Last year I got back on a Motorbike for the first time in about 20 years.

Over the winter, once I had finished working with my Son to rebuild an engine and get the kids car back on the road, the next job was cleaning up the Bike ready for 2018. As well as basic maintenance it was time to do some cosmetics.

I bought the bike last July from the daughter of a Man who was suffering from dementia – and was no longer riding. A beautiful, low-kms 2005 Suzuki GS500F – by far the most powerful bike I had ever ridden. Working with the local-to-Victoria and awesome Vancouver Island Safety Council (VISC) I built up my skills, got my class 6 and then with the companionship of fellow bikers from the Lower Island Riding Club and others I practiced. A lot… I had a lot of fun…

The only downer was, I was not in love with the black/silver/red colour-scheme. The plastic fairings had also suffered cracks, scrapes and scratches from a couple of nasty drops by the previous owner. The windscreen was also clouded and lightly scratched. 

As you know, fashion is really important when it comes to vehicles. I resolved to do something about it. My first idea was spray painting the fairings. And then my youngest, who has a part-time job with a high-end auto detailer here in Victoria, suggested I look into wrapping the fairings.

Whut?

My Son told me about wrapping, about the high-end cars that he had seen wrapped and how amazing they looked. I had heard about the idea but had no direct experience. He showed me some examples and my imagination was hooked. The quality of finish looked way beyond anything I could expect from painting. And also a new skill?

The following is a blow-by-blow account of what I did, and perhaps how to do it yourself.

Step 1: Find a colour and fall in love

Last summer I was following the news and became very aware of the number of accidents involving Bikers on the island, including one tragic one in Victoria that I arranged a memorial for with the help of riders from the Lower Island Riding Club (LIRC). I did not know the rider, but was struck by the tragedy of the incident. Recently I learned that I did, once removed, know the rider when I received an unexpected thank you. I digress.

Out of this, whilst black is a popular colour amongst bikers – it is not a good one for being seen. Most nasty accidents appear to involve other vehicles not seeing bikes. Being seen is a big deal. So – the black and silver colour scheme needed to be replaced with something that would stand out. Having seen pictures of matte metallic wrapped vehicles I decided orange was the colour. I ordered a 60″ x 120″ sheet on ebay. I figured this would be enough to complete the job and allow me to really f*** things up a few times.

Orange.

Step 2: Clean up the fairings and fix the holes

The side fairings on the bike came off in four major pieces; two side fairings, the front fairing and the rear/tail fairing. The tail further came apart into three pieces; two sides and the rear.

The first job was to remove all the fairings. That was fairly easily done. The next step was cleaning them up and removing all the decals. A heat gun, a microfibre cloth, a buddy, a few beers and a spray bottle of isopropyl alcohol did the clean-up work.

The front fairing had a cut in it where it looked like it had hit a sharp edge. Both sides had big scratches and the bottom of the right-hand fairing had a large crack around the lower mounting point that had almost separated it.

Also – the tank had to come off. The tank had a large red/silver decal on it that I either needed to remove or cover to fit with the new colour scheme. On youtube I looked up how to shut off fuel from the tank and remove it safely. I then placed it in a well-ventilated place to drain out the remaining fuel and removed the filler cap. Once drained I removed the fuel send/return assembly from the bottom of the tank and did everything I could to drain out the remaining fuel. By this time I had decided I was going to wrap the tank too. Whilst the tank dried out (I gave it a good day of fresh air), I picked up some two-part plastic repair compound from a local vehicle parts shop. I then proceeded to sand down the damaged areas on the fairings, use hot water to get the material back to its ‘plastic’ temperature, bent pieces back into shape and then used the plastic  repair compound to rebuild the damaged areas. Once the compound had set I sanded things back to a smooth finish starting with 200 and finishing with 1200 grit paper.

Step 3: Be prepared to throw the first one away…

Now I had the material and I needed a starting point. The fuel tank seemed the obvious place. I knew the chances of my first attempt working perfectly were pretty slim and so I picked what I thought might give me the most practice. It was a good choice.

