My tins came back today and I spent my Friday night putting my bike back together.

Here's what I started with.


Tins are off and ready to be shipped.


I started with the gas tank. Easy to put in place and get an idea on how it would look.


Front fender goes on and looks sweet with my new chrome forks.


Rear fender is on. It's starting to look like a bike again.


Done.


Couple of shots of the flush mounted gas cap and led gauge I installed.


Shot of my new 'nameplates'.


...and the new aircleaner insert. I got the matching primary cover too.


Shiny new legs, recessed headlamp ring and chrome wheel spacers that can barely be seen, but they're there.


Didn't get a chance to ride tonight. Too cold and I was wore out, but I did start it up and she ran great. After monkeying around with the fuel injection components in the gas tank, and having all the wiring disconnected under the console, I was a little nervous about firing it up the first time, but it was no problem. Worked the same as the day I took her apart.


She's back in her spot, whole again. It was looking pretty bad for a while when I had all the body work and the front forks off, but seeing her all together again with the new sliders and awesome custom paint, it was well worth it.



A couple of people have asked who the artist was, and I wanted to wait until the paint came back before I said anything because I wanted to ensure the quality of the work before I said anything that could be perceived as an endorsement. So before I name the artist, I'll say a couple things about the paint job:

It's imperfect. Not what you'd get from a factory paint job that goes for $2k+ There's NO orange peel and the clear coat is very good. The logo on the left side has a very very small flaw that you have to really have to look close to see and there looks to be a little bit of clearcoat buildup on the tip of the front fender, again, something you'd really have to be looking for flaws to spot it. Overall, I'm very impressed with the work. The entire paint scheme was planned over a couple of phone calls and a few Emails. They told me he would take 3-4 weeks. He received the tins on Wednesday, started painting on Monday, sent me completed pictures on Friday and shipped them out the following Wednesday. I got them on Friday. So from the time I shipped them until the day I got them back was two days shy of 3 weeks. Given 3 days of shipping in both directions, I'd say he exceeded the expectation he set from the start.

For all the body work, (Tank, Fenders, Side Covers), Ghost Flames and the Real Flames inside the ghost flames, the total came to $689 including shipping in both directions. I've seen similar paint jobs advertised for well over $1500. With it all said and done, this was a spectacular deal.

For those that were interested in the artist, my paint was done by Jody at Gunpointgraphics.com If you're in the market for custom paint, you can consider my experience with Jody a resounding positive endorsement.

J

 

Nice job. Nice, fair endorsment, too. I like the paint, its not too far over the top, if you know what I mean. Looks very tasteful. The great thing is, touring bikes look good naked, too. Thanks for sharing.

 

Deciding the paint was unbelievably difficult to do. He would have painted it any color I wanted obviously, and I saw some of his candy paint work which looked excellent, but when I bought this bike, I wanted black. Just something about black and chrome that I can't get over. So I decided to stick with black as the base. Then came the pattern and the color of the pattern. I have a tribal tattoo, and I wanted a little bit of tribal incorporated into the flames. I just left it up to him on how to do that. I also saw a couple of paint jobs with a real flame effect which I asked him to put inside the ghost flames to put a modern spin on an old classic.

One thing I've noticed about the real flames is that the pattern seems to CHANGE as the light hits it differently. That was a remarkable surprise. I can't wait to get it out under the sun to see what it does. I appreciate how you picked up on how subtle it is because I was explicit with Jody about that. I wanted subtle lines. Enough to look like a custom paint job without being obnoxious. I settled on a dark orange because I figured with an HD, you just couldn't go wrong with a little orange in the paint. Regarding the logo, he would have digitized anything I wanted and painted it on for the logo, but I thought the bar and shield was timeless and wouldn't wear on me over time.

We spent a good bit of time discussing the logo too. I didn't want it to be so bold and pronounced that it muted the flames, but I didn't want it to blend in with the flames either. I think he nailed the logo on the head (per my request anyway).

 

The reason I picked the cobalt blue was the same reason you picked the black. I wanted a good base to work from. My idea for a paint job is one that from a distance, is not so obvious, but as you get closer, you notice the detail. I don't want it to stand out from a mile away, but want the difference to be noticeable the closer you get to it, until when you are right up on it, you say WOW. I think you accomplished just that. I actually want to go with a different shade of blue, and almost black with a purple hue, over the cobalt. I am dying to see some pics of that thing in the sunshine.

 

The bike is beautiful. Very, very nice paint job. I love subtle ghost-flame paint jobs, and yours is awesome. I love how painters are using the real flame look now in their paint jobs. Man, you've got a really sharp lookin' Road King. Congrats.

 

Nice looking paint. Did you change the front lowers yourself? Was it hard? Mine will be next week.

Lucky 02

 

That thing looks HOT!!!!!!!

 

Looks fantastic and you have a 1 of 1 'King now. No one person has what you have and that is cool.

I'll bet that will be the BEST $700.00 you will ever spend on that 'King.

Great job!

 

Looks good man especially for that price. I know my painter would want atleast $1200 to do it maybe more. I'll have to check this guy out, I want to get my SG painted.

 

I'll play the devil's[sm=devilgrin.gif]advocate here. There is NO excuse for flaws in custom paint work. I would only choose a local painter where I could easily drop off the parts, to eliminate the effort and expense of 2 way shipping! Ya got a fine graphic and color scheme with the stock black base....get some pics in the daylight so we can get a decent look!