Vinyl-wrapped forks question... (now with finished pics!!)

[Rameses]

can anyone point the way to some pictures of this mod?
i am having a hard time conceptualizing it

thanks!

Taken from an old thread on TOB...

[Rameses]

An update... the guy I bought the vinyl from on ebay flaked and told me he only had it in burnt orange even though his auction clearly said "available in matte black and a large variety of glossy colors and sizes."  (I just copied and pasted that directly from his current auction.)  So I ended up buying some from BastardHK.  I'm waiting on it to get here and I'll let everybody know how the application goes and will post pics when it's done.  Unfortunately I won't have any extra sheets to sell off now though.  Sorry guys.

what size sheets did you get? I wouldn't want to have to use more then 6 sheets. One for each fork leg below the bottom triple, one for each for leg between the triples and one each for any of the fork leg shown above the top triple clamp.

I would look for a roll that will allow you to do the  fork leg below the bottom triple in one piece, that way the only seam is the length of the fork tube and I would hide that on the back of the fork leg.

I got 8x14" sheets.  And that's how I'm planning on applying it.

I spent a while trying to do this and I ended up giving up.  This is difficult to get to look good IMO.  The forks taper and the vinyl has to stretch obviously.  Just my .02 but I rank this very difficult. 

What kind of vinyl did you try it with?

[Big Troubled Bear]

I work with vinyl every day, and can suggest that any cast vinyl should be able to do the job very easily.

I suggest either Oracal 951 premuim cast series or Avery 900 supercast series, these vinyls are expensive but have a long live outdoors and are also easy to apply with a lot less shrinkage than cheaper lines.

My 2 cents worth

[Eddie_322]

those pics above look great. Is that gloss black or semi-gloss vinyl?

also, if you have to remove the forks, will it mess up the vinyl?

[TiAvenger]

Whats the wear/weather resistance of that over time?

[Rameses]

those pics above look great. Is that gloss black or semi-gloss vinyl?

also, if you have to remove the forks, will it mess up the vinyl?

The stuff in the pictures is gloss I believe.  I ordered a more flat product.

If you have to remove the fork tubes from the bottom triple, you have to take the vinyl off between the triples.  If you just need to take the forks off the bike, you can pull the top triple and drop the fork without removing any vinyl.

Whats the wear/weather resistance of that over time?

The stuff I got is outdoor rated at 5+ years.

[voodoocati]

Just to let you guys know, the vinyl in the pics above is still on my bike and still looks as good as when I first did it.  I put it on when the bike had almost no miles, I didn't wanna do anything too crazy yet.  But it worked good and has held up great. This is the 3rd season...

[DucHead]

Just to let you guys know, the vinyl in the pics above is still on my bike and still looks as good as when I first did it.  I put it on when the bike had almost no miles, I didn't wanna do anything too crazy yet.  But it worked good and has held up great. This is the 3rd season...

This is one of the most useful and creative cosmetic mods I've seen.  [moto]

[DucatiBastard]

I like the "Monster Labs" sign!

[ProTeal55]

Anyone able to post a link to where I can get the correct vinyl to wrap my forks ?

[Rameses]

Anyone able to post a link to where I can get the correct vinyl to wrap my forks ?

I was never able to find anywhere with a simple "click here and enter your cc #" ordering option.

There're several companies that sell what I was looking for that have websites, but none with online ordering.

You can either call them and talk to somebody, stop by a local sign shop, or send BastardHK a pm (the route I went).

[ghosthound]

Ive purchased a large roll of vinyl from beacongraphics.com before and it was priced very cheap.  For some reason their site isnt working for me on this computer but its a very easy order process.

[Mash]

I've never bought anything from these guys, but I think I might be.  They're inexpensive and give me lots of ideas to use their vinyl.

http://www.metrodecals.com/store/html/Products/Colored-Vinyl-Sheets-5/Matte-Flat-Black-Vinyl-92/Matte-Flat-Black-Vinyl--57.html

They're an eBay seller too.  They've got a 99.7% rating.

[DucHead]

I've never bought anything from these guys, but I think I might be.  They're inexpensive and give me lots of ideas to use their vinyl.

http://www.metrodecals.com/store/html/Products/Colored-Vinyl-Sheets-5/Matte-Flat-Black-Vinyl-92/Matte-Flat-Black-Vinyl--57.html

They're an eBay seller too.  They've got a 99.7% rating.

I've purchased from them: no problems, fast shipping.

I don't know from where Rameses ordered his vinyl, but apparently its shipping from the planet Platex in a distant galaxy.   

[Rameses]

I've purchased from them: no problems, fast shipping.

I don't know from where Rameses ordered his vinyl, but apparently its shipping from the planet Platex in a distant galaxy.   

Har har.   


Pics coming shortly.