Woodcraft replacement tank cover

[StephenC]

Well, mine arrived yesterday.  It does take a bit of practice to get it on but feels secure once on.  I am very keen to lose the central strip, like you did.  If sanding it down makes it flimsy do you think I could get somebody to add an extra layer and fill up to match the strip height?  I will try a few painters and see what they say.

[Slide Panda]

Armour bodies stuff is pretty thin, in a good way. Light, thin and flexible. Just picked up a set for my track bike to replace the tatty no-names fairing set and they are a marked improvement.

If you want to be rid of raised center - I'd suggest you build up to meet the height of the raised center - then do minimal shape and sand to get the contour. Trying to sand down the center to meet the outer sections will create too much weakness IMO.

[mickb]

Looks great without the strips

Jsut a thought, but I wonder whether Woodcraft could be 'persuaded' to change their mould, if there was enough interest, to do a batch without the raised strips? Basically a group-buy of a re-designed version, so to speak....

[StephenC]

Here's my* solution (* well A1 Custom Fibreglass, on my behalf).  They fuilled in the whole top to bring it level with the petrol cap and remove the ridge.  Now to get to the painter.

[ungeheuer]

Cool..... looking forward to seeing the finished article 

[StephenC]

Me too!  Might be a few weeks though.

[StephenC]

I tried it on my (very dirty) bike today:



It is a bit of an effort to flex it over the tank, but once on is very secure.  There is a little bit of a gap between the cover and the seat:

.. but When I put the original back on it looked the same.  It was just more noticeable with the pale tank against black seat.  There is a small gap around the filler cap, but once painted that shouldn't be too noticeable:

[Anchorism]

Looking good man!  I think its gonna turn out great!

[StephenC]

Well, your bike was my inspiration.  I'm not sure when I will find time to get down to the painter, so don't hold your breath.

[StephenC]

Here we go (lots of pics):





It's a pit the seat sticking is not hidden under the cowl (it was being painted when I had the seat done), but I don't like the vinyl anyway so now have a good excuse to redo it.  I'm not sure about the 'Made in Italy' decal.  It wasn't part of my design but was added by the painter.  Otherwise, I am very pleased.

[SpikeC]

 It looks fantastic! Now you can do the seat in leather!

[StephenC]

My thoughts exactly.  I actually had the seat redone a few weeks ago, as the original had a red stripe that continued down from the old seat cover and would have looked silly now the cover is repainted.  I'm not very happy with the choice of vinyl, as it is very slippery.  Now the seem is too far forward, I have even more motivation.  I am certainly trending towards leather.  I was thinking either a horizontal quilting or diamond quilting, on the main seat section.  What did you envisage?

[Raux]

Reaally nice.

[ungeheuer]

wow... looks bloody fabulous 

[StephenC]

Cheers. I'm rather pleased with the result. I won't claim too much credit though, as all the work was done by others. Leather seat next. And then.....?