went into this video of a GSXR reassembling itself. It is really well done. I wish my bikes would reassemble themselves like this!
Here are a few pictures of the finished V-Rod Street Rod. This is a super rare bike that Harley only produced 700 of in 07. In addition to the paint and cosmetic repairs, I also did a complete service that included new hydraulic fluids for the brakes and clutch, oil Read more…
Today, the weather was a bit nicer with temps in the 60’s and sunny skies. So it was the perfect winter day to do the final buffing on the paint. Even though the paint looks great after clear-coating, we wet sand everything again to eliminate any slight orange peel or Read more…
As a follow-up to yesterdays post, here is a nice BMW intro video for the S 1000 RR. Looks like the Italians and Japanese have some real competition to contend with…
We are in the final stages of the “restore the V-Rod” project and is is starting to get really fun. Today, we get to install the replacement exhaust and put the chrome heat shields back on the pipes. The original mufflers were scratched when the bike fell over- not badly Read more…
Here is a quick little press release from BMW concerning their new S 1000 RR Superbike. When you are riding around on a +/-200HP bike that weighs in at about 400lbs, it might be necessary to have some really good training under your belt if you want to stay alive. Read more…
When you pit 2 bikes like this against each other, you have to remember that they are so close and so good that you are really comparing preferences instead of hard data. I suspect that 2 different testers may well have picked a different winner- and as they point out, Read more…
So, now we are in the final stages of our project and some of these are really tedious and time consuming. Since this bike was a daily ridden commuter bike, it wasn’t cleaned and polished regularly- so the aluminum parts like case covers, swingarm and wheels had that dull slightly Read more…
Jay Leno is one of the good guys- he loves motorcycles, cars and pretty much anything with a motor. So, it is really cool to see him do the dealer show intro for Piaggio Group’s line-up, which include Aprilia, Moto Guzzi and Vespa. Press release from Piaggio Group- Moto enthusiast Read more…
Well, the V-Rod is on the ground and rolling. After a thorough cleaning with all the bodywork off, we are ready to reassemble. Wet sanding the tank (really, air box cover) is easier with it off the bike, but I won’t buff it until it is installed. Plus, we have Read more…
Today I reinstalled the front end components- forks, wheel and the clutch and brake mater cylinders. Here’s a tip for you- always do your cleaning and polishing with the parts off the bike for ease and simplicity. It is way easier to clean a wheel with it off the bike Read more…
With the forks back on and the steering head nut tightened, we can now install the handlebars and soon, all of the switch gear and master cylinders. In the mean time, the tank and rest of the body work has been cleared and is drying and awaiting reassembly.
Well, I needed to strip the bike down more than I thought since the handlebars were tweaked and needed to be replaced and the steering head bearings need to be adjusted. I will say this- Harley does not design their bikes with ease of maintenance in mind. At any rate, Read more…
You had to figure that Erik Buell would figure a way to keep his dream alive and apparently he has done just that. While they will not be making any more street production bikes, they will continue to race with bikes made under license from Harley Davidson. Here is the Read more…
Just a quick picture my friend Jerry sent me of his vintage Suzuki T-500. Beautiful bike…
If you have been coming to motobikeblog for the past 3 years, you are probably wondering what is going on! Well, we are merging 2 sites into one for more (and better) content. NationalSuperbike is the other site where I post pictures and galleries of bikes I have converted and/or Read more…