Bike dropped :(

I've used humbrol enamel paints before now, and I found one that was a really good match for the 1200 headers.

Which particular Humbrol paint did you find that's a good match? When you say headers, are we talking about the cylinder heads or something else? The finish to the crash bars is, I believe, bright stainless steel with some sort of textured finish unless someone can correct me.

Here's a very quick and dirty pic of the scratches to the crash bars I'm talking about.
IMG_0020.jpg


Obviously it looks something of nothing in the picture but it's the best I could do on a cold dark Thursday morning! The upper part of the crash bar that protects the fuel tank is also marked but no worse than what you see here.
 
These bars are a disgrace, you would be better righting them off and getting new ones quickly.

If its any help i can take them off your hands.:D
 
Yes - I did mean the cylinder heads. I took one to my local model shop (Hobbycraft also has a reasonable selection) and tried to match it up. I bought a couple - in fact I think I mixed the two to get an exact colour match on a piece of plain metal first. I seem to recal they had a number of bright silver colour options.
 
I managed to drop the 1200GSA coming up a gravel road from a canal, onto a main road, which was passing over a hump back bridge across the canal. Too slow, a 270 Deg turn and I dropped the beast. Not any serious damage, but dented the cylinder head guard and put some scratches there.

I will knock most of the dents out of the guard, but I am having trouble finding a spray for the head guard (anodised aluminium colour) and the silver crash bars. I did pick up an 'aluminium' spray but the aerosol cap colour looks quite blue compared to the actual aluminium guard.

The silver paint for the crash bars all look the same on the different paints in the shop, so I guess they are not accurate.

I was hoping that someone would know what colours would match best - a paint code perhaps?

I seems very easy to loose your footing on gravel with an adverse camber, so I will be trying a lower seat position, even though I am tall and on a normal road can have both feet on the ground. The trouble is that once the bike leans past a critical angle, it is pretty much impossible to hold it and I have some concerns about it fully loaded with camping gear and a long trip to Scandinavia, especially on any gravel roads!

Any info on paints would be useful. Not sure if they have Humbrol enamels here in Germany.

Grey Beard
 
THIS is what you want.

It gives a perfect colour match and has the same matt finish as if it isn't painted. The only thing is that it leaves a powdery residue and only goes off properly if you bake it hard. I managed to do this by leaving it in my AGA for a few hours. I guess you could do it in an ordinary oven too!
 
THIS is what you want.

It gives a perfect colour match and has the same matt finish as if it isn't painted. The only thing is that it leaves a powdery residue and only goes off properly if you bake it hard. I managed to do this by leaving it in my AGA for a few hours. I guess you could do it in an ordinary oven too!

Thanks Andy for that link. Will see if I can get a can posted across here.

Any ideas on the silver painted crash bars?

Grey Beard
 
'fraid I never cracked the crash bars. Rubbing down with emery paper and a bit of filler got them smooth again but I never found a perfect colour match with paint. Eventually forced to buy replacement bar!:blast
 
Those head covers are pretty cheap - about £100 - I'd be tempted to replace rather than respray
 
I wouldn't worry about an exact colour match on crash bars, just take both of them off and repaint with the nearest spray can Halfords can provide. Nobody will notice.
 
Those head covers are pretty cheap - about £100 - I'd be tempted to replace rather than respray

I will probably buy a new guard eventually, but not before my trip to Scandinavia in case I drop the bike again fully loaded.

I suppose the later posting about just respraying the whole crash bar is sensible, but I wanted something quick to tidy the bike up before the tour.

I don't know if I can even have aerosol containers of paint posted to me from the UK because the rules are a bit strict on pressurised containers. The cost of postage on aerosols of things like insecticides are quite ridiculous.

Grey Beard
 


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