How Much Black ?

So the wheels & forks are out, but I'm still deciding how far to go.  The idea is to have the wheels, hubs & fork lowers blacked & I'm toying with the idea of doing the headlight done as well.  But if I do that I think it'll look a bit disjointed with too many contrasts & if I'm not careful, will start to look like a BOSS.  Much as I love the BOSS, I don't want to look like I'm copying.  Main dilemma is whether to go for gloss or silk powder. 

The tank is the original gloss black/white, but the guards, side panels, speedo housing & front indicator cover are a flat black with a flake lacquer - so which do I go for?  I'd rather have satin, as I prefer that to gloss, but will that wrong against the gloss of the frame?  Or do I do the rims & forks in satin & the hubs in gloss - which would sit better against the frame - would that look odd?  Then I'm going to have a silver diff unit against the black hubs & shaft cover, so should I have the diff housing sprayed as well? There will be a break between the rims & hubs as they're being re-laced with stainless spokes.

Anyone got any thoughts ?

Just my opinion, Gloss Black rims and  Satin Black hubs with stainless spokes will look good, fork legs in Gloss Black and leave the covers off with the stainless tubes on show, Gloss Black top yolk with silver risers and Black bars, paint the final drive black to match the hub, Satin Black & Gloss Black go well together with a few silver/chrome highlights, my bandit is gloss black with a satin black frame and the hd is the opposite.

all sounds good to me I'm a bit of a fan of gloss black though it looks great

What  -  no orange?  Justin will be mortified!
I think the gloss and the satin look brilliant together, and would have the diff unit silver against the black hubs etc. That'll keep it more removed from a BOSS copy (much as I love the BOSS look)

Nope - no orange !!  

I think the diff has to be black - else I'd have a black shaft onto a silver diff onto a black hub & for my slightly OCD eyes, that'd be wrong.  Looking at today, I'm more running with satin rims & hubs with gloss fork legs & brake caliper.  

I'd thought about leaving the covers off the top of the forks, but I think that it may look too "skinny" in proportion against the overall "fatness" of the rest of the bike.  I'll leave 'em off on the rebuild initially, & see what I think then.

So this is where I'm at now 

" />

Need to remove the drive joint & rubbers before masking everything up to be powdered.  

At the moment, I'm pretty much decided on satin for the wheels, hubs & disc, gloss on the fork legs & caliper.  I'll have the diff sprayed in satin black - I'm gong to have to have gloss/satin join somewhere, unless I go for either a partial strip-down of the swing-arm, or a full strip-down & have the frame down.  But at the moment, I think that's a bit excessive. 

I have ideas for the headlight (thanks Sim), but at the moment, I'm trying to track down a rim, as it's going to involve something fairly permanent & if it don't work, I want to be able swap back to the original.  

There's some light rusting inside of the rims, but the guy who stripped them said that they're in very good condition for their age

Well as someone said:
A biker’s work is never done
Go ahead...

katsd wrote:

So this is where I'm at now 
  

At the moment, I'm pretty much decided on satin for the wheels, hubs & disc, gloss on the fork legs & caliper.  I'll have the diff sprayed in satin black - I'm gong to have to have gloss/satin join somewhere, unless I go for either a partial strip-down of the swing-arm, or a full strip-down & have the frame down.  But at the moment, I think that's a bit excessive. 

That should look good 

Managed to find a used rim on ebay - came complete with a headlight & visor (which I need for the project) - £40 for the lot - better than paying £70 for just a rim, plus £20 odd for the visor  plus a spare headlight unit



Also ordered a headlight grill - came with the clips - could have got one a bit cheaper, but the clips with this one are a chunky brass set - the cheaper ones came with flimsy bits of what looked like tin.



My idea is to have the have the rim drilled to accept the clips, then get the visor welded to the rim above & have the complete unit powdered gloss black - I think the brass against the black will look good.

katsd wrote:

 I think the brass against the black will look good.

  You could be onto something there Dave 

Or it could look a complete pigs ear !!!!  You don't know till you try these things.  Arrived this morning - better condition than the existing rim - so I'll be using the old one, & the visor is the 7 cm depth, rather than the smaller 4 cm.  The visor alone would have cost me about £23 & postage if I'd bought it separate - result !!

