New Paint Ideas of El Burro

"I like it red," Amy says and I let that be the last word on a debate going on in my mind.

The inspiration for El Burro?

With the rust and the dents in the tank, the Burro is going to need a paint job, and that's the fun of buying an old bike -- making it my own.  For a few hundred more, I could have had a garage queen, but chose the donkey that had been ridden 25,000 miles instead.

My V-star 650 classic will need a paint job, and like my last build, I want to do it myself. So what color?   Blue or Red Motorcycle? A question as old as time. 


It is red over purple now. I thought a dark matte blue would be cool and even painted the side covers that color, but I also return to my first impressions. When I was driving bike home in the back of the truck I saw it as a crimson and gray tribute to my alma matter - Washington State University. 

I don't want to do a traditional chromed out custom, or a matte black monster. Custom means you take other people's ideas and let the source material speak to you, tell you what it wants to be. My crimson and gray paint scheme will take it's cue form the current Cougar uniforms which are bad ass.  I especially like the gloss gray over matte gray of the alternate helmets - would like to incorporate that somehow.  I even found a website that has the hex numbers for the branded colors, so I can get a pretty good match.

So, now that I've decided on Crimson and Gray - what style? Well, here are some inspirations. This is the bike The New Blood from Deus Ex Machina. I love the matte red and pearl and think my bike would look great with the same style in Crimson and Gray. Deus did an earlier Harley custom with an all gray finish, which is my other main inspiration - Their 1200 V-Twin Cafe Racer.

I also like some of the designs from Shaw Speed - especially the Flatliner and other more retro builds.

Shaw uses bullet lights mounted under the mirrors and I like that look. It cleans up the front end and gets rid of the lollipops.

Brighter LED turn indicators should help make me more visible to a texting driver getting ready to make a turn. The Deus boys tend to hide their indicators, which is fine when you are not battling fog on a "summer" day like today. One the handle bars, they integrate better. Smaller but brighter is what is in my mind for both the front and the rear of the bike.  I can run the electrics from the signals down into the handlebars along with the other wires when I cover the loom. Should look pretty cool, but the test will be when I look at how much work it will be do get rid of the old indicators up front.

Moreover, I have a nice set of passing lamps I purchased from down under. Should I put them on - using the existing light bar, or should I keep the front end clean? Decisions - decisions. That's why I'm happy to let Amy make at least on key choice for me.

For want of a bolt.

It's a convoluted story, so here goes. I bought a fairing off Ebay. It didn't fit the classic, so I sold it to a buddy with a Vstar 650 custom. While I was looking at it, however, I decided to take off the fairing mounts left on by the previous owner. Three of the four mounting bolts came off without a hitch. The fourth bolt was stripped. I spent a day on one bolt. Finally broke the head off, then I started in with the EZ Out borrowed from my father in law. Broke the EZ Out.

So I just bought another tripple tree crown. When I get it, I realize I haven't put the new risers on yet .. and they won't come out of the old one. In fact, even with a "tap" from a hammer, they won't budge. Screw this - ebay - new risers.

By the time they come in the mail, I've missed the better part of a month of riding because of one damn little bolt. I put it all together and it works great ... except I have almost no front brake -- somewhere when the handlebar was off, I lost my brake fluid. (sigh)

These little frustrations slow me down, make me think about where I want to go with this bike, what I want it to look like. I am making it a point to replace every bolt with a new one as I go. Slowly but surely, I will leave this bike better than I found it.