advice on cleaning up

[dorris1988]

Hi. basically my bike is needing new a new tank seat and rear panels. mine is a 1991 and has had a pretty shaZam! life by the looks of it. scratches all over the place and stains. the rear wheel that was once white is now a stained yellow colour. dont want to spend a lot but i just want to know what stuff can i use to really give her a clean. the silver frame has what look to be oil stains that wont clean off with meths. wondering the best advice. will probably end up taking the engine covers off and stripping them and repainting them as they are flaking. dont want her to be perfect because she wont be, just wanna clean her up a little

[DoD#i]

Seat is easy - either take to a competent upholstery shop, or buy 4-way stretch vinyl upholstery material ("all-sport" is the brand I used) and staple it on (after prying out the staples on the old seat cover). Unless you have the staple gun of the gods, have a pair of Channel-locks handy to get the staples all the way in. One yard will do two or three seats. A good time to add or remove foam if you want to change the seat.

Tank and side panels you can just repaint - anywhere from $15 and your time on up to hundred$, covering the range from you and a rattle can or three to an auto body shop and fancy paint. Sounds like a careful rattle can job would be an improvement over what you have (it certainly was for me). Take your time and let the paint dry. If looking for a slightly better job, add a can of primer to your rattle-can collection. Boring and repetitive advice with no pictures at all in the wiki.

As for the frame, ride for the summer, and in winter tear down and paint (or send out for powdercoat) that. Too time-consuming to do when it's riding weather, IMHO.

[dorris1988]

im an all round rider which is my problem. if i could id strip the bike to bits and get everything resprayed because i know a pro custom sprayer id get everything resprayed. but i need my bike 24/7. =[

[DoD#i]

Well then, you look for a bargain basement GS500 (or other bike), get it to rideable, spiff up the GS you're riding now, then spiff up the other bike and sell it, likely making a profit if you have a deal on good paint and are mechanically able so you can buy a bike in need of some spiffing up and sell it all spiffed up. Spring price madness should be receding...

[JB848]

Can you post a picture of the Bike? Need to see how serious the damage is to give some good advice.

[dorris1988]

give me a few days and il post one up. its not damaged in anyway, just scratched, paint flaking off the engine covers.. in need of a good clean. because im putting a new tank on(2004) and its a newer tank and blue it will look a bit odd going on this bike thats starting to look offcolour and neglected. so just want to know a way of spending a day or two cleaning her up and making her look like she fits with the tank haha. gunna get new blue rear panels and hopefully chop and recover the seat to fit the new tank, gunna keep the pan and front mudguard black i think and give the pan a repspray. defo give the engine covers a respray when i do the next oil change...

[DoD#i]

With masking tape and paper you can respray engine covers right on the bike (I know because I did). I suppose you could try that with the frame, too, but it's more of a pain and will leave parts that you can't easily get to with the bike assembled.

[sledge]

How much cash do you want to spend and how much effort do you want to put in?

Take a trip to Halfrauds and buy a can of degreaser, some cheap car shampoo some T-cut (it will work on the wheels and frame) and some gloss black engine paint. You will have change from 20 quid. If you have a chrome exhaust get a tube of Autosol polish while you are at it........then get stuck in.
Unless you particularly want to do the work you will find replacement plastics to match your new tank on ebay for less than it will cost to prep and spray the originals and you will also find decent seats for 20 quid upwards if you keep looking.

[dorris1988]

thats what im talking about sledge. defo going to take a shot at painting the engine covers on the bike. best way to do it? sand it right back to bare metal then clean and spray up? il look into it with more detail after the MOT and then spend a few good days and get on it. i suppose i could do the same with the frame as well... Will tcutting the wheels remove the yellow staining and whiten it back up? they could do with a new coat due to the paint cracking but i dont really want to fork out loads and dont have the equipment to do it myself.. 

[BaltimoreGS]

I don't know how feasible it is for you but I bought a tank and a second set of plastics so my girlfriend can ride her bike while we're redoing the originals.  I figure I can always re-sell those pieces when I'm done with them.

-Jessie