Thinking about doing up a bobber and am wondering if you can strip a steel tank and fender bare, polish them up real shiney like, and then squirt clear over them? Will they hold up? There's just nothing cooler than the look of freshly cleaned raw steel.
A true to the original style bobber is a factory stock bike with unnecessary "stuff" stripped off to make it a lean, mean, lighter, therefore a performance machine. So, in that light, it should have original factory style colors and graphics (still) on it. Otherwise it moves out of the "bobber" style category into a custom "chopper" definition of a modified bike. You should still have the top half of the rear fender hinge on the bobbed fender when you're done with it.
Thanks for clearing that up DrJ. To answer your ? You may have some adhesion issues with polished metal. The clear needs those little scratches created by the sand paper to adhere to the substrate. bottom line... everyone will tell you you can`t do it, but over a small area like a tank you can probably get away with it if you don`t mind some peeling/flakeing down the line.
In the 70's and 80's a bunch were stripping sheet metal and metal preping it, then clearing it with a matte finish. It held up pretty well but the metal prep discolors the metal. looks good anyway.
Eastwood sells stuff called Daimond Clear. It's sold for the exact purpose you're looking for. Having said that, I don't know exactly what their stuff really is, and I haven't used it. Another option is to continually wipe it down with WD-40. Rogue built a very cool roadster pickup with that finish. --Matt
Would powder coating be an option? I've only powdercoated solid colors, but I seem to recall seeing some bare/polished metal clear powder coated. Curt
hey i was thinking about this and I've done that... took a old milk can and spun it down to bare metal so you could see spin marks in the steel from the 40 grit pad.... Then i layed out flames in gerber mask... but peeled the oppisite part of the flames out so the flames were covered and sprayed the bare top in a candy mixed with 2020 clear. I peeled the liquid mask off the bottom so the flames were in bare metal and set it outside so the flames would rust The clear/candy mix held up awesome. 7 years and counting.... so yeah it'll hold up. Tuck
I know a few cats that have done this, and it's worked out well. Just make sure that you do a good job prepping the tank (degreasing, etc). One guy I know took his tank and fender down to bare metal, let it sit and form some natural surface rust patterns, then cleared over it. Looked pissa!
Thanks guys. I think it'd look real cool. And as far as it not being a "true bobber" I can't say I much care. It'll just be that much faster w/ out the extra weight of a color under the clear
Lots of gas tanks are mixed alloy based, too. They don't quite flash as fast. My race bike has a tank that I took down to metal about four years ago, still no rust. Not much more than shop dust protecting the surface.
The Jalopy Journal
