As some of you know my hyper's motor seized on the weekend and, trying to make lemonade out of lemons and all that ive been chatting with Ducati John at great length. Engine is due to be removed tomorrow and we got on to the subject of re-coating.... First and foremost the front barrell looks (IMO) like its come out of a duck pond. Half the pain is missing, what paint is still left on there is pitted and what's not has gone all chalky. It was going to be tackled at some point but, this has forced my hand. As its coming down to the crank cases, John said its a case of putting the casings in the oven and the bearings will drop out (to a certain extent). He did say (as long as youve got someone lined up that can correctly mask everything off youll be fine) which i have.... So, question is, what colour?. This is all academic at the moment as it depends what the extent of the damage is when it gets opened up...we'll see... The engine casings i had done in black which, IMO looked pretty fucking trick..shame theyre coming off again. But, im primarily thinking recoat in silver but, black is mighty appealing but, thats a little bit too far off stock....the coating used will be Xylan. Its been on my ktm for the last 3 years and has held up remarkably well. Ive seen a black coated xylan motor (my mates GS1000) and that looked amazing. Theres a host of other parts that are getting done too while its apart... just wondered what the committee thought...
If you really like black & it looks good I'd do that. Maybe Ducati made a mistake with their colour choice as well as the quality...
It's your bike, you're not intending on selling and it's not going to be a "classic" so do whatever floats ya boat.
Not heard of it....the engine cases were done in cerakote (to see how they faired) i used Xylan on my ktm525 and three years on it looks perfect...when i spoke to the lad that coated the ktm motor (before he did it) i said "how resistant it is?" to which he replied... "well, if your going to bolt something to the leg of an oil rig...thats what we use" which was convincing enough for me...
No but a good coat of silver i think would look good, mainly based on the fact that it wont fucking fall off like the ducati effort....but, in turn, black "could" possibly weather better...i dunno...up in the air. With regards to it being a classic...no...but should the time come if, and when it does go then all the time and effort just making it look clean will aid to the sale of it. As i say no plans in the near, or far, future for that. But my ktm for example still looks like brand new (a 55 plate) and i think, just to add, bikes get a little bit more timeless as it were, if, theyre just plain looked after.
Why not just bead blast the cases, barrels, heads etc and leave them natural. Not all Ducati V(L) twin engines were painted.
Yeah - reason im currently leaning towards silver....but then....black will hide dirt and, lower the colour count on the bike....i think the engine (from recollection) is, the only thing thats silver... Just looked....yeah it is...mmm...black.... Just to add, for what its worth when i make the long journey of literally putting the first spanner on it to turning the ignition key ill start a thread in the hyper area...not sure if anyone is interested in following it though..it could get a bit nerdy (re the coating)...and probably boring...
Hmmm - just looking at google pics of ducati engines....what about....a dark carbon grey...y'know like the colour they used in the last iteration of the streetfighter...kind of gun metal colour...
Uncoated alloy I'm guessing will corrode like the uncoated alloy that was on the barrel that currently are....corroding..
