Project Wrap

TheJoker · Feb 1, 2011

Hey,

I've just got some vinyls that I'm going to use to cover the panels of my bike. As the vinyl is very inexpensive, I got two colours. I was going to go with a totally matt black bike, but I also found a charcoal grey one. Now I'm split which colour I should go with, or with combination of the two.

The roll of matt black is to the left, and the charcoal is to the right. :blast

I put two test strips down on the tank, matt black to the right, charcoal to the left. Photo 1:

Photo 2 of the same:

Close up with flash;

The charcoal is glossy metalic, whilst the matt black, is just matt black.

I do have a combo in mind, but I'd love to hear what you guys think. :thumb2

Charcoal Pros:
- Doesn't look old and tatty as matt black would
- Probably easier to clean (because it's shiny)
Charcoal Cons:
- Shiny.
- Not black.

Matt Black Pros:
- Matt black - can't get cooler than that
Matt Black Cons:
- Seems to be fashionable now, I hate fashion. :rob

- Could make the bike look like it's done with a rattle can
- Could be hard to keep tidy (but all I have to do is re-wrap).

Cast your votes and opinions.

Thanks!

jolyon_russ · Feb 1, 2011

Watching with interest

I'll be interested to see how you get on.

Have been considering this doing this on mine.

The panels that look the hardest to wrap are the side panels with the hole for the radiator.

Personally I'd go for Matt Black.

siwhite · Feb 1, 2011

Charcoal for me...

Vinyl wraps are fairly common on top end cars (google it) but it won't last forever. It reacts to heat pretty well to stretch it around corners.

Axel F · Feb 1, 2011

I would go for Charcoal to

Keep us posted on how it goes and how diifficult it is

FERRET · Feb 1, 2011

You say inexpensive? , how much to cover a 1200 and where can you buy it, ide go charcoal

TheJoker · Feb 2, 2011

Thanks guys!

Votes are currently:
Matt Black: 1
Charcoal: 3
:thumb2

jolyon_russ said:
The panels that look the hardest to wrap are the side panels with the hole for the radiator.

Yes, indeed. I think those panels will have to be wrapped with several pieces. I just hope I can hide the seams well.

siwhite said:
Vinyl wraps are fairly common on top end cars (google it) but it won't last forever. It reacts to heat pretty well to stretch it around corners.

Yip, when my friend told me about "car wrapping" I thought he was insane. I have since looked into it and there's several companies doing it. Next time you see a white or matt black poser car (Range Rover "Sport" or sports cars spring to mind) it's quite likely "wrapped". The companies say 3 years as a life span.

FERRET said:
You say inexpensive? , how much to cover a 1200 and where can you buy it, ide go charcoal

I've got 3 meters of charcoal, and 3 meters of matt black, they cost less than £15 per colour. :thumb2

You can buy vinyls from pretty much any sign makers supplier.

Next up, post with a few pics and the insights from last night...

TheJoker · Feb 2, 2011

So I couldn't resist, I had to try a panel last night.

I tried the tank panel, that's not the one where the ignition is, but where the tank-cap is, i.e near the seat on the right-hand-side. Why this panel? Well, it's fairly small, it's got awkward enough shape to make it a bit of a challenge. But above all, it was very easy to remove and reinstall.

I didn't use any liquid on the panel because I needed the vinyl to stick everywere. I didn't use a hairdryer either as I was initially too lazy to go upstairs and get CrazyCaz's hairdryer. :eek

What I found out was.
- The vinyl is nice high quality.
- It stretches well in room temperature (I did this on the dining table).
- You can easily lift it up several times and reposition the vinyl.
- The spatula/squeegee that I bought is a really good tool, it's got one felt side, and one softish plastic side.
- The secret seems to lie in where to start and which direction to apply the vinyl.
- A very sharp (brand new blade) scalpel is needed.
- Cutting the vinyl with the scalpel is an important thing to master. You want to cut off excess vinyl, as it'll only stretch and pull otherwise, but don't cut too much or you won't be able to wrap around the edges.