Sounds like a result there that man!!!!!!!

dave whatever you do will be tasteful as for black and gold these two are by far the best colour combination you can get imho.if I didn't carry a pillion so much I would have this bike in a heartbeat

ardie wrote:

dave whatever you do will be tasteful as for black and gold these two are by far the best colour combination you can get imho.if I didn't carry a pillion so much I would have this bike in a heartbeat

 You would be second in line, Dave knows I'm first in the queue ;-)

just wishfull thinking on my part  andrew   love the bike

To Ardie & Andrew - thanks for the comments guys.  At the moment I'm still fettling, but when I run out of things to do with or if someone offers me a big enough wad of cash to put a deposit on a Victory High-Ball then it's probably going to be time to move onto a new project

So now I'm conflicted - pretty much decided on satin black rims & hubs, but I've just come across this 



I think that it would work - Sarah says it'll just make it look like the wheels need cleaning.  My cousin (the sprayer) tells me you never run more than three colours or it will look messy.  It goes against my subtle look, but I can see it on the rims & hubs with stainless spokes

It's 'No' from me, sorry 

Stick with Satin ?

Yeah! If it ain't broke don't fix it, The mixed Black finishes's and Chrome accents with the White contrasts looks the    No place for that glittery nonsense on a Bobber    you'll be doing your nails next 

Justin being talking hand selfies again?

Fair point - on both counts !!!   Satin black (or graphite grey) it is then.

Ditto from me... The sparkly one was a bit too 'fairground ride'

Got the headlight in the post a couple of days ago & the grill arrived today. 

" />

The new rim is in better condition than the old one, so the old one is now going to be the donor.  The visor is a good quality item, even has a patent number stamped on it.  Had to trim the lip inside so that it fits snugly against the rim when the headlight mount is.  

Slight issue is that the grill doesn't fit round the edge of the glass onto the chrome retaining ring (that would have been too perfect), instead it sits on the very edge if the glass.  I'm thinking that if it has a cut in each side through the outside ring, it can be flattened enough to make a tight fit onto the retaining ring.  I'll then get them to fix the clips into that gap to fasten it to the rim.  Not sure whether to have the clips go inside or outside of the rim.  Whatever happens, I need to be able to remove the grill so I can clean the headlight glass.  Still not decided whether to have it done in gloss or satin - leaning towards gloss.

Finished masking everything up - rang John the powder man this morning - I'm going to drop it all off tomorrow.

" />

When that's gone, I need to grind back some off the diff & swing-arm to accommodate the 1400 diff unit.  I did have the plastic one originally, but Pete kindly donated his cast-off metal one.  Then the diff unit is over to my cousins for a spray to match the wheels.

Looks like it's going to be a long winter !!

Dumped the stuff at the powder coaters - won't see it till next year now.  Finally decided on the colours - fork legs, caliper & headlight surround in gloss black.  Wheel rims & hubs - not in Satin Black - last minute change of mind after poking through the boxes of powder on their shelves.  Ain't going to say what yet - as Sim will no doubt blast me & try to get me to change my mind (which I still have time to do).  All I say is - it's not the sparkly black !!

katsd wrote:

Dumped the stuff at the powder coaters - won't see it till next year now.  Finally decided on the colours - fork legs, caliper & headlight surround in gloss black.  Wheel rims & hubs - not in Satin Black - last minute change of mind after poking through the boxes of powder on their shelves.  Ain't going to say what yet - as Sim will no doubt blast me & try to get me to change my mind (which I still have time to do).  All I say is - it's not the sparkly black !!

Fork legs, caliper & headlight surround in gloss black,,,check     Wheel rims & hubs,,,   ! what ya done?

RAL 7024 Graphite Grey (Satin)

Should work in the scheme of things Dave 

So after having to put this project on the back-burner - too many other commitments/project on the go - I finally started to move on it again.  Collected the stuff from the powder-coaters on Friday.  I'd originally decided the rims/hubs/diff were going to be in satin Graphite grey, but after a discussion with my cousin, was advised against it - "don't introduce another colour - it'll look too fucking busy!!" - I went for satin black - then when I saw it, I decided it was too much like the gloss, so had them re-done in matt black.  

