Over the bank holiday weekend, we went on a nice ride to the Peak district. Just 3 days of riding, enjoying the scenery and crisp, fresh air. For this occasion, we decided to take out the Guzzi, which hasn’t seen extended action since Easter, when we took it for a ride around France. So it was the both of us, zipping up the M1 on the Saturday, reaching just in time for lunch. The next day we took it easy, but on the way back on Monday, we did the full 130mi on the motorway without any stops on the way.
So by the time we got back and parked up, we noticed the bike was dripping mustard coloured oil. It was coming from underneath the engine, where there is a breather pipe hanging straight down. Having seen this previously on Royal Enfields, where there is a dirty oil reservoir which needs emptying every so often, we were not overly alarmed. However, when this happens on a Royal Enfield, you do need to clean the air filter, because it gets all gunked up with the same nasty yellow oil that is dripping down. So we let the bike be, with a newspaper underneath. Over the course of an hour or so, it made quite a big puddle of dirty oil and then stopped…
Just to be sure, we phoned up our local Guzzi dealership to ask for advice. Apparently, this is not too uncommon for this type of bike. According to the dealer, if you use it for short rides a lot, condensation occurs inside, and then if you ride it for a longer duration, especially at higher speeds (he mentioned the word “thrashing” ) the bike expels a lot of dirty oil and clears the system out properly. So, although this is annoying when it happens, it is nothing to worry about and not like an Enfield where you need to clean the bike up (air filter especially) afterwards. All you can do is wait for it to stop, and it’ll be as good as new. Now I’m guessing, in order to prevent this in the future, we’re just going to have to “thrash” the bike regularly

If you’re looking into repainting your motorcycle (or other vehicle) yourself, depending on the skills and budget you have, there are various options for you to consider. They inevitably are divided by cost constraints, as you will see.

“The $50 repaint”

This method was conceived to be done on classic cars, if all you’ve got is lots of time, willingness to get your hands dirty and elbow grease to spare - but a very low budget. For a motorcycle, $50 may be a huge exaggeration, you could do it way cheaper than that.

Basically this method involves sanding, sanding and more sanding, painting the bodywork with a high density paint roller and Rustoleum paint (but you could probably use any other metal paint as well). Since the finish from a paint roller might not be perfect, you need to sand properly in between various coats to achieve a good finish. Why not head over to this site here: RickWrench.com and have a look at the entire process plus end result.It’s really quite impressive what a lot of time and painstaking effort can achieve!

The rattle-can

A much more widely used method for repainting motorcycles is doing it with a can of metal paint. With this method, it is a bit closer to the professional finish since both are sprayed on; however cans don’t necessary spray very evenly and you may have runny paint because you cannot adjust the viscosity of the paint. Nevertheless, if you are still willing to invest some time cleaning up the paintwork before giving it some clear coat over the top, you can achieve a pretty good finish. Don’t forget however that you will require more than just your colour of choice! Depending on what state the existing paintwork on your bike is like, you might need Adhesion promoter or primer before putting the final colour on. If you want the paintwork to really pop with shine, a clear coat will be required over the top.

How much paint you’ll require and therefore what the budget should be, would depend on the state of your motorcycle’s paintwork, and the amount of bodywork to be painted. But since a can of paint comes for around £5.99 at Halfords, it shouldn’t really break the bank. Add to that sand paper, masking tape and such, and perhaps £50 should cut it for most bikes.

The Semi-Pro

If you have a big budget, lots of enthusiasm and would like to repaint bikes more often, you could go down the semi-pro route of buying an air compressor, a proper spray gun and real automotive paint. Mind you though, you will need a lot of space, and if you aim to get a perfect finish, lots of practice plus a non-dusty yet well ventilated area to do the spraying in. For equipment costs alone, think several hundred pounds for this paint method - it really is not suitable for those on a tight budget!

Air Compressors : People often wonder how much they should spend on an air compressor. The opinion amongst fellow hobbyists seems unanimous - as much as you can possibly afford! In any case you should buy a compressor which has an air tank attached to it, otherwise the spray will not be even, but pulsed. Also, depending on the type of spray gun you would like to use, your compressor needs to be able to cope with the air flow. (HVLP Guns require a lot of air displacement but less pressure, conventional spray guns require more pressure but not so much flow).

Spray Guns : A regular spray gun is basically a big sort of air brush with a fairly large paint container mounted to it. The paint container is either mounted at the bottom (suction fed spray gun) or at the top (gravity fed spray gun) and could be made of either metal or plastic. The advantage of a suction fed spray gun is that it usually has more paint capacity - so it’s better suited for larger projects, whereas a gravity fed spray gun is usually lighter and easier to use around smaller items (over head spraying).