My result is
- Better than I thought I'd manage in about 30 minutes, start to finish.
- There's still creases in there. Some, hopefully all of them, I will be able to avoid once I've got more experience.
- Air bubbles are also present, some can be popped carefully with the scalpel, but ideally I'll avoid them from the beginning... again, more experience is needed.

Here's the panel on the kitchen table.

And here's the panel back on the bike.

From an arms length or two it looks decent, upclose it doesn't. I'll definitely redo this one, but as I want to keep the bike in riding condition I'll do one panel at a time and I'll redo the ones that I'm not pleased with. Cost is so tiny that anything than perfect is only hampered by my patience.

To be continued... :thumb2

siwhite · Feb 2, 2011

Watching this with interest.... May well tolerate a yellow 800 and 'convert' it to my favourite colour - white!

JohnnyBoxer · Feb 2, 2011

Whatever next..................... :confused:

It'll be neon lights and other crap now :blast

Timolgra · Feb 2, 2011

JohnnyBoxer said:
Whatever next.....................

It'll be neon lights and other crap now

Yep. I'll stick with Gaffa tape

TheJoker · Feb 2, 2011

I was wondering how long it would take for the luddites to show up. And I bet all the naysayers have bikes with panels and paint that's totally unscratched. :thumb2

Especially those who've dipped the bikes in some glorious mud! :bounce1

.. maybe not. :blast

Buz · Feb 2, 2011

What made you go down this route and not just spray the panels?
Was it cost?

Looking good though :thumb2

TheJoker · Feb 2, 2011

Thanks, hopefully it'll look better once I have some more experience..

Buz said:
What made you go down this route and not just spray the panels?
Was it cost?

It's eating the cake and having it.

Paint is permanent, and paint gets scratched, and it's also very expensive. A wrap is removable, and the material is extremely cheap. When I'm going to sell the bike, I'll tear the wrap off, and underneath I have pristine (hopefully) panels in the original BMW colour (dealers love 100% standard bikes).
If I scratch the "paint", I can simply tear the wrap off and put some new on. No fear of getting dust in the paint, no cumbersome masking, spraying, face masks, compressors, water in the paint, etc.

The fact I can choose whatever colour I want is just an incredibly fun bonus. :thumb2

JohnnyBoxer · Feb 2, 2011

TheJoker said:
I was wondering how long it would take for the luddites to show up. And I bet all the naysayers have bikes with panels and paint that's totally unscratched. Especially those who've dipped the bikes in some glorious mud!

.. maybe not.

Luddites.....................nay

Can't see the point of doing something like this :confused:

Difficult to get it looking good, with bubbles and creases as a DIY maybe

Plus why not just colour it with paint, if you want to change

Can't see why someone would want to cover their bike in fablon :blast

Horses for courses

Seems a lot of effort, when you could be riding it

If I want to protect something on my bike from scuffing, if use some duct tape

TheJoker · Feb 2, 2011

"Horses for courses"....

... this ain't your course then. :rob

And I'm not selling vinyl so, I'm not going to convince you either. :thumb2

Buz · Feb 2, 2011

Is it a specific vinyl you are using?
May be worth doing some of my panels, make the bike look different, there's 2 the same in the shed at work :blast

Do they do a Hi Vis one? we could try persuading Tarka to do his Ural

TheJoker · Feb 2, 2011

They do tons and tons of colours, then they do certain "lifespans", some colours available in certain "lifespans", this one I think, is supposed to be 7 years. I'm happy if it lasts 3 years.
They even do carbon fibre... *groan*
These are Mactac 9888-00 for the Matt Black, and Mactac 9889-01 for the Charcoal... and I don't know if they're specific, I just said what I was intending to do, and this is what I got.

v8legend · Feb 3, 2011

This will look good once you've mastered it. A cheap way of making your bike 'individual' without trashing the value.

Timolgra · Feb 3, 2011

v8legend said:
This will look good once you've mastered it. An individual way of making your bike 'cheap' without trashing the value.

TheJoker · Feb 3, 2011

v8legend said:
This will look good once you've mastered it. A cheap way of making your bike 'individual' without trashing the value.

Fingers crossed!

I'll probably get to give it another go on Sunday evening. As usual, things are piling up... :blast

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