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DAMMIT Tarnation!!!!

2388 Views 22 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  8ball
Parked the bike on the lift after a ride on Tuesday.
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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.

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

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


Hood Motor vehicle Automotive tire Automotive lighting Bumper

Motor vehicle Hood Vehicle Automotive design Automotive tire

Tire Land vehicle Wheel Vehicle Motor vehicle

Tire Wheel Fuel tank Land vehicle Automotive fuel system

Tire Wheel Land vehicle Fuel tank Vehicle


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.

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that turned out really good....
now the next question, is vinyl fuel resistant?
LOL! Doubtful. But as stated before, I can cut and apply new ones….. as many times as needed! ;)
Hey that is good. Is that Cricut thing any good? I know someone who has one.
It is surprisingly easy to use, and the vinyl I chose is their “Smart Vinyl” which is designed for boat and car graphics. It seems to be a bit thicker than the regular “Permanent Vinyl”. It laid down pretty good around the curves with a heat gun on low and squeegee.
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