Raptor Chapter

Hi,
Got the bike stripped naked (Ooh, err). I'm going to powder coat wheels, frame and forks. The image below is what I'm thinking of, not my actual bike. The image was made using a computer program, using a piccy of the Raptor. Can you get metallic powder coat? Also, what do you think? (No comments about the grubby pipes...they'll get sorted). Personally, I think that Bella (the Raptor) looks too classy for me to ride.


P.S. The computer program that I used to alter the colour of the frame, yokes and wheels is free...pretty neat.

You can get chrome colour powdercoat.....there is a link in one of the tech threads somewhere, to show some shiny wheels

et voila!!!

http://www.raptorchapter.org.uk/viewtop ... =11&t=3471


Dunno about gold powder coat.....but that looks rather good........I have magpie tendencies for shiny things as far as adding bling to bikes is concerned!

Give my congrats to your computer programmer...

Can you let me know the name of the programme that you used? I like how you've got the colours around the tank seat and sidepanels. Gives me food for thought. I want to do something to mine but I'm not sure what.

I've attempted a few similar doodlings myself from time to time using photoshop. Here's an idea which didn't really lead anywhere...

[img]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/ ... .jpg[/img]

Here's a doodle that I've kept. This is from over 10 years ago and I was buggering about thinking what I'd like to do for a project bike. Tried this. It has a twin motor (TDM in this case), big red Monster tank, frame with lots of triangles, and stacked headlights.

So when I saw my Raptor in the shop, I thought that I'd be silly not to buy it.

[img]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/ ... .jpg[/img]

dizzyblonde wrote:You can get chrome colour powdercoat.....there is a link in one of the tech threads somewhere, to show some shiny wheels

et voila!!!

http://www.raptorchapter.org.uk/viewtop ... =11&t=3471


Dunno about gold powder coat.....but that looks rather good........I have magpie tendencies for shiny things as far as adding bling to bikes is concerned!

They say during the vid that they can add colouring to the chrome paint to make it look gold plated, rather than gold painted.

Great minds must think alike (HM and me are sharing the same brain cell more like), i've got gold in mind for my no.2 Rap, only i've bought some gold alloy wheel paint to try rather than powder coating ('oww MUCH!?!?)

I like it. Iv had many a bike with home done gold bits (usually just using spray cans) but the shade can make a big difference.

To Red Mist,
the software is a bit of freeware called Paint Net. It's probably not meant for doing bike art, but as you can see, it's adaptable. You set up layers and fill in colour over the bits you want to change. It certainly worked. you can apply different effects to each layer and alter the transparency, so that the natural shadows show through from the original photo. Might be worth a shot, since it's free.
I liked the red and silver scheme, but thought that the bikini fairing on the front should have been silver, not red....that may just be personal preference.

Thanks for the comments to everybody else, too. Thinking about it, there must be gold powder coatings, cos there's a heck of a lot of gold alloy car wheels out there.

D-day is coming. The frames stripped, so's the swing-arm, but I bent one of the bas**** fiddly needle bearings getting it out....there's just no edge to see when you're trying to knock them out without bearing pullers...the manual says use a suitable sized pipe....yeah, right....the outer race is as small as the bore through the centre of the swinging arm and any pipe just slides off and drops out of the bottom..

Also managed to bash the spacer ring on the stearing stem. The marvellous manual says use a chisel to force the lower bearing off, but be careful not to damage anything in the process! It might as well say to take an acetylene torch to it, but be careful not to melt anything! Does anyone know a good way of getting these bearings out, for future reference. I sliced my finger open on a bit of copper pipe I was trying to use as a drift!

Hairy_Mark wrote:...Also managed to bash the spacer ring on the stearing stem. The marvellous manual says use a chisel to force the lower bearing off, but be careful not to damage anything in the process! It might as well say to take an acetylene torch to it, but be careful not to melt anything! Does anyone know a good way of getting these bearings out, for future reference. I sliced my finger open on a bit of copper pipe I was trying to use as a drift!

I did the same thing myself a couple of weeks ago Mark. I made a forked alloy wedge to try to knock it out evenly, but it wouldn't have it. I ended up using a chisel, i just flattened the damaged spacer out afterwards.

There are bearing pullers available for this, but not in my toolbox i'm afraid.

as far as I recall we used a cold chisel to drift the head race bearings out - but I'd have to ask my mate (who is the mechanic - whilst I am the oily rag/tea brewer)

Hairy_Mark wrote: Thanks for the comments to everybody else, too. Thinking about it, there must be gold powder coatings, cos there's a heck of a lot of gold alloy car wheels out there.

Have a look here and pick your colours and then you can quote the RAL numbers at the powder coaters

http://www.e-paint.co.uk/RAL_Colourchar ... =&pFinish=

Replies to a couple of folks,
Firstly it's good to get a response in the middle of a total re-build! Miz, I've got a near perfect colour match for my ideas at a powder coating spot in Carlisle...Aztec gold #5 for the forks etc and Raven Black for the forks. She is going to end up too classy for a dude like me to ride! Maybe I can get a Max Biaggi mask to wear, or something.
Snap and Weirdo, it just looks like the head bearings, like the two needle roller bearings in the swing arm, are a pain in the proverbial. Most folks don't have bearing pullers and as an engineer, I know you don't just need one size...you need heaps of different ones that all cost much more than the bearing. C'est la vie.
I fancy hosting a series of reports on Bella's make-over, so I reckon I'll start now. Be prepared for geek-like enthusiasm!

For all of you who don't have enough to do.. an alternative project for you...

Want One

I got the bearing off the centre stem by putting a diagonal cut through the inner race with a dremel and cut off wheel, burst it off with a chisel once it was 90% through. Still mangled the bit beneath it though, straightened up fine in the vice.