Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

I am torn between painting or powdercoating a frame on a 1976 elsie restoration?

From experience what would you guys recommend?

many thanks

Ruairi

Powder Coat.

Powdercoat for durability. But your first challenge may be to get a good match for Tahitian Red given you're in the UK. I was going to recommend reading the threads on paint here and at Red Racer but they refer to Du Pont and PPG products that might not be available locally to you. I went with a RHS3020 powdercoat from Olympic Powdercoating in Santa Ana, California. See if that code makes sense to a powdercoater where you are.

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Michael Stiles
1979 Honda CR250R Elsinore | 2006 Husqvarna SM510R | 2007 Service Honda CR500R-AF

I was thinking of buying my fenders and side panels first and getting the powder coater/sprayer to match the paint code to those?

Am I being a bit naive here?

Not really. I'm going to buy my plastic first from Red-Racer & than have the powder coat matched up for my 1980 CR125R.

Mike do you have a powder coat code that matches well with Red-Racer plastic? I will than see if my local powdercoater can match it.

Thanks

I could send you my RHS 3020 chip or you might be able to get Olympic Powedercoating to send you one or tell you who their vendor is. I chose the color from a simple eyeball of the underside of an original tank I took down to their factory. Later on it proved (IMO!!) to be a good match for the Red Racer plastic. Much later I was able to obtain a NOS rear engine mount and the match still looks good. I know that (being a retentive/perfectionist) I will fret that my bike might not be the exact original color, but I have seen other bikes at the track that have been restored and I don't feel mine will be done until I have the motor and tank powdercoated to match.

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Michael Stiles
1979 Honda CR250R Elsinore | 2006 Husqvarna SM510R | 2007 Service Honda CR500R-AF

Hi Michael

I am going to contact Olympic and see what if they can provide a chip and also if they have a vendor in England or what have you.

Many thanks indeed for your help. This has got to be the best bike website around.

cheers

Ruairi

Hi Mike

Can you just give me a check on the code. Is it 2030 or 3020 please?

thanks

Ruairi

Thanks Mike,
I'm going to run that code by RW Little Co. my local powdercoater here in San Diego to see if he has a match for it. I may even buy the Red-Racer plastic first & take it along with me.

Forrest Rohrs

1974 CR250
1975 CR100
1980 CR125R in the works!

I checked my chip and it is RHL 3020....

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Michael Stiles
1979 Honda CR250R Elsinore | 2006 Husqvarna SM510R | 2007 Service Honda CR500R-AF

Thanks Mike got that last number. Going to Perris?

For reasons that should be clear if you have been following the whole AHRMA, CalVMX, SVRG fiasco, I'll probably pass on both Perris and Glen Helen and just send a donation for Hurricane Katrina instead of paying an entry fee. I am more excited about entering a few GPs; the Race Around the Lake and then in November the Elsinore GP.

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Michael Stiles
1979 Honda CR250R Elsinore | 2006 Husqvarna SM510R | 2007 Service Honda CR500R-AF

Mike I have been following the whole enchilida. The Elsinore GP is always a fun time. Have fun!

If you're going to powder coat, you better make sure you never plan on welding it again.

BTW, I've found that the red mixture for a 1990 Accord is the spitting image of Tahitian Red.

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75 CR 250M1 Elsinore
83 Rokon Trailbreaker
99 BMW R1100RT

Do you know what the Honda name is for the color and/or have a specific paint code? Thanks.

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Michael Stiles
1979 Honda CR250R Elsinore | 2006 Husqvarna SM510R | 2007 Service Honda CR500R-AF