Monday, July 2, 2012

Less is More...

 I frequently hold with that school of thought when it comes to "Aesthetic" design. Sometimes there's just too much "junk" in the way to see the real form...

There's a small little thing that a lot of Raider Riders do to shine up their ride... and I suppose it hurts the feeling of some designer sitting in an office somewhere that designed this lil' bit... but those Raider Riders shave off that lil' bit of plastic chrome flash on the tank...

*The Raider with the new pipes and still with the Tank Flash*

Since I'm working toward a more subdued appearance with this machine that tank flash had to go. I'd been thinking that for a long time... and to tell the truth I'd been hoping to even have the bike painted by now...

Something in the last week, not sure what, triggered me to start pulling the trigger on several of the "I'd kinda like to" jobs I've had floating around in my brain pan for a while. So yesterday afternoon I got out the credit card, some rags and 3M Adhesive remover and went to work.

I sat the bike in the sun for a bit to warm the tank up and then went to cutting the mounting tape under the Flash with an old, out of service credit card... which of course left a considerable amount of adhesive and foam residue on both sides of the fuel tank...

The next 45 minutes or an hour was spent soaking the crud with that 3M adhesive remover... squeegeeing the bulk off with the credit card and then scrubbing the remainder off with an old T-Shirt with liberal use of the adhesive remover.

The result is a clean tank!

*Raider with the Tank Flash Removed*
I'm liking the direction I'm going. Sometimes they put, IMHO, Too much "stuff" on a bike. Too much flash and Farkle. The chrome accents of the Heads and other bits and pieces work better I think against the matte black and red of the balance of the bike.

I want my new Tsukayu Saddle Bags NOW! :-/ My patience waiting for THAT order to come is not enduring well. :)

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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