FZS600 Project. A Bike Called Polly

[Dead Eye]

No idea... have to poke Farjo

Hopefully this will work;

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[His Dudeness]

Looks well. Red and black is always a good combo

[darrsi]

"...I ordered a D.I.D gold chain and JT Sprockets set from Busters for £79.99 but specced it for 2 teeth bigger on the front and 2 teeth smaller on the back..."
 
Would that not make it really sluggish from the off?

[risticuss]

I love the carbon wrap. Would be great to see the whole bike done.


I did the same to the clock surround and tank infill panels of my CBR600. It was great for external curves...not so brilliant on internal ones. I've been thinking of doing the airbox covers on the fazer for some time but always talk myself out of it. The CBR looked great to start with, but a year later and it was looking a little bubbly and stretched, but that was mainly down to the shapes of the panels.

[Ruby Racing]

Good luck with the vinyl wrap. I tried to do the fairing on my track bike. After two attempts with help from a mate I gave it up as a bad idea. Hope you have more luck than me as there is definitely a knack to applying it.

[apage16]

"...I ordered a D.I.D gold chain and JT Sprockets set from Busters for £79.99 but specced it for 2 teeth bigger on the front and 2 teeth smaller on the back..."
 
Would that not make it really sluggish from the off?

Not at all. The gearing is so high in first that I really haven't noticed the bike being slow. Obviously it's an  exponential effect as you move up the gears. So if I wanna go faster I just change later!  As you well know,  there's plenty of power and torque there anyway. On a Divvy, for example,  this change in gearing would probably kill it.

So far a Kwak Versys 650 and a Zephyr 750 have been unable to keep up off the line.

I really think it makes the bike more usable though. I'm not constantly changing gear anymore.

Bottom line,  it's fast enough for me.

[darrsi]

"...I ordered a D.I.D gold chain and JT Sprockets set from Busters for £79.99 but specced it for 2 teeth bigger on the front and 2 teeth smaller on the back..."
 
Would that not make it really sluggish from the off?

Not at all. The gearing is so high in first that I really haven't noticed the bike being slow. Obviously it's an  exponential effect as you move up the gears. So if I wanna go faster I just change later!  As you well know,  there's plenty of power and torque there anyway. On a Divvy, for example,  this change in gearing would probably kill it.

So far a Kwak Versys 650 and a Zephyr 750 have been unable to keep up off the line.

I really think it makes the bike more usable though. I'm not constantly changing gear anymore.

Bottom line,  it's fast enough for me.

Cool 

[apage16]

I thought that the rear infill panel wrap was a success, so decided to crack on with the much larger and CONSIDERABLY more complicated rear faring.


I planned to keep the original black and silver paintwork, and just cover the horrible Red which is really showing the bikes age. So I gave the black a few goings over with T-cut to smooth it out. I did this before the wrap purely so I wouldn't get T-cut on the vinyl afterwards. I have no idea how the vinyl will react to the abrasive nature of Turtlewax's wonder liquid. Better safe than sorry.


After that I gave the whole panel a good clean with warm soapy water and then a wipe over with Isopropyl alcohol to get the best adhesion possible from the vinyl. I envisaged this job being a real pain in the @rse, so I don't want to have to do it again for a while!


Heres the panel before. Looking haggard and tired.

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And then began the wrestling match. Think of when you try to stick a pice of sellotape onto something in a straight line, then when you get close the static SUCKS the tape onto that something, in the wrong place! Or worse it sticks to itself! Well it's like that, except the sheet for the rear fairing was about half a meter square! Luckily this stuff is pretty resilient. you can unstick it, apply and reapply it many, many times. And if it stretches or creases, a little heat with the hairdryer and it returns to its original flat and smooth state. Very clever.


After much swearing, stretching, heating, unsticking, more swearing and re-sticking I reached this state. Already feeling pretty smug about how well I'd done.

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Now to trim it back. 2 things are vital for this stage.


Number 1 is an incredibly sharp knife. The vinyl is really resilient, but it WILL tear. and when it starts, it unravels like a Tory/Lib-dem alliance. So your knife need to cut like, well, like a sharp knife through warm vinyl.


Number 2 is 'Knifeless Finishing Tape'. The brand I have is called Wrapcut. It's a really thin sticky tape that has a filament in it. You can see it in the pic above under the vinyl, along where the black originally met the red. You apply the tape first, then apply the vinyl and after that, by pulling the filament away from the panel, it trims the vinyl to EXACTLY where the tape was. Then you strip out the excess tape and smooth down.


And this is what you get...

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Cool huh?!


And on the bike...

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Tune in next time for the Front Mudguard. Bit apprehensive about that one. It's just one BIG curve!

