And now for something completely different... I was/am not planning on spending much time on styling/finishes on this build as I did with the last build. But that doesn't mean it won't look cool, just a little more function over looks.
Anyway, I was going to go for a completely raw, materialistic look - all aluminium parts bare aluminium, all metal parts rattle canned black and then I was going to strip the tank, brush it and have it clear coated for a nice raw look - see attached. However I recently got inspired by a customers bike in Poland (the SR was a Police bike there for many years ;D ). His bike had the original tank in white and it had gained some really nice patina - the typical collection of grime around the filler cap, a few scratches and dings, then this really nice yellowish brown in some places where fuel had been spilled on it and it had weathered differently there. This gave me the idea that perhaps I want to keep the original paint - it is kinda cool after all, in brilliant orange. Plus it has a really stylish 'SR' on the sides. Then I would reuse the stock headlight too, which also has some nice patina. I then looked at one of my favorite bike books for some inspiration and yes, I really like the rough, old bike look - check out the cool Nougier Four. Yes, I will need to 'cheat' in some places for some parts that are new, but I won't do anything special with them, just leave them uncleaned and unpolished and let time do it's work. What are people thoughts on this idea?
It also leaves me with a dilemma of how to remove the one massive dent in the middle of the tank while retaining the paint... Anyone tried one of these kits?...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGT5Q7j4xnY