Custom Project Bikes
Moto Guzzi has announced a very cool new model in a press release today. This genre of motorcycle is quickly gaining market share because the average age of riders continues to increase. But, even some younger riders are into the retro stuff or at least the naked bike/Streetfighter scene. This Read more…
I was over in the Huntsville, Alabama area last week and decided to stop in and see my good friend Danny Roberts who heads up the Dunlop Proving Grounds. We raced together back in the 80’s and have been friends for almost 30 years. This is the facility where they Read more…
I picked this up at the auction last month. It was a Triumph factory demo bike that got dropped and needed a few parts. They totaled it for some unexplainable reason but that is really my gain since I bought it pretty cheap. As you can see from the pictures, Read more…
This started out as a stock 04 R6 with some slight body work scratches and scrapes. The owner had already gotten the wheels powder coated in the candy red that he wanted the bike painted. So my job was to match the color that was already on the wheels. As Read more…
Press release from BMW- After pioneering the concept of antilock brakes (ABS) on motorcycles 23 years ago, BMW Motorrad USA announced today that it will be the first motorcycle manufacturer to offer ABS as standard equipment on its entire range of 2012 model year motorcycles. “Plain and simple, being able Read more…
In this picture you can see the cable and hose routing. The throttle cables need to come up from under the tank and pass through the risers instead of around the front of the triple clamp as they are with the clip ons. Both the brake and clutch hoses need Read more…
In this picture, you can get a good idea of just how much higher and further back the handlebars are compared to stock. (You can see the stock left handlebar still mounted on the fork tube.) As you can tell, I have already painted the triple clamp, risers and bars Read more…
Today, we are going to look at how to locate and drill the triple clamp so that you have the handlebars located in the right place and, just as importantly, you have room on the bottom for the nuts that will hold them on. These are Yamaha FZ1 risers and Read more…
Basically, what you will need to do is either buy another top triple clamp off ebay and save yours in case you ever want to return it to stock (for when you sell it) or take it off so you can have it drilled at a machine shop. Either way, Read more…
If you own pretty much any Suzuki from 2008-2010, you should contact your dealer for info. If you are the original owner of record, you will get a recall notice in the mail. This problem is pretty well known in the GSXR community, but many other bikes are affected as Read more…
SV650’s and SV1000’s are pretty much legendary for their great engines and nice handling. But, the S models are also well known to be a bit cramped for long rides. The 650 was available as a naked bike for most of it’s production run but there were no S models Read more…
Well, here is the finished product… the owner installed the body work and obviously did a lot of other things while the bike was apart- like recover the seat, paint the fork legs, etc. The dark “shades of gray” looks good on this bike. He also has some black GIVI Read more…
Well, the clear coat is on and it looks great. The dark gray/orange contrast really comes out with the clear and the metallic in the gray jumps out as well. It will probably be a few days until the parts are back on the bike, but as soon as they Read more…
Today we are going to put the flames on. I ordered a kit from Tapeworks.com with a bunch of generic flames in various sizes so we could get creative with where we put them. Flames are not really too easy to install since there are lots of little “fingers” that Read more…
So today we are putting the basecoat on… the colors are going to be Storm Silver with Orange flames. Tomorrow, we are putting the flames on so check back for progress. Basically, we could have used the flames as masks and painted them on first before putting the silver on Read more…
After a break for some really cold weather (and even a snow storm!) here in Atlanta, we are back on track to get the V65 done. The side covers are like everything else- well used with cracks all through them. After a little plastic welding, we are ready to sand Read more…
This tank was dented pretty much everywhere, but was solid with no rust. I’d rather fill dents than try to seal a rusted tank. So… I started by putting a layer of Gold Bondo over the big dents. The thing about filling dents is that whenever there is a dent, Read more…
After getting some of the big dents out of the tank, I primed everything with an epoxy primer to seal the metal and get a good surface to put the filler on. Even with the dents pulled out, it still will take a lot of filler to get the original Read more…
A friend of mine bought this Magna last year and has been slowly working on it to bring it up to the condition he wants. As you can see, it has a very “unique” paint job with lots of green and cream on everything! We are going to give it Read more…
Here are a few final pictures of the Tuono. Amazing transformation from stock… In my opinion, Tuono’s are one of the best motorcycle values available- and as you can see, they are pretty easy to mod into something really cool.
Well, here is a quick photo of the bike all assembled. We will get some more/better pictures as soon as we have some good sunny weather but for now, you can get an idea of how the bike turned out. Aprilia should look and learn because when you compare it Read more…
The clear coat is on all of the parts and looks great. Here are a few pictures- you can see the pearl in the white in the close-up of the tank. Really pretty color. As soon as the owner sends me some pictures of it all assembled, I’ll get them Read more…
Now that all the colors are on. we need to put the logos and graphics on. It really isn’t as easy as just sticking some decals on. Placement needs to be precise since a logo at the wrong angle will be very obvious. I spent a lot of time with Read more…
Today, we are putting on the last of the colors- black. Since we already have red and white painted, we have to be extra careful masking everything. A little black mist on the red or white will show up like a wart on the end of your nose. We are Read more…
Next, we are going to spray the white and also put the diamond pearl on it. We wanted a very bright white so that the pearl would not cause it to look dull or milky. The color we used is called polar white and it almost has a slight blue Read more…
After the bodywork and primer is done, we need to tape off for all the colors. In this case, the first color we are spraying is the red and there is no taping to do. The only parts that are getting sprayed red are the small headlight fairings and the Read more…
Today we need to do a little bodywork. The tank needs to have the decals removed and the tail needs to have a bunch of bodywork to fix spider cracks in the gel coat and fill the big holes where it would have mounted if it was installed on a Read more…
We spent about an hour laying out colors and deciding what graphics needed to go where. As you can see, the tank was barely damaged. After deciding on colors and scheme, I took pictures with small tape strips on the body work marked with the colors. The bike will be Read more…
The guy who owns this Ducati 916 (which I painted a couple of years ago) is working on a new project that I am painting for him. The Tuono in question is an 04 that was slightly damaged in a fall but still totaled by the insurance company.
