I've been working on my sissy bar for a bit now, and I'm about 3/4 the way done. I have the main "body" of the bar done, and the mounting points. I just have to make and weld in some lateral supports on the mounts and actually weld the bar TO the mounts and supports. But I've been looking at it last night during trial fitment, and it is bare steel right now, looks nice contrasting the black bike. Problem is...I really don't want a lot of chrome on the bike...what to do??? I originally wanted to powerd coat it matte black.

Well as a supporter of chrome :clap I think chrome would look great with a black themed bike.........my humble 2 cents :D

as a supporter of the blackout look and ratbikes in general I have to say paint it black and let rust slowly creep in :clap

Color match them to the paint scheme. Option 3.

Hey engine do ya have pics, Ralph has the right idea by matching it

as a supporter of the blackout look and ratbikes in general I have to say paint it black and let rust slowly creep in :clap

now that's idea of a real biker attitude. :clap

I'd say powder coat it black

I'm a big fan of blacking out the bike. The nice part of you doing the sissy bar is that not every Joe Blow will have the same thing. That's hard to do when 80 Gazillion people have the same basic bike. I try to have most things just a little different than the other guy.

I'll take some pics today, and post them here. I still have to blend in some of the welds at the sharp points (yeah, it's pointy!), but the actual structural welds, I'l leave in, I think they came out pretty good. I'll also try and take a pic of it on the bike...but my hand will be holding it...
But I am sort of going for that "rat bike" look.

Another thing, I'm thinking of some Paugcho upswept pipes...but that's later...when the wife isn't pissed anymore about the stuff I just ordered...

Just curious engine, did ya use round or square stock?

used 1/2" round stock for about 98% of it. The other 2% was that I made spacer mounts out of 5/8" round stock, drilled 5/16" holes through them so the fender mount bolts go through them. It's sort of difficult for me to explain, I'll take all the pics, and hopefully they'll speak for themselves...

Really curious to see your end results. Sounds like a nice project.

put up pics, started a new thread...

Paint it black...chrome is so ordinary....

By the way, the spade decoration is cool....

Whiffi

CHROME
by Paul Simon

Mama don't take my Harley chrome!
Mama don't take my Harley chrome!
Mama don't take my Harley chrome away!

Mama don't take my Harley chrome!
Leave your boy so far from home!
Mama don't take my Harley chrome away!

Lets us not forget that little diddy Chrome Chrome on the range! :wonderlan

My Vote is BLACK!!!!

My Vote is BLACK!!!!
Black with Chrome on it! :laugh

I've decided to go flat black, the stainless spade will look nice in front of a black sissy bar. I was going to have it powdercoated, but then figured that I can save $$ by painting it myself. Bought Krylon primer, and Ultra Flat black. So far I got 1.5 coats of primer on it. Will do one more. Then do 3 coats of black. That should be done by the weekend, will post pics then.

Love to see the end results!!! :D

Mr. B. Collins ... you have way too much time on your hands :)

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don’t take my 'Harley Chrome' away :)

"Harley Chrome" ... "Kodachrome"

Mr. B. Collins ... you have way too much time on your hands :)

I originally wrote that song because of my love for Harley chrome, and then them Simonians and Garfunklywunkly sonsabitches stole it from me.

Chrome Chrome on the Range?!

How about:

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore, I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

I see a line of cars and they're all painted black
With flowers and my love, both never to come back
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away
Like a newborn baby it just happens ev'ry day

Chrome Chrome on the Range?!

How about:

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore, I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

I see a line of cars and they're all painted black
With flowers and my love, both never to come back
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away
Like a newborn baby it just happens ev'ry day

chrome chrome on the range where the deer and antelope play.... :frownthre

Here's something a friend of mine did when he made his sissy bar...turned out really cool on his bike. He's one who shares the same philosophy as flathead, all 3 of his bikes are I guess you'd say would be in the rat class, but not, they are really nice bikes by they're own rights, I like 'em. Anyway, he took an 8' lenght of copper grounding rod, bent, and brazed a real nice lookin old-school sissy bar. And once the elements took over and that copper took on that petina copper does, it looks nice "on that bike. Blends real good w/ flat black, some chrome/billet, raw aluminum, rust. Not really a suggestion, but a unique way to be one-off, just a little different in this cookie cutter world....but in response to your thread , my 74 is painted black and the sissy bar is chrome, I think bkack would look just as good...but I'd have to swap out many chrome pieces to make the black one work...depends on what's already on you bike, or what your willing to change to make a new piece work......pretty windy..but there's my 4 cents worth.....Mike :rolleyes: