I Ain't No Artist

For the past several weeks, I’ve been working sporadically on a painting job that I’ve undertaken for my good buddy, the Guru. At first there didn’t seem to be much of a rush and with a pretty busy schedule and rain for almost every weekend this year, I haven’t finished what really shouldn’t have amounted to much of a job. After seeing the progress being made on the rest of the bike (as documented on the Guru’s Blog), I really been motivated to get the job done. The tank is this really sweet handmade fiberglass unit, made specifically for the tricked-out reflex they’re building over there at B&J Racing. It’s going to be a nice machine, so I didn’t want to screw up the paint job (too much). I also have the stock fenders, which I’m painting as well. The front fender had suffered a kink or two in its time, so I laid in a little fiberglass re-enforcement underneath help it hold its shape. With the glass matting out, I went ahead and filled in the holes where the taillight had been on the rear fender. Applying the color to the tank wasn’t a big deal, doing it two-tone just takes (me) a little more time that it otherwise would. In the shots above, you can see the first layer on the tank as well as the finished product on the fenders. The second shot is the tank after applying the second color. All that remains is pulling off the paper and shooting the whole thing with a little clear coat. I think it turned out pretty good. I guess there are probably those who’d question the logic of putting so much effort into the appearance of what’ll be an off-road competition motorcycle. And I’m not talking about just the tank and fenders; they’ve got the rest of that thing looking really good. Still, won’t it just get banged up the first time it’s taken to the woods? Well, maybe. Either the Guru or Hockeyboy will likely be piloting the thing and they don’t crash one very often (contrary to convention and my example). But it can’t avoid getting slimmed, no matter who’s driving it. So why bother to make it pretty? Well, why not?