What’s HVLP? Many spray guns are HVLP guns - this stands for High Volume Low Pressure. Basically what it means is, the air is fed through the gun at a relatively lower pressure, but the flow is much higher. This makes the finish better than with a conventional spray gun, and reduces overspray. However, it does mean that this type of gun will only work with a good, high power air compressor that can sustain a lot of flow over a longer period of time.

Keep in mind that if you’re using an HVLP gun with any DIY/Hobby air compressor that can fit in your garage, chances are that the tank of the compressor will empty more quickly than what the compressor can sustain. This means that if you’re spraying for extended periods, you might need to take breaks to allow the tank to refill.

Accessories : In order to make your set up work, you need to be able to connect the spray gun to the compressor properly. Also you need to make sure that your paint remains clean. Because air compressors generally have screw on connections in standard sizes, you have to make sure that the air hose is appropriate for your spray gun (the connector might be non standard, depending on the type of gun you buy. Then get an adaptor or converter to fit your compressor. Also keep in mind that at times you may need more than one spray gun, so it might make sense to look into quick connectors that allow easy exchange of spray guns. And another thing that is extremely important is ensuring the air from the compressor is clean (water / oil free) so a filter is absolutely essential! While mounting your water / oil trap, make sure it is connected closer to the spray gun rather than directly to the compressor - in case warm air comes out of your compressor opening and cools down inside the air hose, condensation may occur if the water trap is mounted too close to the compressor.

Safety : Depending on the type of paint you intend to use, it may become extremely vital to use an appropriate mask, suit and glasses. Please consult with the usage instructions of the paint or the shop where you’re purchasing it from regarding appropriate safety precautions.

I love watching airbrush videos on You Tube. Some of my favourites are the very easy to follow tutorials by Ed Hubbs. So why not have a look at some of his videos and learn something new…

Many people who own older bikes may have thought to themselves – why not have a go at repainting the bike at home.

Well I’ll admit, I’m one of those people. And I have taken matters into my own hand, with those around me being extremely divided about the topic. I am going to repaint my bike, and because I’m inherently a bargain hunter, I will attempt to do so on a small budget (yet aiming for the best possible finish!). So following my usual approach for everything, it will take a lot of work, a lot of time, and perhaps a bit of luck.

Repaint Strategy – in order to minimise risk I am going to paint replacement bodywork for my bike. Luckily, because my Honda CB500 is a very common motorcycle, used bodywork is readily available on Ebay and not very expensive. Below find a step by step guide I’ve set for myself:

Step 1. Purchase replacement bodywork;

- Tank

- Side panels (2x)

- Tail piece

- Mudguard (front)

- Tank shrouds (optional – as I haven’t been able to find any yet!)

Step 2. Repair and Prepare; all body panels will be sanded down thoroughly, any rust removed, dents and scratches repaired as far as possible. Once this is done (I’ve set myself a timeframe of 3-4 weeks to do this, since I’ll only get time in the weekends, and I’m quite lazy really), I will prime all bodywork with a rattle can of grey primer (Halfords – 400ml for £5.99 I think). Two to three layers should do.

Step 3. Design; Now my husband keeps insisting I’m doing all this the wrong way around, but after prep work, or during, whenever I get spare time with a graphics software, I’ll have to come up with a design for the paint work. Keeping in mind I’m a total novice to custom automotive painting, I’ll have to keep it fairly simple, or practice like mad in order to find out where my limitations are.

Step 4. Equipment; Depending on what design I’m going with, I’ll have to get painting equipment. At the moment I’m inclined towards using an HVLP spray system for the bulk of the work, and airbrush the detailing. So I will need to buy the HVLP system, a compressor and perhaps another airbrush (the one I have is very basic).

Step 5. Materials; obviously only if I’m totally sure about the colour scheme, I will need to purchase some paint. Considering I don’t have a professional spray booth, or even a garage to my disposal, I would like to use water-based paint, minimising any health risks I’m exposing myself to.

Step 6. Execution; actually paint the bodywork. I’ll have to do this outdoors in the garden, so will need to pick a few weekends with good weather forecasts… All bodywork will need to stay outside for drying even!

Step 7. Installation; the big swap over from old body to new… Like changing the bike’s clothes! Before I do this I’ll need to make sure the tank I’m currently using doesn’t have a whole lot of fuel in it, because I doubt my landlord would appreciate petrol spills on the driveway.

Step 8. Finishing touches; maybe the custom fever has gripped me so much by then, that I’ll want to do a whole new host of things to the bike, like paint the rims or something crazy like that, change the seat cover maybe? I don’t know… I’ll see once it happens.

Throughout this entire process, obviously I’ll keep posting updates and pictures of how I’m getting along. If you’ve got a project of your own which you’d like to share, please do let me know. The more the merrier!