FZS600 Project. A Bike Called Polly

[reillypadraig]

Fair play, good bita work done there, that polished engine covers looks good!!

[apage16]

[quote author=apage16 link=topic=10338.msg107949#msg107949 date=1381960554]
[size=1em] Belongs to my dad and he ensures that we ALWAYS have a tube of autosol handy. There isn't a single piece of aluminium on it that isn't mirror finish. [/size]

[size=1em]He can't touch me on the twisties though! [/size]

Don't forget to tread on the open tube of autosol while it lays on the garage floor!  :lol
[/quote]


I've already done it time and again! tbh a large chunk of the polished parts are from having 'excess' polish!

[apage16]

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

No problem. Just need to make sure they're still nice and shiny!

[apage16]

So....


With the mechanicals in order and the engine looking peachy, it was time to start on the cosmetics. And what bigger cosmetic on a gent's motorbike than the paintwork? So mine is looking pretty tired. This bike has clearly spent too much time in the sun without the appropriate SPF!


I've always liked the look of Carbon Fibre components, ever since the Spinergy 4 spoke wheels of my mountain biking days. So without the cash flow to bankroll Carbon Fibre composite body panels, vinyl wrap[size=1em]was the clear runner up.[/size]

[size=1em]Several youtube videos and a healthy confidence in my own hands later, and I set about wrapping my bike in sticky plastic. [/size]

[size=1em][smg id=1259][/size]

[size=1em]You can see just how bad my paint is. The bike is more orangey pink than the 'vivid red cocktail #1' that it should be. And the carbon vinyl sheet looks WAY too flat to fit the panel! [/size]

[size=1em]But after an hour of pulling, smoothing and warming with a hairdryer (I have a heat gun, but the hairdryer slows the heating down enough that I didn't destructively melt anything! "if it doesn't burn your fingers, it won't hurt the vinyl" youtube) I managed to make the flat sheet of vinyl hug the panel.[/size]

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[size=1em]I particularly liked the way the vinyl is thin enough that it subtly shows the Yamaha decal. [/size]

[size=1em][smg id=1261][/size]

[size=1em]Only shame is that the 'Vivid Red Cocktail #1' now looks worse than ever.[/size]

[size=1em][smg id=1262][/size]

[size=1em]So I guess I'll be doing the rest of the bike now...  [/size]

[apage16]

Anybody got any tips on why the images now say "Limit reached"??

[Dead Eye]

No idea... have to poke Farjo

Hopefully this will work;

[smg id=1261]

[smg id=1262]

[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]

[quote author=darrsi link=topic=10338.msg108647#msg108647 date=1382434575]
"...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.
[/quote]

Cool  mokin

[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.



[smg id=1267]


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.


[smg id=1268]


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...


[smg id=1269]


Cool huh?!


And on the bike...


[smg id=1270]


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]

[quote author=apage16 link=topic=10338.msg107947#msg107947 date=1381960123]
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!
[/quote]


Thanks! It's really coming along.


I got the chain set from Busters' eBay store:


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YAMAHA-FZS600-...3f0bae8819


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!  :rollin


[smg id=1271]


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.


[smg id=1272]


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.


[smg id=1273]


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


[smg id=1274]

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  )


[smg id=1275]


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???


[smg id=1279]

[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