G'day ALL

Took some pics today of a customer/friends bike that I'm standin back up....


The pics DO NOT do the paint work justice BUT when I've finished it I'll try and get some better ones...

I just put the tin ware on today so she could see in the flesh what I can see in my head... :wonderlan


http://www.iqconnect.net.au/~stevo/gixxer 009.jpg
http://www.iqconnect.net.au/~stevo/gixxer 010.jpg
http://www.iqconnect.net.au/~stevo/gixxer 011.jpg
http://www.iqconnect.net.au/~stevo/gixxer 012.jpg


Again it's only guys like Gordy et al that can fully appreciate how good the paint is and how bad my photography is.... :shhhh
BUT I'd had a few beers and the sun was in the wrong spot...and I'm blamin that..... :p

Mind you the rest of us can get an inkling of it...

Sweet. That's a damn nice paint job. You do these yourself? What do you charge for something like that? But, your in Aussie right? Wouldn't do me any good here in the USA

Speechless.
Austin...

Looks really great man

sorry guys...not my paint work...I'm just the engine and chassis man..

Although I have the unfortunate task of trying to match the rest of the bike to the paint....no easy task for those that understand custom work.

The paint is done by a mate in the shed next to mine...he does bloody brilliant work...my paint is just basic colours...usually black as that's what I like on my bikes.....customers on the other hand tend to have more flash tastes and like the pretty stuff.

I guess it's part of doin this sorta stuff day in day out ya get to the stage that ya just like lean, clean black bikes for yaself...sorta refining the lines and the essence of what a bike is...

ya , stevo I like em black too , but this being my first sporty I had some silver metalflake flames thrown on for just a bit of flash only on the tank though the rest is very unflashy

the flames worked out nice as they go good with the little bit of shiny stuff(chrome) and the unpolished aluminum (well polished once a year)

Sweeeet :love1

Awesome Paint Job!!!! :D

I think the paint is great. I still don't understand why sportster owners insist on leaving the oil tank, the side cover black, swingarm and half a dozen other parts. Add some orange to the lower parts and blue to the upper parts and turn from nice to awesome. The lack of effort takes away from the new paintjob and no chrome pretty will make up for it. But I am just another stinking opinion. I think you should atleast paint them blue or orange so they match the base color. It is the little things that distinguish the difference between a good bike and a great one. Great is in the details. Now your job is going to be harder because you have to make everything from the tank and fenders down look good. That is expensive. The only other thoughts I have are that that is probably the ugliest front light and handlebar setup I have seen on a sportster. My first change would be to that hideous front end. Looks bulky and awful. Maybe mid apes on 2" risers or something. Your theme will undoubtably be ninja like which is both dangerous and elegant. I am interested to see the final product. Hope the bars are tossed on this one.

Very nice and outstanding paintjob!! Brilliant! This one is a lot of masking work!!

G'day all

Yeah Painta...LOT'S a masking and many layers......


With the rest of the bike Ralph....I'm stuck in the rather delicate position of the customer wishes to keep those style bars :(

She rode the bike around the States for the 100th and had an accident in Utah 3 days before the end of the trip....She broke her Tibia and Femur and has Nails in both as well as a large chunk of flesh ripped off her calf.

She's only 5' tall and needs bars that are gonna be comfortable for her.


I'm still gonna try and clean the front end up as much as possible :rolleyes:



What you said about splashing colour on the lower areas is OK sometimes. One of the advantages of Black is that you tend not to see it. So parts of the bike where the lines don't flow correctly can be left black and hidden.

Due to the colour I'm going to put a fair bit of chrome on this one


If you look at this pic it will illustrate what I'm talkin about.

Look at the angle formed between the back of the chrome cover on the oil tank and the rear pipe....they are almost the same but opposites.
With all the shiny stuff around the motor, when your eye traverses left the chrome flows into 2 lines...the bottom one is the pipe and the top on will be the chrome fender strut (when it's put back on).

If I was to either chrome or paint the chain guard it would look wrong because the line of the guard doesn't match anything else. By keeping it black it's lines blend into the background and yur eyes look at the bits ya should be looking at.

This will be mirrored on the left side with the chrome battery box leading into a chrome fuse cover to the chrome fender strut.

A laydown numeber plate bracket and taillight lens will also be used to try and keep some flow off the end.

If you ever look at a bike and something jumps out at you then it's because it doesn;t flow with the rest of the vehicle....You should look at a bike and have your eyes travel along the lines and off the bike and then have to look at it again to work out why it looks good.

