RSV colour change/titivation {FINISHED}

Been thinking about this for quite a long time. Since before I bought the RSV lol (I mocked up the design back in 2012 and only bought an RSV in Sept 2013 :roflmao: )...

The RSV I bought was a bargain, but was also tatty. No qualms with that.

The previous owner didn't really care for her much at all and when I got my hands on her she'd been pretty much abandoned under a bike cover, chained to a wall outside the lad's house in Liverpool for about a year, during that time having been the victim of an attempted theft too.

After fixing her up mechanically-speaking, I promised myself that I'd ride her a little and see how we got on before deciding whether to spend any money on the cosmetics. Suffice to say I'm a happy bunny so have decided to do a little titivating now

I don't see the point in spending megabucks on paint and trying to make her absolutely mint, as the cost of doing that would be more than simply selling her and then buying an already-mint bike. So I've been looking at a cost-effective way of tarting her up a smidge.

It looks like the previous owner stripped off the standard stickers and replaced it with lashing of rim tape and then painted some bits with B&Q's finest red gloss paint (which unsurprisingly doesn't flex very well) So this is what I mean when I say she's a little cosmetically compromised:












Poor girl needs a little TLC.

So anyway, I've just bought one of these carbon tank guards:

And some of these:

....and this turned up:

Containing a lot of these:


...and this is sort of the plan:

 

The first thing that struck me straight away is that the white PlastiDip is a LOT thinner than the black stuff. As a result it's at greater risk of running but also (more importantly) it needs more coats to properly cover a dark surface.

The seat hump has had a hard life. It's scuffed, scratched and battered, with one notable chip out of it above where the "Aprilia Racing" sticker was (that I've removed). I didn't bother to rub it down or anything special - just wiped it with a clean rag to ensure there wasn't any dust and then wiped it with rubbing alcohol. Had a go at removing the glue edges from the Aprilia Racing sticker and got most of it off but not all. But then I promised I wouldn't be all prissy about the finish and just crack on with it - I'm not after a showroom finish after all.

This is the hump before the first coat:


This is the residue from the Aprilia Racing sticker, and the aforementioned chip just above it:



First coat:



First coat almost dried:


The chip's still there but the PlastiDip is beginning to fill the mark a little:


Second coat (all the advice I've read recommends adding each successive coat whilst the previous coat is still tacky, helping the layers of PlastiDip bond together):



Second coat almost dried:



Third coat:

 

Third coat almost dry:



The PlastiDip doesn't like sharp edges. You can see where it's not holding particularly thickly to the very outer edge of the hump. Not a significant problem though:


Fourth coat:




One more lick of white to go and then the Pearlizer. One thing's for sure - 3 cans of white ain;t gonna cut it Other people have said 3 cans is enough for a sportsbike but they've used the black PlastiDip, which is a lot thicker. I reckon I've used about 80-90% of a single can on the hump. Probably not helped that it was black to start with lol

 

Fifth coat:

...drying:




Almost dry:

Remember that outline from the Aprilia Racing sticker and the big chip into the plastic? Sticker mark is completely masked and the chip is significantly reduced (I suspect if I'd used a thicker base like grey it would've gone completely):




Now for the first coat of Pearlizer:





First try out with the Pearlizer and I'm pretty impressed. I've got a little pooling along the bottom LHS edge which is a PITA but as a beginner trial piece I'm pretty chuffed. May well redo it later on when the rest of the bike is done but it's been a good learning experience. Have also learned that it's best to spray the paint horizontally and have your receiving surface vertical if possible as this (a) stops dust/hairs etc. settling so easily on it, and (b) allows you to keep the aerosol can at the correct angle to ensure the internal pickup pipe stays submerged in the paint right until the end (had my first can sputtering even though there was still 20%(ish) still left in the can because I was holding it almost horizontal!).

 

Being a bit perplexed over the amount of white PlastiDip it's taken to paint just the pillion hump (almost a full can, which doesn't bode well because I only ordered 3 cans of white for the whole bike!! ) I did a bit more researching online and Fonzie at www.dipyourcar.com has covered this problem in a short video clip. He confirms that it takes a lot of white to get a good coverage and that it's a lot thinner and more translucent, so his advice is to lay down a coat or two of gunmetal grey first and then paint the white over it. The grey is thicker and clings more readily to the surface, so makes for a good base coat, plus doing it that way you only need 2, maybe 3 coats of white on top. Using just white on it's own you can be looking at possibly 6-7 coats or more. I did 5 coats on the black hump and if I'm being honest I would've preferred another 2 coats on top of that at least.

