Vintage Motorcycle News
Well, I’ve media blasted all the parts and gotten down to the aluminum on the tank and the gel coat on the fiberglass. The tank was in pretty rough shape with several large dents that had just been filled with (lots) bondo. So I cut the bottom out and pounded Read more…
If you’ve never heard of Hejira before, don’t feel bad. I know bikes pretty well and I had not heard of them until one of my clients called me and said he had bought one in England and wanted to restore it. Hejira’s were custom built race bikes mainly in Read more…
All cleared and buffed. Looks awesome- cameras are really bad at showing metallic and pearls but you can get an idea form the pictures how pretty it is. The pearl changes shades and colors depending on how the light hits it. I should get some finished shots after the owner Read more…
Today was the orange day… the base color is a Lamborghini orange and then I custom mixed a pearl to go on top. The pictures are not very accurate due to the florescent lights- the color is more orange than it looks in these pictures but not as dark as Read more…
Here are a few more photos from the Barber Vintage Festival… There were some awesome bikes there- This SL350 is just like the bike that my friend Jerry and I restored a few years back.
The 8th annual vintage festival concluded today and by all appearances, it was a great success. The weather was great all weekend and the crowds were huge. My only big complaint was that after paying for admission, you had to pay again to get into the Ace area- so we Read more…
Don’t’ miss this years Vintage Festival at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL if you are anywhere close enough to come. This is an awesome yearly event with shows, exhibits, racing and great cool fall weather. The swap meet alone is worth the trip and can suck up hours of Read more…
I just finished clearing the helmet I painted to match the Lions Hayabusa I did last month. Obviously the same scheme with the Ruff Riders/Lions logo on the side. It’s not a high quality helmet but I think it is mostly a display prop and not really for riding. Here Read more…
The VFR is finished and looks great. The wings on the fairings are pretty ghostly- they are only really noticeable in direct light and even then you need to look for them. We also put red LED’s inside the fairings to light it up at night. VFR’s are one of Read more…
The upper is all reassembled and installed. Hopefully I will have finished pictures by the end of the day.
The VFR is progressing- the wings are on the side panels and tank and everything is clear coated. The wings are just one shade lighter than the panel color so they are really ghost wings. At night, they won’t be visible at all. We will put some LED lights inside Read more…
I sprayed the base coat on today- after several days of bodywork, sanding, more sanding, priming, more sanding, etc. As you can see from the picture of the turn signal opening, it is really critical to get every edge and corner painted or you will have the original color peeking Read more…
This happened during a closed course rally in W. Virginia. The dude was pretty tough to get right back on the bike and continue the race. Deer are a huge problem for motorcyclists who ride on rural roads. I’ve almost hit a couple here in Georgia and I’ll admit, the Read more…
Here is the first photo I’ve seen of the bike all assembled with the wheels painted. It’s a great color that changes shades as the angle and sun change. I should get some more pictures soon…
I’ve just started on a 2003 VFR800 that was lightly crashed when he ran off the road. Since every panel on the bike was damaged, it would have been totaled by the insurance company. But we are going to fix the bodywork and paint it a dark gray metallic with Read more…
This is one of those entertaining videos that really means nothing. Kinda like the supercar vs. fighter jet match-ups. But it is entertaining- and a bit too long for a simple drag race.
I found this video on YouTube… this is the bike that is the inspiration for the R6 I just finished. Great video of KR riding a demo lap at Laguna before the MotoGP race last year.
Here are a couple of shots of the bike all finished. It really looks better in person since you can see all the detail that pictures tend to miss. The scheme is inspired by the 84 Yamaha RZ350 Kenny Roberts replica bike (see picture). Painting the rear hugger and cleaning Read more…
I’m currently working on a Blue/Silver CBR600RR that got dropped and and needed some paint work. The owner wanted a complete color change to all black so that is what we are doing. Here are a couple before/after shots of the body work with the black base coat. Base coats Read more…
Here are a couple of shots of the Hayabusa taken on a cell phone… Why they didn’t roll it outside and take a couple of decent pictures is beyond me but it is supposedly scheduled for another photo shoot in a couple of weeks. Moto Limit did the mechanical and Read more…
More photos are coming tomorrow but here are a couple of the tank and seat cowl ready to install…
I’m currently working on a Hayabusa for client who used to play for the Detroit Lions. The black/silver/blue scheme is right off their uniforms. Here are a few shots of the panels in basecoat with the graphics applied. The graphics were custom made by Tapeworks who I highly recommend if Read more…
Well, here it is almost all reassembled. I’m still waiting on the windscreen and I need to fabricate a rear plate bracket but the scheme looks great.I’ll post some more pictures when it is all finished.