Unforunately I'm stuck with these handlebars :cry1


http://www.iqconnect.net.au/~stevo/gixxer 007.jpg

Don't much like the handlebars ..... But, that is one fine paintjob! :urock

The bars do ruin a look a bit but all you need to do to fix that is rake that front end out...waaaay out. :clap

After giving your explanation much thought I still think the other parts needed paint to take this bike to the next level. To spend that much money and quit half way does not make sense to me. I would rather have an all black minimalist bike then go the chome route to finish off the parts I should have painted. All that beautiful paintwork is just not going to translate no matter how many angles and lines there are. Too nic for the rest of the bike. My opinion only matters to me but I thought I would state it again anyway. Love the paint though. Good luck trying to get the lass to reconsider the bars. I am sure if you try hard enough you can get her to change and still not compromise comfort. Rottenralph

Stevo,
what wants your customer? A chopper, a cruiser or what? SOif she tells ya, you can work to get exactly what she wants, or am i wrong?
For those colors i must say, they are very nice BUT in combination to that much black of the rest i find it does not match so good! Hope you dont get me wrong! ;) I think also some small other parts have to be paintet Maybe the Center of the aircleaner in orange

Stevo, that paint looks great. I agree with everyone else, the bars have to go, as do the nasty large indicators and black speedo. How about some wide beach bars with some more pullback on the risers, that way Dy can reach the controls? Nice tank by the way, what is it?

Whiffy

That paint job is wicked!! Very nice....love the color combo.

G'day Painta

This is no where near the finished product.....the painted parts were just put on to give her a progress idea.

The centre of the air cleaner is going orange as we speak. I was origionally thinking of orange in the rocker box sandwiches too and the derby cover and ignition cover and maybe the round bits in the brakes and was looking at a chrome swingarm and chain guard.
With the orange being so bright I need a lot of it and/or chrome to give an overall effect.

I'm going to buy some orange and blue contact and cover some other parts up to see what it looks like. and adapt to a final concept from there.

AT the end of the day a stock sporty frame doesn't have very good lines and everyone I've seen painted orange looked like shit...and we still have black tires and seat (that's gettin changed too, gonna make it lower to blend into the back a bit better)
Lookin at it the other day we may colour cordinate the frame as a flow on from the tin ware...ie: flow the blue and orange thru the parts of the frame that the black is in the way of..BUT that will wait till the motor needs a freshen up and out to 1200....Dy's gotta get comfortable on the bike again BEFORE I go makin it make any more power.

The other problem with the paint is that it's the sorta job that would go on $100,000+ custom bike, unfortunately we have a stockish sporty that it's sittin on. Darren that did the paint has been laughin at me from the day he did 'cos he knows I've got the job of tryin to match the rest of the bike to the paint :rolleyes: which is NOT as easy as it looks.

The indicators are gone....I have some other ones there to put on.I'm trying to source a smaller speedo......gonna try and find some handlebars that fit her and give a better line...but again at the end of the day it's NOT a show bike, it's going to be riden and Dy HAS to feel comfortable riding it...no matter what everyone else thinks..including myself.
It's no good lookin perfect if she's can't ride it anywhere because it's uncomfortable or she can't control it.

OK update....

I've found some bars that look a bit better, just gotta put some 2" spacers under them to raise them.


http://www.iqconnect.net.au/~stevo/gixxer 013.jpg



http://www.iqconnect.net.au/~stevo/gixxer 014.jpg

Great looking set of tins your mate has excelled himself again stevo...personally I dont like bikes that are completly covered in colour any details just get lost so I'd say keep the frame and swingarm black but I would change the headlight to get rid of the eyebrow and add some subtle detail to the headlight shell.

I have just delivered a belt guard to a guy that I had drilled and then fixed wire mesh the same colour as his paint job to the underneath of the guard so it showed thru the drilled holes, which tied the black lower half of his bike to the painted tins...could look good on this nice looking machine.

And welcome to the site DY glad to hear your back on the road again

Gordy

Great looking set of tins your mate has excelled himself again stevo...personally I dont like bikes that are completly covered in colour any details just get lost so I'd say keep the frame and swingarm black but I would change the headlight to get rid of the eyebrow and add some subtle detail to the headlight shell.


G'day Gordy

The eyebrow is goin already and we're toyin with the idea of colouring the back of the headlight or goin to somethin neater....

I've just done a chain guard up for a mates shovel and I'm thinking of using the same idea for this....It's just 1" * 1/8" steel strip...clean....I'd probably go 1 1/2" * 1/8" for the belt.....just a thought as it'd clean up the side view a bit...I like the idea of the mesh ....transition area.

Yeah I talked her out of a full orange frame as it drops the resale and is a lot of work. At that time she wasn't sure if she was gonna keep the bike or not too....and everyone I've seen done on a stock frame looked shit.
It's hard to sell a sporty with a custom painted frame.
Full colur is great on a custom frame with lines that flow BUT a stock sporties frame lines DON'T flow...and black tends to disapear into the background...

