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You gotta love custom seats!  I made the pan for this one and had a professional wrap it.  I don't think yours is too tall at all.  It will keep you in place quite nicely.

I modified a stock CB 550K0 seat pan and also had it covered by a pro. It came out nice and it still uses the stock hinges and latch. My buddy bought me the $18 plastic tail cone that arrived from China wrapped up in a piece of paper stuck together with the shipping label without a scratch. I designed the seat around the tail cone.

I chucked a few more bits on today and got my better half in to talk colours. She threw a spanner in the works and went in a totally different direction than I had planned. Now I have no idea what to do... 

My original plan:
- Black frame, swingarm, triples and forks
- Black engine with polished covers
- Tank, tail, front fairing and mudguard either dark blue or dark green (kawa metallic green) with the A1 stripes in the same colour as the shocks.

Her idea:
- leave engine as-is with black covers (bottom end completely black, top end bead blasted).
- black frame, triples and forks
- Tank and tail the colour of the tank as it is now - ideally just a clear coat over the bare metal with a bit of surface rust. A1 stripes in the same colour as the shocks.
- swingarm as-is but cleaned up (not polished)
- fairing black

I'm leaning towards her plan at the moment. The engine looks pretty good now and the black bottom end will be broken up by the window in the clutch cover on the right and the chain/sprocket on the left. The tail and tank should be about the same colour as the top end and with the black fairing it will be black/grey/black/grey (fairing, tank, seat, tail). Not totally sure on the swingarm - may end up being black. Also not sure on the front mudguard, probably just have a very short one in black like the forks.

The tank presents a bit of a problem. I definitely can't leave it as-is. The weld around the tank cap really needs to be covered up, otherwise it'll drive me nuts. I'm thinking of just going with silver paint, maybe a metallic (or something else with a bit of structure?). Definitely matt.

Regardless of the colours, I'm pretty happy with how it's coming together.

 

 

 

 


Here's an old photo with the fairing. Haven't got around to mounting it yet.

 

wrote:

I modified a stock CB 550K0 seat pan and also had it covered by a pro. It came out nice and it still uses the stock hinges and latch. My buddy bought me the $18 plastic tail cone that arrived from China wrapped up in a piece of paper stuck together with the shipping label without a scratch. I designed the seat around the tail cone.

Turned out nice

Starting to come together Calum, going to be killer 

From what I've read, clear doesn't like to stick to bare steel - I do think that silver would look sweet though. 

wrote:

From what I've read, clear doesn't like to stick to bare steel - I do think that silver would look sweet though. 

A common practice on some  old cars is to preserve the patina. 
This is done by clearing the paint , rust and  bare metal. 
Maybe consult some street rod builders for the proper method.
DD

If you clean the metal well with lacquer thinner, the modern clear water base will hold for 2 years before rusting,
but they have clear powder coat now that seals out moisture very well.
here is my Old super glide after a year..... clear over bare metal tins.

calum post=873244She threw a spanner in the works and went in a totally different direction than I had planned. Now I have no idea what to do... 

I have no skill in the area of aesthetics, but here is my opinion anyway. 

I'm not a fan of the clear coated steel look, and I would worry the clear wouldn't stick.  If you wanted to keep the look as it sits, I might be inclined to go with an aluminum colored paint to coordinate with the engine top end.  It would still be "metal" colored but would be a proper paint job.

On the other hand, looking at the earlier picture with the tank in black and the black fairing, I like the way the tank and tail and fairing all flow together visually in a line.  If you left the tank metal colored, what would you do with the tail?  Would it be colored?  Blue or green?  Would it be just the tail and front fender that were painted?  I just don't know you'd tie that together.  Do you want to remake the tail in steel to match the tank? 

I like the idea of using the A1 stripes in the same color as the shocks.  It's seems like it would make a nice detail theme as you also have the yellow stitching on the seat. .  I wonder if there is a really subtle way to add a few more yellow details.  Maybe just a thin strip on the rim edge?  Or just a thin pinstripe on the ends of the fork brace?  Anodized aluminum cam end caps to match the shock reservoir? 

I'm definitely on board with leaving the swingarm un-polished.  I prefer the matte look.  Also, it seems like it would be shame to paint those fantastic looking triples.  Why hide those!?   It seems like maybe the shiny triples and fork brace go with the rear-sets and heel guard.  Those are the shiny bits.  

I have no idea what to do with the engine covers.  But leaving the top end unpainted is cool.  If you painted just the valve cover black it would coordinate with the black caps on the carbs. 

Frames are always black.  No compromise on that one.  



 

Thanks for all the input guys.

wrote:

I'm not a fan of the clear coated steel look, and I would worry the clear wouldn't stick.  If you wanted to keep the look as it sits, I might be inclined to go with an aluminum colored paint to coordinate with the engine top end.  It would still be "metal" colored but would be a proper paint job.
 

That's what I'm leaning towards at the moment, maybe with a fade to a slightly darker shade towards the bottom/front. The tail would be in the same colour. I'm thinking black swingarm, black footrest brackets with polished footrest, pedal and heel guard. Then the black triples - they'll be hidden by the front fairing anyway.

I have some matt black spray-on wrap that I can use on the triples and swingarm just to see how it looks. Then I can just peel it off and either leave them as-is or paint them black. I also have some silver base coat that I can use on the fairing - still not sure if it should match the tank or stay black.

Valve cover black is an interesting idea - maybe a job for the wrap as well I have some silver aluminium end caps, I was planning on just getting the outside bead blasted so they match the head. If the valve cover is black then I may paint them as well.

In line with your wife's suggestion, some "cast metal" engine paint, VHT sells one, will look similar to the media blasted look you have now, but be more durable.  And some sort of matching satin finish tank paint would be nice too.  

I'm not sure I'll go through the hassle of painting the top end. This thing won't see any bad weather so I'll probably just see how it holds up. If it starts looking ratty it's not too much work to pull the head and block over winter and paint them.

Put fairing on today. Need some new headlight mounts as the headlight sits too far back.Strange, as I thought it was perfect the first time I tried it. Also put the black tank on to see how it looks... Now I'm torn between black and silver!