[8ball]

Parked the bike on the lift after a ride on Tuesday.

Went back to the garage on Wednesday to tweak the bike for a Thursday ride, and find the bike laying in its side.. off the lift! The front tire had developed a small leak. When the pressure left the tire, so did the pressure of the wheel clamp, and plop, bike playing dead.
Thankfully, the lift was lowered, so there was almost no damage. Almost! The ONE thing that this bike never needed was paint work. Unfortunately, gas leaking out of the tank ate a good piece of the paint on the tank.

So anyway, I removed the tube and found that some rust had formed on the inside of the rim and had worn a small hole on the inside diameter of the tube.

Cleaned up the rust, applied electrical tape to the inside of the rime, applied a new rim strip and replaced the tube. Hopefully the weather will allow a couple good riding days next week. Sigh.

 

[CaTacL1sm]

Damn that sucks. I guess put a few jack stands under the frame and swingarm in the future?

Now I guess you have to have a custom alloy fuel tank made...

And now you have a reason to get some excel rims!

 

[8ball]

20 plus years using this lift. Usually it serves as a parking spot for one bike or another. First time this has ever happened. Flat tires are not something that have really ever been an issue on my street bikes. Oh well, tie straps are on right now.....

 

[CaTacL1sm]

I love that blue on the tank.

Is that the stock petcock? I've always had terrible luck with the stock ones... even after being rebuilt.

 

[8ball]

I love that blue on the tank.

Is that the stock petcock? I've always had terrible luck with the stock ones... even after being rebuilt.

It’s a replacement OEM petcock. I don’t know if I’ll be able to match the original paint, which is very disappointing because it is a great color!

 

[dirkchecken]

that sucks, but your not alone. no flat but i managed to tip this over a few months ago.

 

[jcw]

Hate that feeling.... in the pit of your stomach.

Same feeling I get when working with power tools and injury yourself bad...

 

[CaTacL1sm]

Or when that bolt you're tightening suddenly starts loosening

 

[jcw]

Is that an aluminum tank on the kawasaki? cool

that sucks, but your not alone. no flat but i managed to tip this over a few months ago. View attachment 105087

 

[brad black]

i hate those front wheel clamps.

 

[Tinsnips]

Man that sucks. I noticed mine leaned over a little farther than usual last week and found my kick stand loose. I might have found the same thing had I not noticed.

 

[speedrattle]

i have a little 2007 ninja 250 that my kids race in production. it has a steep kickstand and if i bump it, it will tip over.

when it does that it breaks the ball off the end of the clutch lever and bends tbe clip on.

every. single. time.

the lever is $40 and tbe clip on tube is $45. three people and three tip overs have cost about $275. at least it gets 90 mpg.

 

[8ball]

i have a little 2007 ninja 250 that my kids race in production. it has a steep kickstand and if i bump it, it will tip over.

when it does that it breaks the ball off the end of the clutch lever and bends tbe clip on.

every. single. time.

the lever is $40 and tbe clip on tube is $45. three people and three tip overs have cost about $275. at least it gets 90 mpg.

I have a feeling that 2x1.5 inch spot will cost at least that much in paint work......

 

[jcw]

I got sick of picking up my bike, so I cut and rewelded my kickstand shorter. 4 years later and it's still in one piece.

 

[Classic250]

It’s a replacement OEM petcock. I don’t know if I’ll be able to match the original paint, which is very disappointing because it is a great color!

I don't know where you live, but maybe see if these guys can match your paint:

Suzuki Motorcycle Paint - ColorRite

www.colorrite.com

 

[8ball]

I don't know where you live, but maybe see if these guys can match your paint:

Suzuki Motorcycle Paint - ColorRite

www.colorrite.com

First place I looked. They are my go to paint guys for color matching. But they don’t have it listed, unfortunately.

 

[Classic250]

First place I looked. They are my go to paint guys for color matching. But they don’t have it listed, unfortunately.

Did any other models come out with the same paint colour? Maybe some cross referencing might bring up a result.

 

[woodsman]

First place I looked. They are my go to paint guys for color matching. But they don’t have it listed, unfortunately.

I found if you get the tank/paint scanned in the sun the match is better. On the yellow monster the scanner didn't pick up the green tinge, that it has, when we scanned it indoors. But you could clearly see it by eye in the sunlight and when we scanned it outdoors the shade/tint changed in the mix code. You can see a minimal difference if you are looking for it but it is unbelievable how close they are.

 

[8ball]

So. I finally got around to addressing this problem. I bought my wife a Cricut machine for Christmas for her projects.....(and so I could hijack it occasionally), so I decided to go the old school route of: "Got a paint defect? Cover it with a decal!". I got some Vinyl that is pretty close to the pinstripe color.

I taped off an area shaping a design for a stripe. I sanded the area and primed it to keep rust from developing. Sanded it mostly smooth again, and made a paper template in the shape of the stripe. Scanned the template into MS Paint, made a second reverse image and imported it into the Cricut software. Then cut the decals. Since the curve of the tank was complex, I had to use a good amount of Windex, a heat gun, and squeegee to apply the decals:

I think it came out OK. There is one small wrinkle on the left side that might bother me over time, but the good thing is I can cut more decals and replace them.

 

[CaTacL1sm]

that turned out really good....
now the next question, is vinyl fuel resistant?