Paint or Powder Coat

I was thinking about powder coating the frame and some odds and ends on the XT. I decided to go with paint, mainly because I have it already on hand. And because I want to keep the budget on this project as low as possible. I plan on spending less than six bills for the whole enchilada. The powder coating would cost me about a buck fifty, and that would take a quarter of the parts budget. This bike needs quite a bit of bodywork and a truck load of little items, so to stay under budget, I am going to need to be very diligent with the cash allocations.


So paint it is then. I decided to paint the frame red as Yamaha had originally intended it to be. I went with a little darker red than the original shade. Seeing this bike has no collector value whatsoever, I will be tending to stray from Yamaha’s chosen path from time to time. Went with silver for the swing arm, and will be going with black for various trim pieces and the seat. I am also going to go with white with red and black trim for the body work.
I have also began the process of ordering parts to get the rebuilding phase of this project on it’s merry way. The internet has made it almost boring to find parts for your project bikes. I kind of miss the old days of bumming around swap meets, finding purveyors of hard to find bike parts in the backs of motorcycle and collector rags. I guess I could still go down this road and probably will for a few items for this rebuild. But the internet with eBay and Craigslist has made it far to easy and made me way too lazy.

So in the next few weeks I will again build a personal relationship with the UPS driver as well as those who toil for the USPS, FedEx and DHL. I will be eagerly awaiting the packages as the begin to arrive, making every week into a Christmas like holiday. I have some ordering to do so,

Till Next Time.........................