I just moved from Mesa, Arizona to West Virginia. I loaded as much as I could on a 15' trailer along with my Sportster. I really messed up though. I put a grill too close to the bike and it ended up rubbing a spot the size of a quarter of paint off of the tank. It has made me sick! I ended up buying one of those tank bras and it covers it completely, but I still know that it is there.

 

That bra is gonna chafe the paint underneath it. Best just to repaint the tank.

 

Dude....my wife dropped my bike in the garage 1 week after I bought it. Its great...now you can do what you want to it! Take a DA to the tank and take all the paint off it, throw some pin stripes on it and call it good!

 

well i got nothin clever, that sucks, yr an idiot, lesson learned, not really that big a deal, but thats because its yrs and not mine

i hate doin stupid ****, but at least now ya gotta good excuse for paint

 

The last time I did something stupid with my bike I ended up chopping the sprocket cover and rear fender, replacing the tail light and rear turn signals and getting rid of the oil tank covers.
Life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

 

Seems like a good excuse to treat yourself to a trick paint job.Hate It when stuff like that happens,I bought a solo seat off e-bay which looked brand new.Went to fit It,rested It on my other bike and when I turned my back It fell off and put a inch gash In It...I could have wept

 

Don't worry about that ****! Take off that tank bra now! call the dealer and get the paint codes and find you a place and get it repainted the same or find a custom bike shop and have all your tins redone to something you like. **** happens! My son chipped the paint on mine so i'm thinking of getting mine painted after i get my income tax next year. he was 4 when he did that.

 

40 years of riding and if told all the dumb things did with bikes over the years would take a month to read the thread... For now let the Bra cover it and when ready, repaint it ...

 

Wet sand the paint and make it rat rod

 

Dont beat yourself up about it. We've all done things which in hindsight were dumb and will probably do many more.

Your healthy, didnt make a mistake that caused you or anyone else injury, and at the end of the day the bike is just a thing.

In any case, the problems resolvable in a number of ways:

Get the tank paintwork touched up (if possible);
Get a new tank in the same colour from the dealers, or via the internet (if possible) and either keep the existing tank for custom painting in the future or sell it on ebay or here;
Take the opportunity to have a custom paint job;
Replace the tank with a custom tank.