Britbike forum Forums British Motorcycle specific Brands Triumph bulletin board total restoration or not?

I have a bike that i have almost down to nothing but the frame. i have to have the frame checked out. what would all of you do if you were down this far? would you have the frame painted professionally vs spray paint? total restoration vs lipstick touch up. bar the money. whats the best way to restore from the grouind up? Dan

Depends on the potential value of the bike and ultimately what your wishes are. As far as painting, a good rattle can paint job on a frame can be made to look very professional. Plus frame paint doesn't stick out unless it is done horribly.

hi dave. back in the day i could totaly mess up frame with spray paint. thanks for the reply. does any one else have a positive expierence with painting the frame with spray paint? the tank is for the pros. Dan

Do all your prep work up front then call around to a few body shops and see if you can find someone who is shooting a car black. They will usually do a bike frame at the same time very reasonably as there is no set up. Beer is an excellent negotiating tool.

Powder coat is still the best value for your money. You should be able to have ALL the black parts of your bike powder coated to a high gloss black for less than 500$ PLUS (a BIG deal to me) You need only de-grease the parts before hand. They'll do the blasting to THEIR spec before coating. Ask them to plug any threads. Most of the guys know now where to mask these days, but double check.
Bill

My theory is that you should at least bolt the bike together first. That way you know you have all the parts, and everything is bushed, shimmed and threaded correctly.

Then get it rego'd and ride it if you can. Then restore.

If you are confident about frame condition, no reason why you shouldn't paint or coat it now though. Depends on how well you know the bike.

You can paint a tank and guards in a weekend or two. You can do most restoration on frame parts in the same period. If the engine is sound and doesn't need a polish, I'd paint frame, insert engine and bolt it up.

dan charles - I performed a ground up restoration on my bike and had the some of the same questions. I stripped the bike down to the frame. I had a local company blast the frame and other components for around $125.00. I then used the "industrial" grade Rust Oleom primer and gloss black that I readily found at my local Lowes - about 3 to 4 dollars a can. I shot a couple coats of primer and then lightly sanded primer coat before I shot the gloss black. I finished it off with a Rust O clear coat. That was 3 years ago - it still looks good to this day.

down to the bare metal and two coats of Tremclad glossy spray cans in about 1994 and still looks good....on the recommendation of the guys who painted my tank, headlight bucket, oil tank and other side tool kit panel....not hard to do and easy to touch up after the rocks and crap have marked it up in the odd place after all the miles......just be sure to check for any runs right away as it sets up pretty quick. If you go beyond the frame and do the headlight bucket with powdercoat, ...seen a headlight bucket dimple at the back from powdercoating.....but on the other hand, I'm only interested in doing it for looking good for riding...Bikerwilf.

dancharles,
I subscribe to the addage "it's only original once" and would try to keep it that way. That being said, my 77 T140V had a battery or brake fluid spill and trashed part of the lower OIF downtube and swingarm. I spot repaired/painted the downtube and will pull the swingarm and repaint it with rattle can. I did this already to the triple trees and various fender brackets, coil plate, seat pan. Preparation is key. If you take the time to prepare the metal, clean, prime, paint, rattle cans will do just fine, and the gloss black is easy to match up. I use plain old Rustoleum gloss black. Also key is using many LIGHT coats, around 20-30 minutes apart.(read back of can.) I don't get full coverage until about the 3rd or 4th coat then add a couple on top of that. I would also suggest you give the parts a good 2 weeks for the paint to cure, before putting them together.
Good Luck,
Fred

Holy Cow! Do you know what it'd take to get back down to bare frame after you rode it a few months and were disappointed that you coulda powdercoated it? 180 bucks everything that's black... in polyester no less!