Coat Your Bike with Bedliner
I bought this CBR 600 F3 used. I trailered it home and began to assess what needed to be done. The rear section consisted of a hideous aftermarket race tail. It was very ugly and I had to get rid of it. Ron Ayers wanted $100 each plus ship for the side panels and I did not want to go that route. I found some slightly damaged parts on eBay. The bike was multicolored and very damaged on one side. The color scheme was some what Repsol but not quite. It had to go. The replacement parts were multiple colors. The bike was never going to be put back to like new condition and I was planning to use it for track days. At one track day I saw a Yamaha R1 (I think) and it was coated with bedliner. I though it looked pretty cool. I knew I could do the same thing at a fraction of the cost of getting someone to spray it. So there you go... Or here we go. This is what I did.
Click on the image to get the larger view.
I went looking around and found that Wal-Mart stocked a jug of bedliner material for about $40. The tool kit was separate for about $7. I brought the stuff home and got to it. First thing was to take all of the parts off the bike and start preparing them. The great thing about bedliner is that the body does not have to be perfect. If you are going to paint, any imperfections in the surface are going to show big time in the final paint job. So basically I just scuffed all of the parts with 220 grit sand paper and that was it. I tested my technique and the material on a piece that I though I could easily replace if I did not like the way it looked. I chose the front fender. I tried the spray can bedliner but it sucked. It was terrible. I did use it to get into corners and areas that the roller would not reach. I like the way it looked on the fender so I carried on.
Once the panels were prepared, I painted the sections that would have decals. I bought some chrome decals from a guy on eBay. The different panels were different colors so I painted just where the decal would stick so that it would have a background color.
I let the paint dry. Once the paint was dry I put the decals in place. I made sure they were firmly secured to the painted sections.
Once the decals were in place I started masking over them with tape. I used a razor blade to trim the tape around the decal. Now it is time to start rolling it on. No big secret there. I just rolled it on until I got the texture I wanted. You do need to let it dry between coats. I recommend pouring just enough bedliner into the roller tray for one coat, use it up then stop. Put the roller in a ziplock freezer bag to keep it from drying out between coats.
You will most likely need 3 or 4 coats before your done. Once you have your final coat on, before it completely dries, you will need to take a razor blade to the edge of the masking tape that is around the decals. This will HELP prevent the bedliner from peeling when you remove the mask from the decals. REMOVE THE TAPE SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY. You do not want to remove the decal with the tape. That is it you're done. Just put the pieces back on the bike and get moving. I have not laid the bike down (knock on wood) since it has been bedlinered. But if it does happen I would guess that all I would have to do is reapply some to the affected areas and then I will be good to go.
I hope this has been helpful for you.