It started well. I cut a large sheet having measured the length and width roughly using a tape measure and adding 10cm in each dimension. I then pulled the backing off the self-adhesive vinyl material and then spent the next 10 minutes trying to unstick it from itself so I could lay it on top of the tank. I learned that sticking the material to the table I was working on helped to keep things tight and in place whilst I worked. After about 30 minutes the top of the tank was looking really good. No air bubbles, and with judicious use of the squegee (a flat plastic tool with a self-adhesive felt pad on the edge), a soft cloth, fingers and a heat gun it was going on well.

And then came the edges.

There was clearly no way I could get the material to shrink enough with heat to remove all the excess material I now had. So I made some cuts and then tried to disguise the edges. I kept working but before long the sides of the tank looked like they had some rare and rapidly aging skin disease. Obviously I needed a new approach. Piece 1 done. For now. Ok – now to get it right…

Step 4: Now to make it look good.

My Son joined me for the next effort. The two halves of the rear fairing seemed like a good next step. Lots of curves, but smaller than the tank. Time to learn how to stretch, contract and ease the material around contours. Having got one good failure under my belt I felt more confident taking on these two smaller tasks. My Son also added some information on how to work the material that he had gained from his experience with the car detailing business. This went a lot smoother…

I had also picked up some black carbon-fibre weave wrap to play with. It went beautifully with the orange.

After the experience with the tank and attempting to fold/cut the material I did some more research and discovered the wonder that is wrap-cut tape, or knifeless tape – depending on the manufacturer. This work of genius has a fine strong fibre down one side of a 5mm wide tape. You lay it where you want the cut and lay the material over it and wrap. When all is ready, you pick the fibre from one end and, like a cheese-wire cut the material in a perfectly clean line from beneath…

I went ahead with the side-fairings and planned a two-tone approach with the orange and contrasting with the black along natural lines in the fairings. Using the wrap-cut tape I laid the foundations of something I hoped would work well. It worked better than I imagined. I also cut a 1″ hole and added a weather-resistant (NEMA) USB charging port to the left-hand fairing.

Step 5: Ok Tank, its time…

With what I had learned using the wrap-cut tape and two-tone on the side fairings I was now ready to take on the tank again. I decided to use two sheets of orange for the sides, and a covering of the carbon-fibre textured wrap for the top. This involved putting wrap-cut tape across the edge contour of the top of the tank and wrapping the sides with the orange material. I then re-laid wrap-cut tape over the top of the just laid orange material and wrapped the black over the top, then finally pulled those tapes to produce the final result. Getting to this result felt really good!

Step 5: And now to wrap it up…

Having conquered the tank, the front fairing was the last piece to take on. This has several sharp changes of contour and so with previous experience I decided to wrap this in five pieces. I did it all in orange and used the wrap-cut tape to give clean and nearly invisible junctions between the sections. It also allowed me to make good use of the offcuts of the material from the previous sections. Somehow, magically this used nearly all of the remaining material leaving me sufficient offcuts to deal with patch repairs in the future…

Step 6: Putting it all back together

Putting high-temperature lacquer on the rusted exhaust manifold, replacing the spark plugs, replacing the stock horn with the loudest one I could find, oil change, re-assembling and attaching the fuel tank, replacing the front fairing, adding the new windscreen (ordered through ebay), replacing the side fairings, wiring in the USB charger to a switch and fuse mounted beneath the saddle, adding the rear fairing, putting two chrome gel ‘Suzuki’ stickers ordered through ebay on the side fairings, clearing, adjusting and lubricating the chain, adding a container of ‘seafoam’ to a few litres of fuel in the tank, running up the engine. And… Time for some riding…

Conclusion

I keep going down into the garage, looking at it and seeing the minor flaws but being blown away overall by the result. It has been a complete transformation and I am really looking forward to taking this on the road. Insurance will be done by the end of this week.

This has been a lot of work, but just like riding it has been a very ‘zen’ experience. Lots of focus and attention to detail has produced something which looks, in my humble opinion, both unique and beautiful…

Don – Victoria – 25Mar18