[apage16]

I love the carbon wrap. Would be great to see the whole bike done.


I did the same to the clock surround and tank infill panels of my CBR600. It was great for external curves...not so brilliant on internal ones. I've been thinking of doing the airbox covers on the fazer for some time but always talk myself out of it. The CBR looked great to start with, but a year later and it was looking a little bubbly and stretched, but that was mainly down to the shapes of the panels.

I thought about starting on the airbox covers too. At first glance, a simple shape. But after doing a bit more I think the'd be a real pain because of those horizontal cuts. Never going to get the vinyl into those corners!


Going well so far though...

[apage16]

Good luck with the vinyl wrap. I tried to do the fairing on my track bike. After two attempts with help from a mate I gave it up as a bad idea. Hope you have more luck than me as there is definitely a knack to applying it.

Thanks. I couldn't agree more. It's been a real learning curve. I watched a LOT of youtube videos before making any investment though. I DON'T like messing stuff up when it costs me money!!

[dcurzon]

I ordered a D.I.D gold chain and JT Sprockets set from Busters for £79.99 but specced it for 2 teeth bigger on the front and 2 teeth smaller on the back.

You wouldnt happen to have a web link for that?  Trying to get a decent deal on a chain/sprox.
 
Also, great job on the vinyl!

[apage16]

I ordered a D.I.D gold chain and JT Sprockets set from Busters for £79.99 but specced it for 2 teeth bigger on the front and 2 teeth smaller on the back.

 
You wouldnt happen to have a web link for that?  Trying to get a decent deal on a chain/sprox.
 
Also, great job on the vinyl!

Thanks! It's really coming along.


I got the chain set from Busters' eBay store:


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YAMAHA-FZS600-FAZER-98-03-X-RING-CHAIN-AND-SPROCKET-KIT-/270778927129?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts_13&hash=item3f0bae8819


To get the non standard gears I had to buy it on eBay, then phone their customer services number to spec different sprockets (at no extra cost). Don't try and do it on a friday afternoon though, the packing staff go home early. So do it on a Monday morning!

[apage16]

Step 3 of the Carbonation.


Front Mudguard.


After buying a (very unconvincing) Carbon effect hugger, it was the idea of Carbon wrapping the front mudguard to match that started the whole vinyl experiment. But a mix of fear and low confidence in the skills needed caused me to try the rear panels first. However, I'm really happy them, so I sucked it up and got on with it.


As with all of the pictures so far, this one doesn't really show just how bad the paint is. In reality it is going pink as the primer is showing through in great patches. The previous owner must have been riding this bike to work in a sandstorm! 

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And then the oh-so-flat sheet of carbon vinyl. At this point i was thinking that there is NO way I was going to get this flat sheet to go around that curve.

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I quickly figured out a handy trick to cover around large curves. Heat a large area of the vinyl so that it becomes extremely pliable. You can then pull and stretch it over a large space like a piece of hot cling film! You'll probably have to then go back and smooth out some small creases at the edges but it's satisfying when it works.

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The finished article with mounting holes, Fenda Extenda and 'Rubber bung of unknown use' re-attached.

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like your thinking on the silver fins and your work around ---I dont like to see them just black.Can we have some better pics of your polished forks please -once you sort your phone out

And finally back on the bike. Looking good against the shiny forks (here you go Fazersharp  )

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Due to the amount that the vinyl was stretched to get it round the corners and around the thin edge, I made the assumption that it's probably pretty gossamer thin and under a fair bit of tension. One small stone or item of cager debris and it might well unzip faster than a leopard print catsuit on TOWIE. So i applied a chrome finish screen trim around the leading edge to protect it. Not really sure how I feel about it yet. Black might have been better???

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[69oldskool]

Impressive work!
                     You deserve a medal tackling those compound curve rear sidepanels.

[Geordi Sussex]

Great work
Question
I have tried wrapping before (failed miserably)
Dose is not stretch the print and make it look distorted as you heat and pull it about

[Hedgetrimmer]

Looks great apage, but I wonder how durable it will be? Stone chips, general weathering? Hydro-dipping on my rad covers has chipped badly, although I suppose it depends on what finish/lacquer is applied: 

[apage16]

Great work
Question
I have tried wrapping before (failed miserably)
Dose is not stretch the print and make it look distorted as you heat and pull it about

It does a bit. But to be fair, the weave does stretch and compress in the contours of real carbon fibre parts. So it doesn't look at all bad.

[apage16]

Thanks again Nick.

Durability is a very real worry. I don't think it'll be all that resistant to stone chips to be honest. I've read about people getting good results from a couple of coats of clear lacquer over the vinyl. But it's too cold in my garage to try that at the mo!

At least I have plenty of offcuts. So worst case,  any chips can be patched. Up until the point it starts to look awful!!

