[mut]

I am looking for advice on whether or not to do a temporary paint job on my bike. Based on suggestions from this forum, I plan to get my bike mocked up the way i want and then ride it all until next winter. I will then tear it down next winter and get the frame powder coated and have everything else professionally painted.

In the mean time, I have different color headlight bucket, gas tank, left side cover and right side cover. Is there a good way to do a really cheap temporary paint job? If so, what do I need to do? Just spray paint over top of what is there? Or do i need to prep and then spray paint.

Can anyone suggest a good, cheap paint to use?

Thanks.

 

[FR]

If you're going to have it done "professionally" then I wouldn't waste a lot of time on prep work now, 'cause whoever does the job will have to prep it anyway. If you just want all the parts to be the same color you can just use a decent quality spray paint. If you do have bare metal parts you'll want to prime them.
The thing is, pulling the parts off, like the headlight bucket and ears and the gas tank, can be a bit of a pain. Why do it twice? If the bike is down for the winter anyway, why not get the paint done now?


FR

 

[chetriply]

Agree with FR. Painting, (even spray painting), is a time consuming pain in the ass. Let it look ragged for a while then, do it once and do it right.

Gas Right, Clutch Left

 

[Geeto67]

+1 on do it all at once.

however if nothing can stop you I suggest rustoleum "Stops rust" spray paint. Sand the parts down with 600 grit (you don't have to remove all the previous paint, just get a nice sanded surface), clean with mineral spirits, and then shoot with the rustoleum (try to do it when the temps are in the 60's-70's). shoot a couple of coats 30-45 minutes apart from each other and then let sit for a day. If it needs a second coat shoot it then. After letting it sit for a day wetsand with 1000 grit and compound. If you do it right it will probably come out as good as any factory single stage in the 1960s.

The reason I suggested rustoleum is that it is a rust paint meant to be shot over bare metal. You can literally spray anything with it without primer, and it tends to be fuel resistant. The down side it is takes like a months to fully cure and harden.

 

[catboy]

in my opinion, save yourself the effort and just do it all at once after you sort it out.

"Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion." -Edward Abbey

 

[mut]

Thanks for the input. All of the parts are off right now. It is in the process of going back together. Due to weather (we got 75 inches of snow this week) I can't really start riding it until April. Once April rolls around and I can ride it I don't want to take it off the road to tear it down until the next winter. But I think I'll just wait and let it be a mixed match of colors until next year.

 

[KoiHoshi]

Painting it yourself is really not that difficult.

Painting takes a few hours.

PREP WORK takes for fricking ever.

If you have a compressor hit up a pawn shop, get yourself a touch up gun (works just fine for motorcycles, small parts) and a regulator for pressure rigged up on the hose somewhere and buy the materials. All in all you can usually get away with it for about $150 (gun included if your pawn shop is reasonable). Cost me about $80 in materials because I already had a paint gun. Paint/primer/clear/rags/mixing sticks/cans for mixing.

You can actually do amazing paint jobs even in a garage if you are careful and do it right. You can usually order paint at your local napa store, they'll even mix it for you.

You can have it done professionally if you want showroom unless you have a vacuum room in your garage (I only know of one person that does and he does it for a living)

 

[dardoonk]

+1 on painting yourself. I built a 10X10 booth out of plastic and used furnace filters and a box fan for ventalation (don't forget a filter on the other side for air intake). Keep the floor wet, so you don't kick up the paint dust and you can have a pretty good work area.

Prep is key and your finish won't hide anything, but you can do a very good job for about $150. Including $20 in plastic sheet, I had a $165 bucks in mine. That includes the clear, both colors and the pinstriping.

Here are some large size pics of my first paint job.
http://www.bikepics.com/pictures/1095216/
It isn't perfect up close, but five or six feet it looks wonderful.

Bikes: 05 Triumph & 77 GS750

 

[KoiHoshi]

dardoonk, that looks nice!

same here, i never managed to have a super close up awesome paint job but like you said, at about 5 or 6 feet... awesome.

This is what mine looked like before i had it professionally painted, I painted it myself gloss black.

http://oo2w.com/koihoshi/images/riding/fossil/ducati.jpg

Corse Per Vita,
-Derek