Well, finally got around to retrieving the pics from my phone, only a couple so far but there's already quite a difference in its looks in the last month i've owned it!

1st pic taken the day i brought it home:


2nd, taken at the weekend after respraying the tank etc:

Only done a few cosmetic mods so far, resprayed the panels/tank, stripped wheel rims and chopped down the rear mudguard, i've got a few other bits i'd like to do such as an R6 solo seat unit, twin lamps, wider rear wheel and possibly a different frontend too but i'll do those over time, i don't want to end up throwing too much money at it as ultimately it will just be the bike i ride to work on or general buzzing around.

Got a few "techy" jobs to do yet as well, fork seals and head bearings need replacing, brakes could probably do with an overhaul and it probably needs rejetting or at least will do once i put the K&N's on

While i'm at it, here's a couple of pics of my other "project", a 2000 Aprilia RS125 thats spent more time off the road than on it!  Spent way too much money on it as it is but just can't let it go, i'll def be keeping this one longterm once it's rebuilt as it's a proper giggle to ride!

Taken just before bottom end went pop!


Not looking so glamorous at the moment however....

why did you paint it? It looked OK..  Nice job though 

That 1st pic doesn't really show it but the original paintwork was in a bad way, pretty much scratched all over and it had a very subtle blue flake mix so trying to rematch it was out of the question.
You'll also no doubt notice over time that matt black seems to be a running theme with me and bikes for some reason. :p

Where in the uk are u dude?

I love that Aprilia!   

The gs is nice too. 

that is my bike. the blue metallic flake and all. when mine is polished (hardly ever) it really looks good in the sun.

I'm thinking of spraying my rear pegs black, maybe they'll disappear more. Can't cut them off, the wife wouldn't have anywhere to be when she loses a ton of baby and babyfat in a few months






uh, love ya babe

Did you use the same paint for the tank and plastics or something specific for the plastics? I'm planning on repainting mine since it's been through the mill in the previous owner's garage, but always wondered whehter I needed a different paint to do everything.

Quote from: Jay_wolf on May 06, 2008, 03:09:11 PM
Where in the uk are u dude?

I'm in good ol' pollution and crime free South London! :p

@ohgood: Really is very subtle too, took me a week to notice it and the guy who owned it before me just thought it was black lol!

@rblevins: Pretty much a standard rattle can primer and paint job, i keep reading about needing to use a certain type of primer for plastics but to be honest i've never been able to get any i just used the normal stuff and it seems to be ok, i did the Aprilia the same way andnever had any problems.  Only thing i do have a problem with now and then is the fact that standard matt black isn't petrol resistant and can make things look messy around your tank after a while if you're not carefull, my take on this is that because matt paint is so easy to spray, it doesn't take too long to flatten off the tank a little and respray over it.

I may spend a bit more time (and money) doing a proper sprayjob later down the line but it's not a priority, the matt black if done properly can still look pretty good if you look after it and once i've added a few more shiney bits to the bike it shouldn't look so overbearing.

@bucks1605: The Aprilia is my pride and joy even if it is the most unreliable bike i've ever owned, thats an Italian 2-stroke for you, guaranteed to turn you into a mechanic within a few weeks of ownership!  In a way i'm kinda gratefull for that though as most of the mechanical stuff i've learned over the last couple of years has been down to repairing it, getting pretty good at 2T engine rebuilds now lol