And at the end of the day,  the vinyl for all the panels done so far has cost less than £20. So with patches and extra graphics,  it could become an organic and ever changing beast! !

[apage16]

The wrapping continues. Next up, the tank.


Before:

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(As an aside, I had 265 miles on the clock since the last fill up when I removed the tank. I still managed to get 2 thirds of a gallon out and there was enough in there to audibly slosh about while I was messing with the tank!)


Start with the largest flattest surface, even if just for self motivation!

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I had to really heat the webbing over the filler cap to stretch it in far enough to stick to the sides.

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After trimming with the magical Wrapcut tape and returning the tank to the bike, I edged the carbon with red pinstripe as a nod to the original colour.

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But I don't like it, so gloss black vinyl striping is on the way!


I gave the filler cap a good polish while it was off too!

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[bozboz]

Looking good, been tempted to do this ever since the wrap got cheap in 3M! Keep up with the progress pics...oh and best luck with the front fairing!!!!

[apage16]

Theres only one panel left. The complicated, Darth Vaders TIE fighter inspired front fairing.


Because of it's complicated (in a nouveau-retro 90's way) shape, I decided to buck the trend and paint the front fairing. With only a large 'V' of carbon fibre vinyl, following the shape of the screen and carrying it to the headlights.


So I went through the arduous and hateful task of prepping for paint. Cut back with 600 grit wet and dry, mask and degrease.

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Then I foolishly tried to take a shortcut and bought Rustoleum's 'Universal' Paint which promises to not need any primer, stick like a needy Koala to a velcro tree and work on almost any surface. The unique 360 degree application system and ergonomic grip tickled my fancy too.


Initially it looked good. Rich, glossy black. (despite the unique application system being uniquely like blowing paint through a Capri Sun straw. more of a spatter than a spray).

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But it just didn't set. After a week it was still easy to scratch. even touching it left finger prints.


So after a brief spell with my friend and yours, Google, I half learned 2 lessons (because I don't know which is right, maybe both?! We'll never know).


1. Don't use this paint.
2. Don't try and paint when it's only 12 degrees in your garage. It may have just been too cold, even though I did move the panel indoors after painting.


SO, I made the laboured decision to cover the whole panel with carbon. I was initially afraid of overkill, but now I had no choice. If the painting failure was due to temperature, then history would repeat itself unless I waited til spring. But I'm impatient. In Spring I wanted to ride out of the garage, with the bike like a resplendent butterfly. Fluttering it's glorious velvet wings after a miraculous transformation in the cocoon. Over the top analogy, but I'm sure you inderstand.


The front fairing has too many corners and contours for someone of my newly developed skill level to attempt with one sheet of vinyl. So I laid out the seams with my new fave tool, wrapcut tape. Two rows where two sheets would meet, to create a neat butt joint. (Thanks Youtube!!)


[Limit reached]

Then I took a deep breath, poured the coffee, peeled the backing and got stuck in.


[Limit reached]

After more heating and stretching than I ever thought possible, and almost having to bin the whole sheet because of a misalignment in the early stages, I got to this:


[Limit reached]

I used the Wrapcut tape to trim back all the vinyl, peeled out the excess and got on with the headlight holes. Much like the fuel filler, a LOT of stretching here.


[Limit reached]

The seams went very well, considering this was a first time. But when I heated them to smooth down the edges after removing the excess and the wrapcut backing, they receded slightly. Not the end of the world, but not as tidy as I would like, and wide open to moisture and dirt ingress.


[Limit reached]

I couldn't have that. SO with leftover black vinyl tape (which replaced the red pinstripe on the tank) I covered the joins.

[Limit reached]

And with that, the carbon wrap was finished.

[apage16]

Thanks Bozboz!

The front was a real challenge! But it went pretty well.

I seem to have reached the picture limit for today, but photo's of the finished job to follow.

And then on to the next job. There's always something.

[apage16]

Impressive work!
                     You deserve a medal tackling those compound curve rear sidepanels.

Thank you kindly!


Then I should get a happy ending for the front fairing! 

[Ruby Racing]

Try this method of painting with Rustoleum it's as cheap as chips, no over spray and no mess: http://www.rickwrench.com/index79master.htm?http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html


I have done two of my race bikes this way, so each one cost me £20 to paint all the bodywork!

[apage16]

Try this method of painting with Rustoleum it's as cheap as chips, no over spray and no mess: http://www.rickwrench.com/index79master.htm?http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html


I have done two of my race bikes this way, so each one cost me £20 to paint all the bodywork!

Great tip! I have a 'spare' fairing that will need painting when I've finished modding it. I think I might give this a go! That way, I can do it in the warm of the kitchen!


Thanks!