Just a quick update and picture from last weekend- The RG and RZ500’s were featured bikes at this years event and the owner of the one I painted last year said that there were over 24 that he counted. That is a lot of 4 cyl, 2 stroke 500’s. Man, Read more…
With the clear coat on, we let everything sit and cure for a couple of days before wet sanding and buffing. Some of the parts like the front fender were fine as is but the tank and tail needed to be buffed for that ultra smooth dipped in glass look. Read more…
Today we install the graphics and clear coat everything. These are big decals and hard to get on straight but if you take your time and use the wet application method, you can get them on straight with no bubbles. It is always fun to see what the parts look Read more…
The next step in the Can Am project was spraying on the white base coat. We spent a fair amount of time getting the shade of white exactly how we wanted it. The white on these old bikes is really more of a cream. You really can’t tell unless you Read more…
Well, not brand new- but maybe better than new since it has a ton of very nice accessories on it and only 2400 miles. I picked it up at the auction last week becasue I really like SV’s and this one is immaculate. Some of the nice extras include Gel Read more…
After lots of hand sanding and cleaning, we are ready to prime the parts. I always use an epoxy primer to seal the surface. This works equally well on metal (like the aluminum tank) and fiberglass/plastic. If needed, you can do some light sanding or scuffing with a scotch-brite pad Read more…
Next we need to do a little body work and filling. The front nose cone fairing used to have a removable number plate panel that could come off to uncover the headlight if it was installed. Since the bike will never be on the street, we decided to use a Read more…
This bike was never used as a dirt bike- it was converted into a cafe racer from day one. So the bodywork reflects that. It is also old and had what seemed like dozens of layers of paint on it that had to be sanded off. Sanding stuff like this Read more…
Just a quick post so you can see the custom made aluminum gas tank. A few days ago, I posted the picture of the old fiberglass tank that was really beyond repair. This new tank is a beautiful reproduction and matches the shape of the old tank nicely. We found Read more…
Well, the guy I painted the Yamaha RZ500 for was happy enough that he brought me his Vintage 70’s Can Am 250 to work on. He has owned it since new and it has seen many race tracks in its day. Now, we are going to restore it so he Read more…
I picked up a Kawasaki ZZR600 at the auction last Friday and was reminded of what a great bike it is for the money. The current ZZR is the old ZX6R that was retired when the ZX636 and new ZX6R came out a few years back. Of course there are Read more…
I’m sure there are a lot of other “warehouse finds” out there, but lets face it, this is cool- a new, in the crate, 1979 RD400. It’s not worth millions like some cars would be, but it is still a super rare collectors item. I just wish they would put Read more…
Almost that is… As you can see from the picture, he is still waiting on some parts for the seat. But everything else is done and the bike runs great. I included a before/after picture of the front fender so you can get an idea of where we started. The Read more…
Here are a few pictures of the finished bike- I’ve included a picture of the bike in the Yamaha Museum for reference. As I mentioned in other posts, almost every one of the factory bikes was different. Some had different bodywork, some had slightly different paint schemes and the wheels Read more…
Today, I did the final buffing and polishing on the paint. Really, the quality of the finished product will depend on how much time and effort you put into the detail stuff like wet sanding and buffing. When you have different colors painted under the clear, wet sanding the edges Read more…
Well, today we are finishing some of the detail stuff- we wanted street legal turn signals that didn’t stick out obtrusively so I went with some small button style flush mount clear lens units. They actually look really good mounted next to the taillight and they are not noticeable except Read more…
The SL 350 is progressing along nicely and the wheels and tank are on the bike now. Next up is firing it up. Jerry is sending me updates from NC so I’ll keep this refreshed as soon as he makes any more progress. He told me yesterday that getting it Read more…
The clear coat is on and drying. 3 coats of high solids clear will give it a depth after it is wet sanded and buffed out. I’ll let it dry a couple more days before reassembling it. There are some other detail things that I need to do anyways- the Read more…
All of the graphics are on and all of the touch-ups are done on the color base coats. The blue turned out to be just about perfect- we were trying to pick a shade from a bunch of internet photos and every one of them looked different but this shade Read more…
After lots of taping and masking, I sprayed the blue base coat on for the stripes. One thing I found is that while there are all sorts of 1/4 and 1/2 in masking tapes available, there is no 3/8 in… at least not that I could find. So I had 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…