What finish should I put on my tank?

[bentwrench]

I'm down to three potential ideas for my tank.

The first is to celebrate the long and lustrous history of the penny in Canada. Our Glorious Leader, the Prime Minister has decided that we shouldn't have pennies anymore. So I was thinking of maybe doing something about that, and either encasing the tank in pennies (heavy), or doing a penny stripe off centre, aligned with the gas cap. I found a picture of a chopper with pennies tiling the tank, and liked the idea.

The second is a metallic gunmetal grey (boring... but easy and light.)

The final, stay with me here, is inspired by Twilight. I hate Twilight. Stupid books, bad movies, and my wife makes me watch them (but then, I make her watch the Fast and the Furious, so we're probably even.) What I hate the most about Twilight is that the vampires (spoilers!) sparkle in the sunlight. Sparkly vampires. Insipid.

But, it might be cool to have a bare metal tank with a sparkle clear coat. So at night it's a matte metal, and it sparkles in the daylight (or in headlights.) Might be neat-o.

So... convince me. I'm still working on how to even mount pennies to my tank, so #1 may get ruled out unless I can figure out a solution.

 

[frwinks]

got a pic of that chopper? the penny eh?... I always get a strange look paying for my small coffee with the damn things

Twilight tank for the win IMO

 

[bentwrench]

Found it!

 

[ThePsuedoMonkey]

Twilight tank for the win IMO

I never thought I would hear these words...
I like the pennies idea, you could probably mount them with JB weld. Maybe even using a torch to braze them on? (don't forget to get the gas out first! )

 

[frwinks]

never thought I would be saying them werds... damn it bentwrench
I dig the penny tank...maybe not so many of them though.. Single stripe down the bottom of the tank with a copper paint fading into a black top...

 

[bentwrench]

Yeah, I was thinking a stripe too, if only for weight savings (and keeping costs low LOL)

 

[bentwrench]

Found instructions online for mounting coins to zippo lighters - recommended adhesive is two part epoxy. Makes sense...

 

[petei]

Single stripe down the bottom of the tank with a copper paint fading into a black top..

This maybe add a strip of peening down the centre of the tank start with real dirty ones and fade to real shiny ones. although the twilight idea is good too I might steal the one you don't do

 

[drewpy]

I would indent a line of penny sized recesses, maybe along the bottom and top of the tank using a former and place them in there.

you can still put your Sparkly Barbie bits on the rest of the tank then

 

[Travis]

The pennies look cooler than I thought it would. I also like bare tanks (with the swirl marks from the grinder) and clear over it. I've seen a few that used a candy color over the bare tank and that looks really cool too.

 

[bentwrench]

I can't stop thinking about the pennies.

I also got a can of this for my daughter's bicycle:

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/effex/

It's supposed to make non-metallic paints look metallic, but it might look cool on a bare metal. Worth a shot... maybe I'll do both.

 

[drewpy]

looks OK that. it's not that rainbow effect though is it? coz I don't like that effect.

 

[bentwrench]

Don't know yet. I'll try it on her bicycle (which was just de-barbie-ized and turned green) and see if it might work.

 

[Greasey Fingers]

The pennies are cool! Go with the pennies

I also like bare tanks (with the swirl marks from the grinder) and clear over it. I've seen a few that used a candy color over the bare tank and that looks really cool too.

Hey Travis that sounds nice, you dont have any piccies on hand by any chance of either or both versions?

 

[bentwrench]

Oooohhh! I love this finish too! New contender!

 

[ThePsuedoMonkey]

Looks kinda like a snake's belly!

 

[Travis]

The pennies are cool! Go with the pennies



Hey Travis that sounds nice, you dont have any piccies on hand by any chance of either or both versions?

Check this out: http://www.xs650.com/forum/album.php?albumid=215&pictureid=1336

I've attached another shot. This is Jamesgs4's bike from XS650.com

 

[bentwrench]

Wow - how did he get that finish? It looks like a lollipop!

 

[xs400neophite]

Grinder and red tinted tinted clear? Where's the tootsie filling?

 

[ECP89]

Looks like red candy (transparent color coat) sprayed over bare metal.

Awesome effect it creates!