Here is a quick picture of the upper in the sun so you can see the yellow pearl. The base color is Viper yellow but I mixed a pearl coat to go on top that has diamond white, orange and red pearls in it. With all the different pearls, it Read more…
To get a really slick “dipped in glass” look, you need at least 4 coats of clear. So, I wet sanded the tank and upper with 400 grit and sprayed a couple more coats of clear on. Next, it will get wet sanded with 2000 grit, then 3000 grit and Read more…
Well, the bodywork is all cleared and looks great. You can’t see it in this picture but the yellow pearl I mixed up looks awesome in the sunlight. Next up is some wet sanding and buffing and then final assembly.
Here are a few of pictures of the bodywork with the graphics installed and the tank stripe painted… it’s going to be a cool looking bike.
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Even after filler and hand sanding you will find some small defects that need to be spot puttied and resanded. After that, we are ready to put the base color coat on- in this case I’m using Viper Yellow. You really need to use white primer for a light color Read more…
So, I’ve been working on this 08 R6 that needed a complete repaint… It was originally blue but had been painted solid black after a crash- and done very poorly, probably by a car shop. I’ve found that while car shops will paint bikes for guys cheaper than someone like Read more…
This article over at MSNBC spotlights a big problem for US motorcyclists. With recreational and commuter use on the rise, motorcycle deaths and injuries are a big problem for everyone involved- the gov’t, manufacturers and of course the families of those killed. I fix a lot of wrecked bikes here Read more…
Here are a few quick shots of the bodywork stuck on the bike that I took with my phone so we could get a feel for what it will look like. As you can see, the side fairings have a lot of bulges and contours that made it very hard Read more…
AUDI AG acquires sports motorcycle manufacturer Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. – Chairman Rupert Stadler: “As a sporty, global premium brand, Ducati is an excellent fit for Audi.” – Third pillar for AUDI AG in Italy – Ducati a leading player in engine technology and lightweight construction Ingolstadt/Bologna, April 18, 2012 Read more…
From Hemmings Blog: One of the largest private collections of Ducatis ever assembled will cross the block next month at RM’s auction at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. Scheduled to cross the auction block on the first day of the event, the Carlo Saltarelli Collection features more than 100 rare Read more…
I’ve been working hard on the body panels for this T500 and we are slowly getting there. One common problem with old, old stuff like this is that there are usually lots of coats of old enamel paint on them. All you can do is try to get as much Read more…
The guy who I painted the Yamaha RZ500 in the slideshow for brought me another project to work on- a 1971 Suzuki T500 race bike that we are going to do as a replica of the Daytona bike. These pictures are as it sits now and the drawing is what Read more…
I just finished painting all of the panels- except the tank cover- on an 08 CBR600RR Pearl Fire Orange. This is an almost impossible color to match since it is a tri-coat with a base, mid and clear. Since I had no idea where to start, we decided to go Read more…
It was a great weekend for vintage and custom motorcycle fanatics… Even the races were fun with big old time names like Schwantz, Springsteen and Ahern all racing. Some of the custom stuff was amazing and NCR Ducati had a bunch of exotic stuff there along with lots of vintage Read more…
The yearly Vintage festival at Barber Motorsports Park starts today and runs through Sunday. I go every year and never tire of looking at the thousands of amazing bikes that show up. if you don’t already have plans for the weekend, you can’t go wrong here. If you need parts Read more…
Here is a quick update on the SV. The headlight is reassembled and mounted. I painted the brackets matte black and used some mini turn signals to finish up. A new brake lever is on the work bench waiting to be installed.
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…
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…
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…