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The Last of the Idiot Stickers

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MetrickMetal

MetrickMetal

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Joined
Nov 7, 2007
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Location
Antelope Valley CA
First Name
Scott
Last Name
Brown
Well I got around to another mod I had been wanting to do to my Bandit which was machining off the warning lettering on the brake and clutch reservoir caps which I hated looking at.

Since none of the sides are parallel on the caps the only way I could hold them for machining was to drill and tap a small piece of aluminum plate and screw the caps to it using an extra set of Phillips head screws and then clamping the plate in the vice on my mill.

After taking just enough material off to completely removing the lettering I stripped off the rest of the factory black paint and then I flat sanded the tops of the caps and hand sanded the edges and primered and painted the caps with semi-gloss black paint and they look so much cleaner without the lettering and my Bandit is now 100% idiot sticker free. :rider:

Reservoircaps008.jpg


Reservoircaps006.jpg


Reservoircaps010.jpg
 
I'm impressed. You do nice work. :clap:

That's a really clean look. You're probably going to get requests to make more just like yours.
 
sounds like it might have been easier to machine a whole new lid.

Looks good :thumb:
 
But how are you going to know what goes where now??? I think that would be so confusing.. You could put clutch juice in the brake juice box and blow the whole thing up now..
 
now THAT is a clean mod'!!!

I've taken off as many decals as I could, covered the required information on our frames, hiding "Bandit" on the speedo under, and the Suzuki "S" at the bottom of our instrument cluster... all with neatly cut black vinyl tape.

I also chose to cut away the decal on the lower fairing that says "Bandit", leaving just the "1250S".

But there is NOTHING I can do about those reservoir caps, and I hate 'em..... Bandito's modified caps are DA BOMB!
 
Anyone know how or where to get replacement glasses for these? Mine are old enough to start getting a bit cloudy or spiderwebbed looking.
Thanks.
 
Frito Bandito said:
Good work! Dale makes some nice ones also:

1250_MC_cover2.jpg
Click to expand...

I personally don't think that Dales covers look as clean as the stock covers do because of the over hang that his caps have compared to the stock covers that follow the outside contours of the reservoirs, but to each his own.

I have to assume that they are made that way because it was easier to make them with the over hang than than to try and match the shape of the stock caps, but it It wouldn't have taken too much more time to design the caps and cost any more to machine them so that they did follow the shape of the reservoirs like the stock caps do. :rider:
 
1TallTXn said:
sounds like it might have been easier to machine a whole new lid.

Looks good :thumb:
Click to expand...

Actually the time and effort required to first draw up a new cap and then machine it is a lot greater than simply machining off the lettering on the stock cap. :rider:
 
Bandito
Even though we have no Bandits here I still read all of your posts because you do some great stuff! I would advise doing some of you mods on a exchange basis for $$$ also those reservoir covers look nice but big flat and plain. Take them to the mall to the engraving shop and have them engrave
EL BANDITO on them!

SRAD
HeavyBusRacing.com
 
For us unfortunates who dont have access to milling tools you can just sand off the warning lettering, I did this on my FJR and VTX and it was very easy. Put the sandpaper on a flat surface and sand away until lettering is gone using finer paper as you go. The FJR ones were painted black and I polished the VTX ones and got great results. Again very easy.
 
yamadavidson said:
For us unfortunates who dont have access to milling tools you can just sand off the warning lettering, I did this on my FJR and VTX and it was very easy. Put the sandpaper on a flat surface and sand away until lettering is gone using finer paper as you go. The FJR ones were painted black and I polished the VTX ones and got great results. Again very easy.
Click to expand...

Some caps maybe so, but don't know if many people have the patience to sand off about .025 of material as thats what I had to machine off of my caps to get rid off all the lettering. :eek2:

What model VTX do you, did you have as I have been making and selling parts for the 1800 and 1300 VTX's for about 5 years.
 
I had an 03 1800 C model, Its long gone now. The caps on the VTX had much deeper engraving if I remember correctly. I was concerned about sanding through but it wasnt a problem. Your way of machining the lettering off is obviously way easier than sanding but without the tools some elbow grease still works.
 
yamadavidson said:
I had an 03 1800 C model, Its long gone now. The caps on the VTX had much deeper engraving if I remember correctly. I was concerned about sanding through but it wasnt a problem. Your way of machining the lettering off is obviously way easier than sanding but without the tools some elbow grease still works.
Click to expand...

Did you ever see the billet aluminum rear brake master cylinder that I designed and make for the VTX 1800 C&F models under the name Hoggone.

I've sold quite a few of these over the last 5 years on the VTXOA and the California VTX Riders forum along with some other parts.

78662171b3b0d117e8c48569ec1544d20_large.jpg
 
It's not over till its over

Just when I thought I had rid my bike completely of idiot stickers it suddenly hit me that there was one still lurking on my bike, the hidden rear brake reservoir cap. So off it came this morning for letter removal and painting.:doh:

Reservoircaps012.jpg
 
Re: It's not over till its over

El Bandito said:
Just when I thought I had rid my bike completely of idiot stickers it suddenly hit me that there was one still lurking on my bike, the hidden rear brake reservoir cap. So off it came this morning for letter removal and painting.:doh:
Click to expand...

Well Bandito, I guess you have effectively 'thief proofed' your bike against idiots. :clap:

Again one sweet looking bandit, cheers.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What material are the reservoir covers made of.....Aluminium or SS...?
Will a spraypainted finish not be prone to chipping off easier than an epoxy coated surface asuming it is not made of aluminium..?
Just asking.It looks good in theory as pictured but time will tell if a spraypainted surface will stand the test.
Cheers..
 
Call me crazy, but I kind of like the look of keeping most things stock including the stickers. To each his own. Your's does have a nice clean look, I must say.
 
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