Some pics of my bike - 99% complete.

[onearmedbandit]

Couldn't resist posting up some pics of her already, I'm rapt with the result. What you see was completely done by imdying and myself, except for the paint and large central vinyls, which in hindisght we should've done as our first attempt was pretty damn good. We made all the stickers ourselves, sized them, re-sized them, placed them, ripped them off and started again. Well initially anyway, after a while we got quite good at it.

We've stll got a few stickers and stripes to put on the bike, but I'm just happy to have it all together again and rideable, once I've sorted the front brakes. I decided it would've been cheaper to go this route instead of trying to return it to factory spec, and it's now one very individual GSXR thou.

[MattRSK]

AWESOME :gob: :yes: :rockon:

[onearmedbandit]

These are examples of the photos we based the design on. After trolling the net for ages we discovered that not only every year did sponsers and designs change, but also mid season as well. This meant there was no one design to call a true replica, so I decided on the one I most like and went for it.

[MyGSXF]

Lookin bloody good there mate!!!!!! :Punk: can I test ride it for ya......??? :innocent:

Jen :rockon:

[k14]

fuck bro, that is mint. looking good. when you gonna be back out at the track?

[avgas]

Very Yummy.....good job- she looks great

[trumpy]

Very cool indeed. Credit to ya.

[onearmedbandit]

Thanks for the comments, glad to see people like it. It won't be wearing these fairings out at the track, I'll do what I should've done in the first place and put the track fairings on.

[James Deuce]

Maaaate! I'm supposed to be the Schwantz fanatic around here.

That is AWESOME!

[Shaun]

nice work boys

[skelstar]

Looks great OAB. We like individualism.

[T.W.R]

NICE!! Kev would be proud, as should you :yes: your going to get noticed a lot, definately a standout from the B/W Gixxer commoners:dodge:

[orangeback]

looking sweet bro , (now youll be able to ride around with rizzlia ,fortuna and red bull in chch) and go racing (all the james lee bikes )

[madandy]

Looks better than the originals. Top effort:yes:

[Meekey_Mouse]

That looks awesome OAB :yes: :rockon:

[zadok]

Fantastic job. I'm impressed.:clap:

[Finn]

OAB, you could have told me you wanted a painted up bike. My mighty Repsol is for sale. You know you want it.

[Joni]

See you at CAMS next week then? :sunny:

[Animal]

Well done, OAB! That's bloody awesome! I saw your bike (at Malc's) a couple days after your spill and felt really bad for you - now I'm just plain farkin' envious! Great result.

[Colapop]

It looks like a large size fly trap! You trying to catch a Texan..? :innocent:

Awesome job Fraser.

[sAsLEX]

looking good need to get our there for another photo session with the new paint.

[nudemetalz]

She looks beautiful !!! Well done OAB.

Kevin Schwantz would be proud !!

[Kickaha]

I'm looking forward to seeing it in real life, top effort:niceone:

[TonyB]

Looks sweet OAB! So are we going to see it at CAMS?

[Coyote]

That is so awesome

What did you use to design/make the stickers? How much did it cost for all the paintwork? I'd love to do something like it myself

[BAD DAD]

Looks mint.

[Dai]

You know how to make a person jealous dont you?

I love what you have done to the bike.

Chris

[SimJen]

Beautiful bike man, very cool old school scheme :)
All you need now is Schwantz's signature on the tank....

[onearmedbandit]

Thanks for the comments and rep guys, glad that others like it. It's the result of some very long nights where on occassion we walked out of here after putting in 6hrs having only completed and positioned 3 vinyls. But we had the picture in our heads of how it was going to look and we knew it was worth it.


Paint work including prep cost $600, done by a friend who owns a paint/panel shop. Says he wouldn't do another for anything under $1000. My boss bought a Creation PCut vinyl cutter off trademe, brand new and only $1245. Came with it's own software with layouts etc. Very easy to use once you've sorted it out (aligning blades, pressure, etc), then with the software provided and an *.eps file you size it etc, and hit cut. Weed the unwanted vinyl out, put it on some tack paper, peel of the backing and lay it on the surface. Using patience hopefully you'll have no air bubbles etc. I used 900 grade vinyl (used for automobiles) which is quite easily manipulated into place.

Go to www.brandsoftheworld.com and search for eps files, in fact you'll find some of the ones we used there. Others we had to make up ourselves.

Immensly satisfying knowing that it was done by us, rather than paying someone else to get it right. It allowed us the freedom to design, modify, etc at a much less cost.

[slowpoke]

Aaaaaah, now that is sweeeeeet!!!
I know for a while there you were sort of umming and aahing about trading up or modifying this thing but opening up the garage door to this has got to be a huge buzz.


My mighty Repsol is for sale. You know you want it.

Yes, I think OAB IS pretty keen on it...he's also been doing a bit of work on a lovely water feature out the back and he's after something for the urinating cherub to dowse......

.....come to think of it he's welcome to my poked (slowpoked?) R1 too, fuggin' heap of shit!

......OK, OK I'LL take the Repsol and the cherub can go to town on the R1, there, are you happy now?

[Mr. Peanut]

Brilliant, can you do my bike next? ;)

[onearmedbandit]

See you at CAMS next week then? :sunny:


Looks sweet OAB! So are we going to see it at CAMS?

Nah, unfortunately I am required at work on Saturday and then it's the company night out so will be nursing a sore head on Sunday. Have a great day though guys.

