the point of no return

Looking forward to the assembled bike, real old skool look on the paint!

 

I'm really diggin' it! Keep ups posted!

 

Thanks, guys. I'm glad you all like it. I wanted something intricate but not too over the top. I have to give big thanks and thumbs up to Tramp for the paint. He's the absolute man when it comes to laying down some slick paint jobs. Problem is, he's moved on to other things and no longer paints for a living.

Yes, I am still planning on using the suicide shift and tap handle.I basically designed the paint on the bike to match that tap handle. The original concept was white with some red striping. The frame is a matte/semi gloss black. That was all the colors I planned on using. During the tedious task of striping, taping and laying down colors, I happen to look at the Budweiser bottle in my free hand and noticed there is some gold here and there on the bottle. So, with a quick check to see if any gold paint was laying around on the shelf, and since there was, the decision was made to lay down the gold between the outer pair of stripes. It's kind of hard to spot in the pics, but it really made the paint job "pop". Maybe next up is something written in blue on the side of the tank in cursive letters like the label. But what to write?

 

I was going to set the tins and seat on the frame when I got home from work this evening to get a good idea of what it's going to look like. Apparently tramp had the same idea because it was already on there witing for me. The white is really really bright sitting on top of the black frame. My kid calls it a candy cane bike. Guess I never looked at it that way. Anywayz, here's a couple of shots.

 

Why not put Yamaha in Budweiser Font. You can find the font Here. Either put Yamaha or the name of your bike, if you have one yet.



^I photoshoped Yamaha XJ550 on the tank in a Budweiser font.

 

oh yeah, another suggestion, you should make the vacuum canister look like a mini keg.

 

I'm loaded with Ideas for this bike, It's such a cool idea. What about make the gas cap to look like a Budweiser bottle cap, oversized of course. I could think of cool ideas for this bike all day, I think it's gonna come out great.

 

Looks like it's coming along amazing! Are you leaving the frame black? I'd probably do the frame up red like the pinstriping.

 

Paintit, I was looking at the vacuum canister yesterday. Original plan was to polish it since it's made of aluminum because it is shaped like a keg. After holding it in place, it really needs some color there. White, red, something. Maybe the gold color. Battery box is also aluminum, so it's going to be polished. I'm going to polish the bottom fork tubes and see how that looks, but I''ve been kicking around the gold color there, too.
You've got some pretty good ideas for the bike and I may borrow a few of them, but ultimately I don't want to get too carried away with the Budweiser stuff. I'm all for paying homage to my favorite beverage, but they ain't paying me to put their name on the bike, and this ain't OCC and some corporate theme bike. Thanks for the link to the Budweiser font. I definitely plan on using that. I have really been trying to come up with some cool name for the bike, but maybe I'm just not creative enough for cool names. Maybe someone can throw me a few suggestions.
I'm just paying a little tribute to some of the things I enjoy in life. The solo seat has the "Appetite for Destruction" album cover on it, the cross with the 5 skulls hand tooled. So I'm also going to put the GNR bullet logo somewhere on the bike. The side of the canister without the key switch may be the logical choice. And also the ever popular " I support single moms" logo somewhere, prolly the battery box.

Wesley, I plan to get some old hot rod pinstriping on the frame in some areas like the rear axle plate, the gusset by the neck, maybe along the down tubes in red white and possilby gold. My painter has been practicing his old school striping. When he's ready, that will happen.

 

Names:
Suds
Hungover
The King
Beechwood
HOPper chopper.
hehehe
it's late.

 

Ha, Hound. I really like the HOPper Chopper. You're on to something. Maybe the "Beechwood Bobber" But I think I'll just name her Adelle or something like that. Adelle is the meanest female I've EVER known. The bike is really just one big billboard for bad habits and attitude.
My engine is going to take a miracle and then some to get it polished out. I think I'm going to take the short cut and paint it. Maybe spray it a cast aluminum or silver color. Paint the jugs red and polish out the edge of the fins. This is where you guys chime in as to whether painting the engine is good for it or not. Does paint hold in heat and keep the engine from air cooling like it should?
Also, I'm thinking about dropping this little design on side of the tank in gold of course. What do you think? And for a side trivia question, anyone know what it's from? You won't win any cash, but you will always have the thrill of knowing you knew where it came from.

 

I got a little more done to the bike yesterday & today. It consisted of alot of time consuming, patience wearing cleaning, painting, and polishing... and as always, some ice cold liquid refreshment. But the ole' girl is starting to come together. She's starting to look like something that I'd be proud to go up and down the road on. The devil is in the details. There was no hope for ther motor to be polished. So I painted most of it and polished a few key pieces. The bottom of the forks are polished. The wheels have been polished. So has the drum brake housing. The battery box looks like a mirror. Here's the latest pics. Pay special attention to my little helper who wouldn't let me take the valve cover off for paint. He did it himself, so he wanted to be in the pic. So this is his moment of glory. Thanks, son. I knew if those clowns on TLC could do it, so could you. Maybe Mama won't be so mad at me for spending all my time on the bike if I bring ya with me once in a while. And wow, does she nag about it.

 

Wow... I hope someday I can do stuff like this! I think I might go and tear my bike down tomorrow and get it nice and clean looking like that. It's amazing what you did to that bike, from post 1 to now.

 

I hear ya. nice job though. It's looking spectacular. Better than some jokers on TLC with unlimited funds could do!

 

Good looking boy, takes after his mother I suppose how did he paint the valve cover, brush?

 

Wheels woulda looked good in red and white to set off the paint.
Nice to see the young bloke involved, wish mine were interested.

 

Wow that looks great!! What kind of bars you thinking...Looks like a set of drag bars or z bars would really pull it together.

How the hell did you get your engine that clean and shiney??

 

Wiz, I suppose the boy does get his looks from his mother. Fortunately, he didn't get his smarts from her. The valve covers were rattle can painted, engine enamel. Let him do a couple of coats then I finished it off. We hit the raised spots with a palm sander to take the paint off. (Thought about it after it was sprayed.) I let him run the sander some. We had a couple of spots that got scuffed that wasn't supposed to, so we taped 'em up and sprayed it again. Didn't have to worry about the low spots in between, the paint was still good there. Just taped up over all of that. Made the tape job go quicker. I again let him spray a couple times before I finished it. That valve cover actually ended up getting sprayed 3 times. I learned a lesson on the first one. NEVER EVER trust the color of the cap on a rattle can. Some joker at the parts store switched caps, so instead of "Ford Red" it turned out "Chevy Orange". After spraying it, I thought maybe it would get darker when it dried, but it just kept getting more and more orange. That's when I read the UPC label. Chevy Orange in not so big letters. I'm quite happy the youngster took an interest. He's never been one to stay inside and play video games. He's always outside and usually up to no good. So this way I can keep a close eye on him.
The wheels are basically just cleaned with the aluminum polished. I was planning on going with red where the black lives now, but I kinda like the black and don't want to go thru the hassle of taping and painting to find out I liked them better when they were black. Plus my painter is pretty sure they should stay black and if I want to paint them I got to do it myself. I do want a wide whitewall on the rear and probably a thinner one out front. I was leaning toward drag bars, but been kicking some 10" or 12" apes around. Even gave some thought into clip ons. That one is still up for debate.
The engine took lots of elbow grease. Started with Easy Off oven cleaner. Let set 30 minutes then pressure washer. Two more times with the Easy Off and pressure washer. Then sprayed some Fleet Cleaner acid wash on it. Let sit then pressure washer. X2 again. Then engine enamel in the cast aluminum color on severything. Taped off everything around the 2 spots on the cover with the Yamaha letting and sanded that down. 180 grit, 400, 600, 800 then 1000 grit wet sanded. Then buffed and polished to the mirror shine. same for batt box. Did the red groove and black lettering with a brush ( Good story here, too. Ran down to the Dollar Store right by the shop loking for a small paint brush. Ended up buying an eye liner brush from the make up department. Got lots of stares for that one. That was the only thing I bought from there.) Paint was rattle can engine enamel sprayed into the cap for the brush. And a shop rag soaked in laquer thinner to erase the "uh-ohs", and there were plenty of them.
But I think in the end, patience and preserverence overcomes lack of talent and even less money everytime.

 

Great looking bike!

Did you paint your spark plugs?

 

I came I saw I conquered (After Hours) Do I win?