Mind you she's spent more than I was looking at saving her anyway on the paint :eek:

I should have it closer to respectable within a fortnight

.I like the idea of the mesh ....transition area.

my next brain teaser is to paint a sportster lime green and then make covers for the tins out of ali satellite dishes which will be painted electric blue!!

we were joking when we mentioned it to a customer and he is sold on the idea...when will I learn
:frownthre

Oh well hopefully we can change his mind or alter it so its less work for us


Gordy

What the heck is wrong with lime green? Isn't that your favorite color too. Have fun. This paint job is starting to get too complicated for me. Does Dy know that all this work probably won't net her any extra money when it is time to sell? Why spend all this money and then sell the bike? Anyone know when the gallery is coming back. I would have loved to paste a big fat picture of my candy lime green bike in this post. Rottenralph

:laugh Nothing wrong with lime green ralph but this job could become a right pain in the rear mounting spacers on the existing fenders for the mesh covering etc etc ...
Do people actually think about resale value when tarting up their bikes ! not in my experience

Only asked about resale because Stevo mentioned it. It sounds like she is going to lose her bottom if she sells now. I would have to get atleast 15 for mine just to keep the blood from the money spending wound to a minimum. Never a consideration. Keeping mine. Rottenralph

same here not planning to ever get rid of mine anyhow with the mileage stacking up I'll get bugger all for it anyhow

What the heck is wrong with lime green? Isn't that your favorite color too.

Why yes it is! In addition to this baby I have a KX500 and I just might paint my Roadkill lime green as well.

Like the color a lot! Maybe I should bring my bike to Austria so that you can custom paint it too! :rolleyes:
Something similar in yellow/red .... :rolleyes:

YEAH! :D

drop on by in the new year missy I'll sort the tins out for you

Gordy

Good idea ... something similar with no airbrushin' and fuzzy delicate pieces ... will sit on my sketchpad before spring! ..... :rolleyes:

G'day Painta

This is no where near the finished product.....the painted parts were just put on to give her a progress idea.

The centre of the air cleaner is going orange as we speak. I was origionally thinking of orange in the rocker box sandwiches too and the derby cover and ignition cover and maybe the round bits in the brakes and was looking at a chrome swingarm and chain guard.
With the orange being so bright I need a lot of it and/or chrome to give an overall effect.

I'm going to buy some orange and blue contact and cover some other parts up to see what it looks like. and adapt to a final concept from there.

AT the end of the day a stock sporty frame doesn't have very good lines and everyone I've seen painted orange looked like shit...and we still have black tires and seat (that's gettin changed too, gonna make it lower to blend into the back a bit better)
Lookin at it the other day we may colour cordinate the frame as a flow on from the tin ware...ie: flow the blue and orange thru the parts of the frame that the black is in the way of..BUT that will wait till the motor needs a freshen up and out to 1200....Dy's gotta get comfortable on the bike again BEFORE I go makin it make any more power.

The other problem with the paint is that it's the sorta job that would go on $100,000+ custom bike, unfortunately we have a stockish sporty that it's sittin on. Darren that did the paint has been laughin at me from the day he did 'cos he knows I've got the job of tryin to match the rest of the bike to the paint :rolleyes: which is NOT as easy as it looks.

The indicators are gone....I have some other ones there to put on.I'm trying to source a smaller speedo......gonna try and find some handlebars that fit her and give a better line...but again at the end of the day it's NOT a show bike, it's going to be riden and Dy HAS to feel comfortable riding it...no matter what everyone else thinks..including myself.
It's no good lookin perfect if she's can't ride it anywhere because it's uncomfortable or she can't control it.

Sounds good!! I really think you make it look great. I read between the lines and know, you know what you talkin 'bout. But your mate is right, not easy to make a bike around the paint :) Hope You let us see the finished bike!!

Love the paint. Can't wait to see the pics after you have finished your work.

Too busy for my tastes, but I sure can appreciate a great job when I see one. I really dig the mural in the center of the tank!

Great looking scooter. The bars from the new 883L might look a bit better IMO. Kind of a modified buckhorn style. Be sure to let us see the finished product.

I love that bike Stevo,
If I had half your talent, I'd rip into mine!
Billy

:bump

Someone was askin about paint... figure it's just as easy to bump as it is to link


progress report......

I'm makin up a custom gauge mount so I can tuck it behind the V in the bars...

Also gonna hide the wiring due to the fact that some klutz previously has crimped the wires with the brake clamp :frownthre not good when it's only been serviced by "mechanics" :rolleyes:
Figured if I gotta get cute and cut and join it I may as well hide it...

Just waitin on some longer bolts for mounting the bars...

Stevo

Top paint job

Grayfeather :tour :hogsign

freakin' beautiful. brought a tear to my eye.