My road back to being a zed owner!

[Hard Road]

Ive only ever owned one F.I bike and that was a GSX1400, great bike with a great engine but a physically big bike !!!! I was always worried my Arthritis would cause me to drop it mt 2 others feel small in comparison

[dixiethedog]

Hmmm... My Mrs has been away for a few days and is due back tomorrow. The hoover is out, the bedding has been changed, the dog has been fed, shopping has been bought so all is pretty much as it should be. But then I was looking at the pile of washing and the washing machine. I can't remember if before she went she said, " Don't put reds in with whites" or was it "whites in with reds"?" So I have played it safe only put my fave red Vance and Hines t shirt in with white bed sheets.

I am expecting, "Espèce de connard stupide, je ne peux pas te quitter une journée sans que les choses tournent mal."

[dixiethedog]

Thankfully there is a large late opening Tesco's on route to the airport. "Can I have a kingsize set of white bed sheets please?"
On the bright (pink-ish) side, I have a kingsize dust sheet for my shed now.

[deka]

brilliant and a good read keep up the excellent work

[dixiethedog]

brilliant and a good read keep up the excellent work

Thank you. If I am honest, I feel a bit out of my depth on here with it be the Z1 club and me not having a classic old zed.
I'll get to a zed at some point in the nearish future*. But for now I have a nitrous Busa to complete, a KTM Duke that I want to strip down fully and refinish and refurb, an FJR1300 that needs a bit of (minor) work, a couple of 1200 turbo blandits and a couple of other bikes. All of which will be for sale. I need space so that I can slip up the forum page to the "Projects" section and have something worth while talking about. And then to throw a spanner in the works Dave Dunlop (FastBy Me Turbos) has just mentioned that he is going to be doing ZZR1100 turbo kits... So I feel the need for another ZZR1100.
(* nearish time frames to me might be different to anybody else's time frames! )

[dixiethedog]

I thought that I would quickly (or slowly in my case) mention that even though I have some fast bikes around the place, I am the Worlds slowest rider. I was once overtaken by an Austin Allegro towing a caravan on the road leading upto the Hartside Pass when out and about on my old Hayabusa. Even though the Allegro was brown (dog sh*t brown) with a 2 berth Thomas Glen caravan, I still think the driver was going too quickly on the bends. I have no ego and don't want to die. I enjoy torque but slowly and safely.
I have some good stories of days out with biker pals who simply got sick of waiting for me and just left me.

[Hard Road]

I thought that I would quickly (or slowly in my case) mention that even though I have some fast bikes around the place, I am the Worlds slowest rider. I was once overtaken by an Austin Allegro towing a caravan on the road leading upto the Hartside Pass when out and about on my old Hayabusa. Even though the Allegro was brown (dog sh*t brown) with a 2 berth Thomas Glen caravan, I still think the driver was going too quickly on the bends. I have no ego and don't want to die. I enjoy torque but slowly and safely.
I have some good stories of days out with biker pals who simply got sick of waiting for me and just left me.

I can just picture it now, a guy on a busa sticking to the speed limit !!!!!!

[Z1streetfighter71]

I thought that I would quickly (or slowly in my case) mention that even though I have some fast bikes around the place, I am the Worlds slowest rider. I was once overtaken by an Austin Allegro towing a caravan on the road leading upto the Hartside Pass when out and about on my old Hayabusa. Even though the Allegro was brown (dog sh*t brown) with a 2 berth Thomas Glen caravan, I still think the driver was going too quickly on the bends. I have no ego and don't want to die. I enjoy torque but slowly and safely.
I have some good stories of days out with biker pals who simply got sick of waiting for me and just left me.

Fair play, id mange to brake the speed limit on a Hun da 50. (ON a side note it took me 5 attempts to type the name of the bike manufacturer that shall not be mentioned here, very thorough bot magic)

[dixiethedog]

I can just picture it now, a guy on a busa sticking to the speed limit !!!!!!

A few Stormin' the Castle rallies ago I arranged to ride there, me on my old Busa with my mate and his pillion son on the nitrous drag Busa that I now own. A nice simple ride along the A1 to the A69 before heading down the A68. I pulled into layby's twice on the A69 whilst I waited for my pal to catch up. And I was just cruising along at 60-70mph speeds with my Mrs on the back. The ride was slower down the A68. When we eventually arrived at the Stormin' site I asked my friend, "WTF is wrong with you or your bike?" He replied, "It is handling oddly". It turned out the swingarm (extended drag race item) bearings had some play in them. But that was one instance of Busa doing less the the speed limit.

