Well, OK, I guess.

Don't laugh.

 

Hee hee! Who's going to laugh Doc? Made my heart go pitter patter to see it cruising by. Bike looks awesome! Love it!

 

Thanks. It's one kick in the pants to be riding again.

 

Did you miss my earlier post on your film lifting issue? I might be able to help you.

 

Very good video sir. Thanks so much for sharing. It's great to see it on the road.

 

From what I read the 3M vinyl does indeed seem to be considered the very best. However I chose this cheaper "4D" stuff because it had what was for me a more convincing illusion of carbon fiber. It has a really fine diffraction pattern that moves the reflection of the weave as you move your head very much like real CF, whereas the 3M film has a more heavily textured reproduction, more like raw CF without resin. Looks very nice, but quite different.

The best way to fit vinyl wrap is to heat it and stretch it over the surface, and in the case of small motorcycle parts with compound curves you can end up with a lot of distortion of any surface pattern. In the case of the 4D stuff it looks particularly funky when stretched, ruins the illusion of CF. So I have been struggling to find a balance between distorting the pattern from too much stretching and bunching the film up from trying to get it to fit in concavities in the surface. I hit a real speed bump on the fuel tank, and had to cover the bunching and puckering with a tank bra.

I was perhaps overstating the lifting. It's here and there and seems to happen as the film very slowly shrinks back from being stretched. I bet that's an area where the 3M film is superior. I carefully cleaned the surfaces before application and treated the edges with the 3M primer, which is amazing stuff. If you have a suggestion for an adhesive that might help me tack down the loosened "sharks teeth" that are pulled over the edge and pressed onto the back side that would be great. I could use contact cement, but I would like to be able to remove the vinyl in the future, as it does get dinged up and it would be nice to be able to replace a piece without fighting with a permanently stuck section.

I will also admit that the fact that a co-worker gave me a gallon of Eastwood gloss black urethane and a can of activator and that has perhaps influenced my current thoughts about staying with the vinyl. But you're right that I should probably finish the whole bike in the film before I abandon the concept.

 

I will check with my contacts and see if I can find out a good adhesive for repair. I can tell you that contact cement is probably not a good choice...just not strong enough bond even when you coat both surfaces.


Your complaint about the 3M film is one that I have voiced with them many times. Your right there are better reproductions of the CF effect. I ran into a similar issue with my Norton restoration. Trying to find a matching pin striping tape for the Norton logo on the tank. The proper way to do it is to hand pin stripe it, but the quotes I got to do the tank were just crazy.


I went through all of the 3M tapes and none matched. I contacted a buddy that worked in the Automotive Group and they just didn't have anything. I ended up buying some striping tape in Taiwan...pretty crazy search if you want to know the truth.


Just one other question. Where is the problem most troublesome? If it's the tank I have a couple of other ideas you might want to think about.

 

The lifting seems the worst on the lowers. They had been sitting for a while and I discovered the lifting when I went to install them. I had initally received a small piece of some really nice gray 4D film for the racing stripes, that pretty well matched the engine covers and adheres very well. The stuff I received a few months later for the lowers was different stuff, a little more blue with less of the diffraction effect and seemed like rather inferior vinyl. So maybe it's just a bum batch.

One 3M product that really blows my mind is the retroreflective material. Nothing else comes remotely close. Those hi viz checkers on my lid are squares of 3M Diamond Grade. I have a fair amount of hi vis clothing that I use when I run on busy roads. This stuff is way more intense in daylight than anything else I have. And at night it's simply dazzling. The red pinstripes are 3M reflective tape too. Really shouts at you when it's hit by headlights.

 

We (I still get to use that even as a retiree), are experts at reflective materials and surfaces. You'd be surprised at all the products that technology is used in and on...some you would never guess and the really cool ones I can't talk about. But the technology goes way back to the days when we developed the reflective materials for road signs. Almost all road signs in the world use 3M reflective materials...license plates too.


I talked to a couple of my buddies in the adhesives area and they asked a couple of questions that I should have asked you in the first place. First question are these small areas or larger. One of the problems with applying a different adhesive is you may lose the ability to move the film with heat to finish it. That was the biggest concern.


The other question is whether you could use a spray on adhesive. These give the most even coverage and adhesion...if the areas are small there might be some other choices.


Again, the addition of a different adhesive might result in a problem with getting any wrinkles out because of bonding differences.

 

It's mostly where I have wrapped over an edge on to the backside, just the little triangles you cut allow the film to conform around curved edges. So a spot type of repair to the lifted tag of film would probably be adequate for most of the problem areas. I suppose I should try reheating to see if it might soften up the adhesive a bit and then press it back down.