Stencils?

[TrackTeacher_AP]

Just wondering if anyone else has tried painting on some of the logo's to their fairings using stencils? My bike is coated with rhino liner so I think just regular decals would not stick properly but I am considering just making some stencils and painting the suzuki logo and possibly katana on my gas tank/ fairings. I kind of want to do a metallic gold to match the rims I will be putting on it. Any tips/ suggestions?

[Gflem]

If you've already got it rhino-lined and you were thinking about putting a sticker on, you might as well get some Plasti-dip or something to that effect.

It is removable like a decal would be, but it'll cling to the texture a lot better, and you can just peel it off if you overspray/want to change it/hate it after a week, etc.

[Kreylyn]

The only issue you would have with most stencils is the textured surface will prevent the edges from being "sharp". The higher surface areas of the texture will hold the stencil sheet away from the surface.

Alternatively, I would suggest a way around that is to use an exacto knife, and a wide masking tape that can be applied to the bike. Apply the tape carefully using a brush to "stretch" the tape into the contours of the textured surface. Then cut the "stencil" out of the masking tape directly on the bike using a stencil to draw it on the tape, and cut out the letters (or free hand if your good at it or artistic). Then paint and peel the mask.

Krey

[Gflem]

The only issue you would have with most stencils is the textured surface will prevent the edges from being "sharp". The higher surface areas of the texture will hold the stencil sheet away from the surface.

Alternatively, I would suggest a way around that is to use an exacto knife, and a wide masking tape that can be applied to the bike. Apply the tape carefully using a brush to "stretch" the tape into the contours of the textured surface. Then cut the "stencil" out of the masking tape directly on the bike using a stencil to draw it on the tape, and cut out the letters (or free hand if your good at it or artistic). Then paint and peel the mask.

Krey

[tone]

The issue is the texture letting the paint "bleed" under the masking as mentioned above, so rather than using any sort of masking tape i would try a low tac film as available from an artists shop & try that on a small part with a similar texture to test

The film comes in different thicknesses i believe & i would suggest the thinner ones would form over the texture better

[T McCall]

I have stock suzuki and katana in the computer for the plotter ( stencils) and just about any font you'd like.
Stencil is low tack frisket.
You may try stripple effect for the lettering color.Since the bike is rough finish, may go well with it? It would have a textured look and any inconsistent edges and wouldnt be apparent.

[TrackTeacher_AP]

I have stock suzuki and katana in the computer for the plotter ( stencils) and just about any font you'd like.
Stencil is low tack frisket.
You may try stripple effect for the lettering color.Since the bike is rough finish, may go well with it? It would have a textured look and any inconsistent edges and wouldnt be apparent.

Thanks I'll definitely look into this! And that plasti dip also sounds like a good idea so I'd be able to use some actual decals.

I have actually used masking tape stencils before on a long board and they worked well, I think that could work if I just did alot of lightly applied layers.

I appreciate all of your input guys and I will definitely keep you updated on this little project of mine!

[TrackTeacher_AP]

Just an update on the project today I was able to put down some masking tape and hand drew/cut the stencils. There was a little bit of bleeding but thankfully the tank has a thick coat of the liner so when I used a razor blade I was able to scrape the excess off. I can already tell it makes my bike more noticeable and I think tomorrow I will paint the rear seat handle and possibly the forks. And this weekend I will have my gold rims too! I will post more pictures with the progress let me know what you all think!

[Million$]

Nice. Def more noticeable.

[TrackTeacher_AP]

So I decided to get a little creative today and made some changes to the fairings as well as the rear seat handle. I am still waiting on the gold rims and I think the next thing I will do is paint the forks gold (your opinions?). But here is the bike as it sits.. it has came a long way from the look It started off with.

by the way, you may not be able to tell but the metallic gold looks great over this rhino liner!

[edromero]

Why didn't you just paint the rims with that same gold to match instead of buying new rims? I like the gold and black though, very cool

[TrackTeacher_AP]

well I am supposed to be picking the gold rims up from the previous owner they came with the bike.. But I may paint these ones just so I do not have to worry about the colors matching and also changing the tires from one set of wheels to the other. I think tomorrow will be a perfect time for me to paint the forks and the rims so pictures will be up sometime tomorrow afternoon!