The rims/hubs/disc are in matt black to compliment the front & rear mudguards, side-panels, speed housing & air-filter cover.  The fork lowers/caliper/fake swing arm have been done in gloss.  I've also had a few brackets fabricated up for the tacho, number-plate light & reflector - still waiting for them to finish the headlight grill.

So Saturday morning I dropped the diff of Richards to be sprayed matt black, then drove up to Shirebrooks to drop off the rims & hubs to be re-laced.  He's going to rebuild the forks as well - he has all the kit for doing it - I didn't fancy pissing around trying to get the levels right in my garage.  Reckon they should be ready for collection in about ten days.

Tuesday I'm hoping to fit the auxiliary fuse box, tidy up the wiring in headlight bucket, then get on with the tacho - if that works OK, it's off with the rad to fit the temperature sender for the tacho.  I want to make sure the tacho works OK before I drop the rad.

I've fitted a rad cover - shipped it in from The States, good quality bit of kit, fits well.  Went for brushed steel finish - if I don't like it, I'll have it powdered black.



So that's where I'm at so far - still cant see it being back on the road before April !!!

Nice rad cover! brushed stainless should work 

I'm looking forwards to seeing this when it's all back together, lot of work going into it.

Will you be doing much riding this Summer Dave?    I was hoping if we get chance to meet up? you'd be on the bike, not bringing it in boxes 

It's always the same Sim - big pile of boxes & me wondering if it'll ever see the light of day, then it all comes together in a short space of time. Defo meet up sometime this year matey

Hey Dave, with you buying the new headlight, do you now have a spare reflector assembly ?

My bike is an import and therefore it dips the wrong way round and I've been looking for a headlight / reflector for ages but not come across one at a price that justifies buying it..

If you have one ( and it's a UK configuration ) I'd buy it from you if the price was right mate ?

Ayup Mick - I assume you mean the actual headlight unit ? Yeh, the bezel came with one - it's the one in the photo against the checker-plate. I'll pm you some photos over - won't be for a couple of days tho

Have you got all the bits back yet Dave?

No mate - I've had a lot of other stuff on the go & this has taken a back seat (mainly 'cause it's been so cold). The wheels are ready to pick up, but it's a 60 mile round trip & it's finding a morning free - all my shifts have fallen wrong recently.

I'm off for a week in April & hoping to have it nailed then - it's not like the weathers been much cop recently !!!

Picked these up yesterday - hoping to make a start on re-building over the weekend

[img][/img]

those look very tasty indeed

Fitted the forks, front wheel & caliper - left the fork covers off initially, but it looked wrong - too skinny - defo needs the bulky look that the covers give. 

" />

Started to put the rear wheel back together - got the drive-line in.  Next thing is to put the shaft back in the diff & rebuild the drum cover.  After that it'll be putting al the easy bits on - fake arm, side-mount, bleed the brakes etc.

Still aiming for mid, end April

Looks tidy    Black the top yoke out 

Honestly _ I couldnt be arsed to strip the bars down !!

Another five hours on Saturday got me here 

" />

Shaft went into on second attempt - was expecting it to take a lot longer, but Pete taught me well last year (thanks Pete).  The most awkward part was the drum housing - fitting the return spring whilst trying not to scratch the paint was a bitch.  Fitted the swing-arm & side-mount & wrapped it about 8 pm.  Had a quick tootle on Sunday - not too far, as I've not picked up the headlight yet.  Tacho works a treat - no flicker at all - well chuffed about that.  

Just a few more finishing touches - like a clean, & should be ready to roll next week - just in time for my hols.

Looks a really top job Dave.  Certainly a head turner. A credit to you.

I think a visit is in order Dave to see her :) Looking good.

What's that bottle in the tyre Dave - you haven't got a washing machine lurking about in your mancave have you - Sim will be proper upset!

It was an empty bottle I was using & that was a convenient place to stick it when I'd finished.  The garage looks like a bomb's hit it - when I've finished, I'll be giving it a good sort out.  I need to get rid of the tyres - I have a pair of Bridgestones that I took off when I fitted the whitewalls - can't see me ever putting them back on again.  the rear had done about 700 miles !!

Andrew - any time you want mate - let me know when you're free

Looking good Dave! looking very good   

I have slowly going more and more black over a long time. I will be doing a reversal of Dave R's wheels. I will keep the chrome wheels but spraying the spokes black instead.