Anyone Completely Repainted Their Venture

Looking for some advice on a repaint. Exactly how much paint did you need? Any info would be much appreciated

Looking for some advice on a repaint. Exactly how much paint did you need? Any info would be much appreciated

I just take it to my favorite auto body shop, leave the bike with instructions and $1000 or so. They call me in a week, come over and get me and we're good to go.

Probably less that a quart of paint and a quart of clear coat.

I did a complete color change on my '87 including the seat.

That was several years ago so memory has faded as to how much paint was used so, a good guess is 2 quarts of color and 2 quarts of clear. Problem I found was I couldn't buy the clear in quart sizes. I had lots of clear left over as well as hardener and reducer.

It's a LOT of work and it's very helpful to keep all the little screws, nuts, bolts together in baggies with labels for which body part they belong to. Pics of things before and during dis-assembly will be a great help when putting it all back together. Wherever possible, put screws, etc back into parts where they came out of after the part has been removed. This way you don't have to remember which screw came out of what.

I have been thinking about doing my 99 and was looking at about 2 quarts just to be on the safe side. The second gen is a lot easier to take apart then the 1st gen also. Don't forget flex additive for the plastic parts.

I had another bike painted. I do have a friend that own a body shop that did the work. I asked when his slow time was and if that would be an OK time to bring the parts. I disassembled my painted parts and took pieces to him. We had picked out paint thru House Of Color. Which was a brand he used so if he needed maybe a splash of say the flex stuff he had it and did not have to waste or buy special. I think he told me a Qt for 2 fenders, bat wing fairing side covers.

Some times ago I came across a guy on Richmond Va Craigslist that was advertising his motorcycle/car painting business. I was impressed with his airbrush jobs, photos looked great. I've contacted him and he gave me a quote for my bike (2nd gen Venture) based on the photos I've sent to him - he would charge $800 to $1100 for the whole bike, depending on what I would order (solid color, two tone, airbrush,...), he would disassembled the bike and put it back together and he would include painting of one helmet to match the bike. You drive in there, leave the bike and pick it up when done. He said it would be 6 coats of paint and clear coat.

Again, I liked the photos....it looked like the guy was doing it right. Let me know if you are interested and I can email you his phone number. I'm sure he'll have a bunch of photos of his previous work...

he would charge $800 to $1100 for the whole bike, depending on what I would order (solid color, two tone, airbrush,...), he would disassembled the bike and put it back together and he would include painting of one helmet to match the bike.

That sounds like a smokin deal, especially with disassembly/reassembly. Personally, I would be very leery about someone disassembling/reassembling my scoot unless I knew he had LOTs of experience with MY kind of bike.

I actually was just thinking that to myself. I'm picky about my bike and I doubt I'd let his disassemble it. Either way though that is not a bad price. I graduated from an automotive college and my friend went through the painting course. He painted his bike and got best in class and second best in show for the car show he took it to.

So I need hardener and flex stuff? I'm sure he'll know all of this but I'm just trying to get my grounds covered.

I'm going with the tri-coat color rite matching stuff too. Might as well spend some money!

I actually was just thinking that to myself. I'm picky about my bike and I doubt I'd let his disassemble it. Either way though that is not a bad price. I graduated from an automotive college and my friend went through the painting course. He painted his bike and got best in class and second best in show for the car show he took it to. So I need hardener and flex stuff? I'm sure he'll know all of this but I'm just trying to get my grounds covered. I'm going with the tri-coat color rite matching stuff too. Might as well spend some money!

Yea, I share your concerns about disassemble - reassemble part of the deal.... I'm sure he'll do it less expensive if you do that part. It sounded like a nice deal to me, and the guy was very nice in our email correspondence. I still have his phone and a few photos in my phone. At this point, I have no plans to paint my bike.... But I liked that his airbrush looked like a real deal and not like those cheesy "flames" or "thunders"...

I don't know how to post the photos from my phone over here but let me know if you want to see them and I can email them to you directly from my phone's gallery...

p.s. I'm sure one phone call with the guy and you can figure out is he a "real deal" or...

 

I don't know how to post the photos from my phone over here

 

What kind of phone is it? If android, you should be able to simply plug it into your computer with a USB cable (probably same one you use to charge with) and open it up in Windows Explorer as a disk drive.

Inside, find the folder called DCIM. Inside there you will find your photos.

Apple is a different bird and I think you need iTunes for that.

Yea, I can try that from home...Next time I need to post a photo. Thanks, SilvrT.

So I need a quart of red a quart of silver 2 quarts of base and 2 quarts of clear?

I haven't used flex additive in years. Unless you are using old paint, most stuff is urethane based. Very flexible to begin with. Flex additive in my experience tends to orange peel some. A ppg paint clinic I took 15 years ago said that the flex additive is only for assembly purposes and eventually leaves the paint film. Again my opinion. But there is no part on my bike that I would consider super flexible anyways. You should be more worried about adhesion to some plastics and there is a special primer for that.

Thanks,

Scott

You should be more worried about adhesion to some plastics and there is a special primer for that.

 

 

FWIW, I've repainted 3 bikes over the years (all with "tupperware") using regular automotive primer/surfacer with zero adhesion issues. First one was aftermarket fairing and bags (can't recall the brand) I added to my 76? Honda CB750. Next one was an '83 Wing, 3rd was an '87 Venture.

Thanks for the information guys. I decided for now I'm just going to get the closest match to my current color and fix the scrapes and dings