Another time I went down to Elvington to some bike speed event with a mate on a (I think?) 2015-16 Z1000 and another on a big Versys with me again on my Busa.
As we left and headed for the A1 to travel north the pair of them were riding like a pair of t*ts. Crazy dangerous riding. I followed them at about 100mph onto the A1 slip road and then thought , "What the do dah am I doing riding like this for?" I slowed down and just let them ride off into the distance.

I did once ride my old Busa at about 160mph on a (ahem)private road which I have ridden loads of times and know like the back of my hand, and that was fun for a few seconds. But these days sensible speeds are safer to ride at. On a naked bike I like 60-ish mph but on something like my FJR1300 80mph seems like a nice cruising speed. Quick enough on the right roads but not so fast that the Police will throw the book at you.

But when it comes to Busa's, I would put money on it that I am the slowest rider of one in the UK. And I don't care!! I think people just expect you to ride like a lunatic when you have one.

[dixiethedog]

Fair play, id mange to brake the speed limit on a Hun da 50. (ON a side note it took me 5 attempts to type the name of the bike manufacturer that shall not be mentioned here, very thorough bot magic)

I don't think that I have even ridden a bike from that brand since the mid 80s. But it would be a laugh to see you try to break the speed limit on a 50. If you failed you could take it into a field and set it on fire. Or something.

[chrisNI]

Never spray metal flake!!

What a erm... mess on (to be polite). The flake I am using is a pre bought litre of the stuff, basically 1 litre of 2k clear coat with flake added. After a shake, the flake looks nice in the can but once into a spray gun and sprayed it looks rubbish. I figure to get a coverage of what you would describe to be a metal flake paint job you woul need to spray 20-30 coats by which time the paint would be about 3-4mm thick. As a stupid experiment I decided to strain the flake paint through paint strainers to seperate the flake from the clear, which when done the flake could be emptied back into the can to make a more dense higher concentrate of flake to clear. But after 10 minutes figured that I should just buy some more flake (50g) and add it to the can. Job done.
In the past, I have done a few flake jobs, so I don't have a clue as to what I was thinking when I was planning this job out? Old timers discease I think.
This is a crappy video, but the way I did this orange paint made more sense than the one I am busy with today. Never mind. Upward and onwards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxAsx5Db1v8

Did you ever try Flake King? My mate sells it , seems to work and Flakes in minutes. Demo here https://youtu.be/13SQPoGvjk8?si=VCsjuIG0m0NOVvkb

[dixiethedog]

Did you ever try Flake King? My mate sells it , seems to work and Flakes in minutes. Demo here https://youtu.be/13SQPoGvjk8?si=VCsjuIG0m0NOVvkb

Hi mate, thanks for the link.
I have not used your friends product. The paints I used were a nice enough green base, purely to colour the panels and then a 2k clear that came supplied with green flake in it. However, when I sprayed the 2k flake it would have taken 20 coats to get the definition of flake I needed to achieve. So, I simply bought (similar to your friends flake) more green flake to add to the existing 2k green flake mix. But what I also did as a bit of "insurance" to help get a nice flakey finish was to change from the "nice enough green base" to a green shimmer paint. I have used the shimmer paints under candies before and they look great (if that is your thing! ). Putting the flake over this stuff gives a bit of a safety net as it were to help achieve the flakey look. If not a safety net, perhaps more of a helping hand.

If you would like to add a link to your friends business I would love to check them out.

This is the green shimmer used as a helping hand base coat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVzjkGb6yOw

[dixiethedog]

Speaking of green, I have just taken delivery of some nice Kawasaki lime green!! For a Kawasaki Z1000J.
When I have this done, I'll take pics and document it and then maybe I can slip up the forum to the proper "Projects" section. I will get there eventually!!!

[chrisNI]

If you would like to add a link to your friends business I would love to check them out.

https://www.smdesigns.co.uk/

[dixiethedog]

https://www.smdesigns.co.uk/

Hi, thanks for the link. Their stuff looks fantastic. It appears to be more for airbrush work than for full on paint spraying, but I have been thinking about buying an airbrush set up. Not for "muriels" (Hilda Ogden, Corrie St, 1976) but more so for fades and things like that. When I decide to buy something, I'll buy from your pal's online shop!