So I ordered 2 cans of gunmetal and another can of pearlizer (from www.matt-pack.co.uk) and a further 2 cans of white from PlastiDip.co.uk (because matt-pack were out of white).

www.matt-pack.co.uk is the cheapest I can find PlastiDip in the UK. It still ain't THAT cheap (including P&P it works out about £13ish per can - whereas in the US it costs about half that) but it's still a helluva lot cheaper than forking out £600+ for a full respray.

 

As for the costs - I tallied it up as follows:
2 grey, 5 white, 1 black and 2 pearlizer - £110 delivered.
StompGrips - £42
Tank protector - £22
Rubbing alcohol - £3
Decals - £85 (probably less than this but held off on ordering until I know what I definitely need)

The StompGrips and tank protector are reusable if I change the paint scheme (you can remove black StompGrips, clean the glue off and reapply fresh 3M Scotch-Weld 90 adhesive to re-use them). They represent £64 of the total cost but I've considering them as simply extra goodies for the bike rather than an integral part of the PlastiDip paint project.

So I make the total cost therefore to be £113 plus the cost of whatever decals/stickers I use. My other half runs her own t-shirt printing business so has a vinyl cutter, meaning some of the simple single-colour stickers I can get for free. I'll probably only end up needing to buy the big RSV name on the side fairings (fingers crossed) and a few smaller RSVMille etc. stickers. I started the project reckoning on a spend of sub-£200 which I'm pretty confident will be achieved.

 

I don't have a garage/workshop at home so I'm doing the work in my attic (for "attic" read "the room at the top of my house that's stuffed with tonnes of crap").

Whilst I'm not particularly "prepping" the plastics, they do need to be clean and they also need any damage to be flattened so that there's no rough plastic burrs poking proud, as these will stick out of the PlastiDip. Other than that I'm not really bothered about scratches/marks etc. The PlastiDip will provide a small amount of "filling" but I'm not buggering about with filler and the like.

I bought a RHS mid-fairing off ebay to replace the knackered one that was on the bike. The existing one was bent and deformed inwards so would never look right without a load of work. Bought a crash-damaged replacement which has scratches/scrapes but is straight.

Peeling the stickers off was the biggest ballache of a job! Using a Stanley blade I picked away and eventually got them off and then gave it all a good wipe with nail varnish remover to get rid of any glue. Took some fine sandpaper to any damage just to flatten any ridges/protrusions down, and then wiped over with rubbing alcohol.




First coat of grey:



Second coat:


Grey dried (I actually quite like that look!):


With the flash on the camera you can see the scrapes are still visible a bit:


First coat of white:


First coat of white dried:


Second coat on and dried:


Two coats of pearlizer later:



The previous owner stuck some stickers on the front fairing deflectors and although they've come off, the glue they've left behind is frikkin indestructible! Rubbing alcohol doesn't do anything and nail varnish remover softens it but when you try to wipe it off it just smears around and won't loosen it's grip on the plastic! Grrrrr..... Smallest bit of the job will no doubt take the longest to do!

 

£25 ebay bargain



Out with the old...


...and in with the new



Fits fine. Just need to clean the exhaust can where the rubber strap sat previously and then probably give the new hanger a few coats of satin black PlastiDip (in for a penny, in for a pound!!)

 

Been looking at the can on the RSV. Not really very keen on it. It's a Delkevic with a tiny dent in it, but I don't think it does the bike justice really.



So have been keeping my eye on ebay for any suitable replacements at a keen price.

Finally found a pair of BlueFlame carbon ovals off a K9 GSXR 1000. 3 months old and absolutely immaculate - not a mark on them! These babies retail at £450 a pair including link pipes. Got the pair (including the link pipes) for £150

Will need repacking to be able to handle a V-twin exhaust pulse (don't want them exploding lol) rather than the weedy inline-4 exhaust pulses it's had to previously handle



Trial fit:




Yum

My current link pipe has an external diameter of 50mm. The inlet on this can has an internal diameter of 52mm. So it appears I need a 1mm thick 52mm reducer collar and can then just clamp it up.

 

Looks like I didn't get all the glue off the RHS air scoop before I slapped the PlastiDip on. Oh well I guess that's what you get for doing a quick and dirty spray job lol.


Gives me a chance to try peeling off the PlastiDip though. Pretty tough, if I'm being honest. Finally got an edge free then started to pullllllll.....

 

Next lot of bits just finished and drying.

 

And that's it for the mo More updates as I get more done

 

Literally like watching paint dry......
Lol.
Looking good jimbo. :thumbsup:
Does this stuff dry hard enough to wash in the usual way?