[TonyB]

Hey it's my works end of year bash the night before too. Its quite a big do by all accounts, I'm even hiring a Tux! My aim is to try to avoid having a sore head the next day.... wonder if it will be sucessful??:sick:

[Crasherfromwayback]

[QUOTE=onearmedbandit;854824]Thanks for the comments and rep guys, glad that others like it. It's the result of some very long nights where on occassion we walked out of here after putting in 6hrs having only completed and positioned 3 vinyls. But we had the picture in our heads of how it was going to look and we knew it was worth it.


Hey f*ck you mate!
Thanks to the fantastic pictures of your new bike I've bloody near stuck all my keys together......

Big ups to you guys for creating a WELL HORN bike!

Now where are my tissues.....??:innocent:

[Shadows]

Certainly one of a kind there... nice.

[R6_kid]

fark me.... that looks sex! Nice work bro, dont scratch it eh!

[kneescraper]

Awesome looking Suzuki. You've done a top job...now for the race engine

[BarBender]

The only Zook I ever liked...and only because a Mad Texan was riding it.
Well done. Great job.

[gav]

Very cool, hope everyone noticed its only got one handle bar? That'll have people wondering when its parked up some where, for sure!

[badlieutenant]

awesome !! serious amout of Foonah factor there bro:P

[Al]

That is awesome mate!
Well done on a fantastic job!

Al

[imdying]

It's amazing how much the missing stripes and the Suzuki on the tank have lifted the overall design :yes:

It's also amazing how much of a PITA the yellow number boards are to apply to what seems to be essentially a flat surface :lol:

OAB, wife is babysitting tonight, we can either mount my fairing or have another crack at those number boards, I'm easy :yes:

[bugjuice]

can't think of anything original, cos everyone has said it. so I'm just gonna go with;
cooooooooooooooooooooool :Punk:

chuckled at the lack of left clipon.. ;)
that's stop any thiefin barstewards.. or make them think anyway

just don't follow any bikes/cars too close to get stone chips!

[Sniper]

Marvellous OAB, well done

[kiwifruit]

Wow! Thats all class man, well done :first:
I've always loved that scheme, you've made it work really well

[imdying]

Brilliant, can you do my bike next? ;)
To be honest, I would love to have a crack at a Rothmans NSR. If you've got the money (probably a good $300 worth of quality vinyl) and the patience (painters work at their own pace), I'd give it a go.

Of course, you're a long long way away from us, so there would be much tooing and frooing replacing stickers you've messed up when you've put them on etc (no offence intended, if you knew how many stickers we did 3 times over you'd laugh your arse off).

Of course, the finished products are flat, so easy to mail to you :) Might take a while though... I'm guessing OAB wants to ride his bike a bit now, not spend more time hovering over a machine that more often than not appears to be possessed by the devil (seriously, the plotter has 'personality').

In the end though, it's not rocket science, I would fully encourage anyone who has a hero (Mr Schwantz in the case of OAB) they'd like to pay homage to, to give it a go. Any signwriter can knockup the vinyls, and painter can paint the bike.

Raid brandsoftheworld.com for your EPS files.
- Plotters don't work with pictures, they work with straight lines and geometric shapes and stuff, also known as vector images. You can convert pictures into vector files (EPS is just one of many (the most common) vector graphics file formats), but it takes a bit of time to fine tune them. Adobe Illustrator is the best program for the job, it has a live trace feature that is the shizzle. It's $200 with a student discount, I wish we had have had a copy.

Other tips we can give (hell, learn from out mistakes, it was tough going and unmotivating at times... especially spending 3-4 hours and making zero stickers worth keeping on the bike, for whatever reason (size, alignment, just don't like it))
1 - Photograph your bike, from a few different angles. Remember, 2D photos are deceptive, what looks right on the photo so does not look right in real like. In other words, it's just a way to see how the stickers will fit together. Don't worry too much about it though, you'll notice that the shape of a GSXR1000 is waaaay different (curves etc) to the fairly straight lined RGV500

2 - Print out the stickers 1:1 scale, and tape them to the bike.
3 - Walk around, reposition the stickers
4 - Repeat step 3 for hours until you're happy
5 - Get a second opinion from a mate you trust, repeat 3 and 4 with them over a few bears
6 - Get the fairing painted the base colour
7 - Go through 2 to 5 again. It's way cheaper to muck about with print outs. You'll notice that the Michelin man on the side fairing looks a little small... yeah, he looked 100% fine before we assembled the bike :lol:
8 - Mark up any secondary colours to get painted with masking tape
9 - Reposition those secondary colour lines till you're happy. Seriously, spend a lot of time here... do it with the bike all assembled. Do it with the bike on a pit stand, do it with the bike on the side stand. Try everything. We tried all sorts of lines that we initially thought we wouldn't like. It's amazing how your perception changes when you see it. Don't worry too much about having them in exactly the same position as the bike you're copying, chances are that bike has a different shape fairint... concentrate on making it look good, not a 100% copy.
10 - Have the secondary colours painted
11 - Make your stickers and stick them on
12 - Change anything you don't like, last chance!!
13 - Clear coat
14 - Ride!!

Heaps of repitition is involved, and you'll be back to the painters a few times. It seems a lot of work at the time, but it is worth it in the end :yes:

[Clivoris]

Tip-top workmanship chaps.

[Shade]

Good tips dude - and yes, ill echo - lovely work. I can appreciate just how fiddly it must have been, and how long it would have taken.

I guess in the end, thats what makes it though. What a bike!

[_intense_]

fine work there man! hafta say thats a horn looking bike there, almost horn enough to make me wna rida a soozook :Pokey: