Side panels in Carbon


mejson

New member
Hey Lads, just to share with you some mods...cheaper way to upgrade your bike and instead of paying tons of USD, DIY :)
I used this kind of technique to cover side panels in carbon fibre cloth...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rTWaV1imzs

bought carbon fibre cloth, epoxy, brushes and gloves....lots of...lots of...time and patience...

original panels removed:
IMG-20160224-WA0006.jpg

covered ones and painted with clear varnish (semi-gloss or satin if you prefer)
IMG-20160224-WA0000.jpg
DSC_0176.jpg

and final look:
IMG-20160225-WA0000.jpg

I also made a form of windshield I got with my bike and made it of carbon (full carbon sandwich - 7layers...)
IMG-20160307-WA0000.jpg
 

Eddieh93

New member
Actually looks really good mejson, how much did this cost you in total?

Was it a pain in the arse or an easy process.
 

mejson

New member
I bought scratched panels (2 + radiator's 2) for ca.80eu,
clear epoxy + hardner costed + black colourant - 20eu (1kg+350g),
carbon cloth 3K 200g/m2 spread, twill (2m2) - 20eu
brushes (go for synthetic ones for acrylic paints), plastic vacuum bags, gloves, syringes (to inject epoxy), sand papers (120 stepped down to 2000wet), varnish, another 30-40eu
yamaha (45mm radius) stickers (epoxy, elastic) - 8eu of ebay (original ones might not fit as they are hard plastic and 50mm and ~35eu)
so overall 150eu which gave me 5 elements covered in carbon plus one fully made of it, set of 2 side panels costs around 300-400eu (indeed full carbon or glass/carbon but...)

These can be made in gloss, semi-gloss or matt, depends on your wish, in reality they look fantastic and what's far more important - self made :)
I must say, worst part is to wait...each resin coat dryes about 5hrs till you can "paint" another layer, you will need about 3-5 layers or clear coat to sandpaper it first and you need to wait at least 12hrs - best 24hrs
also you need to be carefull lying down cloth, as once it touches black resin you can't detach it or fibers will move around and cause shaky look.
finishing is worst and most time consuming because layers aren't as even as on the video so yo need to carefully start with 120 and then move to 240 -> 360w -> 800w -> 1200w -> 2000w sandpapers
the more grades the better final look, finally i went for clear varnish that gave satin look to match silver colour (non glossy). But tastes are individual.

Recap: it's not complicated but requires patience, time and DIY skills :)
I'm happy to answer any questions...

P.S. I will make better shots with proper camera shortly.
that's not shown here but i used carbon/kevlar(blue) cloth on top plastic cover of fuel tank - but these cost about 50eu per sq.meter

węgiel-niebieski-kevlar.jpg
węgiel-czerwony-kevlar-300x149.jpg

you can go for another variations gold/black, copper/black, with metallic fiber....but price is 120eu/m2
tkanina-węglowa-złoty-połysk-plain-300x149.jpg
tkanina-węglowa-miedziany-połysk-300x149.jpg
tkanina-węglowa-czerwony-połysk-300x149.jpg
 
Last edited:

msesma

Member
This is really awesome. Thanks for sharing. I was not aware that something with this pro level could be achieved at home, although I'm sure you should be a very skilled DIYer.

I will try something smaller first cos I don't think I have your skills.
 

mejson

New member
Thanks Lads, it was time consuming (especially sanding) and you need to pay attention to lying down the fiber cloth...apart from that it's easy stuff...
do start with simple shaped elements and you'll learn it, epoxy is usually mixed 100:35 ratio (unless otherwise stated) so i went for 20:7g which gives enough for two-three layers..
Good advice, to keep rest of resin for next layer put it into freexer with your brush :) it won't harden :-D
 

mejson

New member
important note, you will need heat gun to get rid of air bubbles when stirring the resing and hardner as well as after painting the coats...
 


Top