Newest pics

[John]

Here are the newest pics of the new paint. I don't know if the metallic will show up very well, but it really looks great in person. Happy Viewing






Click on the pic to see it full sized.

[CWilliamson]

Very nice

Great work. How many coats was it?

[John]

Thanx!

Two coats of color, wet sanded, and two wet layers of clear. (basically 4 coats of clear )

[chevy45412001]

very nice

good job bike looks very XScellent.

[Street_Rat78]

Very XScellent...

Love the mirror aspect ... that turned out real nice. I'll have to try that wet sanding when I paint my tank.

[xs650mike]

Great job! The V&H exhaust and XJ wheels sure make it distinctive.

[John]

Thanks Guys

Mike, the pipes are actually Jardine. I found them on an old 78E a sometime ago. I liked them, so I bought the whole bike. I was running an OEM set from a MNS before the Jardines, but after the big bore I swapped over to the Jardines for better performance. The wheels are from an XJ. I parted out two of them a few years ago, and I really liked the curved spoke design. I had XJ11 air shocks on it before the accident, but I have swapped them out with some from a MNS. It seems to ride better with the new shocks. And being black, they kinda fit my color scheme.

[CWilliamson]

6 coats...

I might even have enough patience for that :-)

[xs650mike]

Like the way the firing order is set up on the headers, like 2 twins with 2-1s, seems like the way to do it.

[John]

Before N' After

Here's what it looked like five months ago.



And let's not forget this one...

Click on the pic

[JWSanders]

Looks really awesome, John. I consider that a goal-type bike. Really nice. It really makes me consider going black on my engine something fierce. I bounce back and forth between polishing or painting once a week.

Did I mention how much I like those Jardines? Damn good looking pipes! They're just so....different.

Great work!!!

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

John, Kudos on the paint. I am going to get started on the Battle Cruiser in the next few weeks. I hope I can do it as well as yours. I like the pipes too. Do they perform as well as they look?

[bandet01]

same question on the pipes look good can you still buy those pipes anywhere

[Ken Talbot]

You're right, John, the metal flake doesn't show up too well - it's just TOO DAMN SHINY!!!

[John]

Thanks Again Guys

The paint work just takes patience. It's hard to wait till everything is dry and hardened. I so wanted to put it together Sunday night, so I could ride it Monday, but it just wasn't quite ready.
On the topic of the pipes, I don't think they are available any more. I destroyed the right side muffler in the accident, and I had a hell of a time trying to find another. There was an NOS set of mufflers on ebay, but I got outbid for them by Winterhawk. I didn't know it was him at the time, and I contacted the winning bidder to ask if he still had the old mufflers, hoping he still had them. He did, and gave me one hell of deal on the old ones, and that completed my bike. Thanks Winterhawk. I really don't know if they helped performance, I really don't twist it up very hard, very often.
There are a few members that have the same pipes. Winterhawk, of course, and Jerry. I have seen a couple of other pics of bikes here that have them, but I can't remember who they are.
Ya know, those ass#holes on the Honda site can just bite me. I think the pipes look great, and so do a lot of you guys, so F 'em!