Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum

Royal Enfield Motorcycles => Bullet Iron Barrel => Topic started by: jonapplegate on May 15, 2008, 10:28:24 am

Title: militarys
Post by: jonapplegate on May 15, 2008, 10:28:24 am
The militarys' are they just painted over the original finish or are they prepped to be covered in olive drab? Or, Are they all prepped a basic base color and then sprayed? I hope they go the extra mile on the militaries and sand everthing down before it is painted so the paint might actually stick and not peel off when it gets hot.
Title: Re: militarys
Post by: BanditRE on May 15, 2008, 12:36:48 pm
Well, I can tell you the paint on the frame and body peices 'sticks' on pretty good, like any other paint color, but the engine...........not so much. Any nuts, bolts, or parts that come on and off on a regular basis tend to suffer from paint flaking off, especially the fasteners. Its not really that big a deal. It stills looks cool. Think of it as a worn in appearance  :P
Title: Re: militarys
Post by: bobblehead76 on May 15, 2008, 12:53:53 pm
They didn't sand the motors at all . i got 545 miles on mine and bugs knock the paint off
it , but i don't mind it just shows it gets used. and my oil cap has no paint on it. I check my oil often and wore it off allready.
Title: Re: militarys
Post by: Kevin Mahoney on May 15, 2008, 03:20:11 pm
The sheet metal is prepared for paint just like any bike, however the rims and engine are basically sprayed over much like what would have been done back in the day
Title: Re: militarys
Post by: geoffbaker on May 16, 2008, 03:05:54 pm
It doesn't really matter much, anyway. Olive Drab Cammmo Paint is $5 a spray can at Ace Hardware :)

Title: Re: militarys
Post by: jeep44 on May 16, 2008, 07:30:54 pm
I have several WW2 BSA M20 military motorcycles. When they came off the BSA line,everything was painted a flat olive drab,except the engine. The castings were not polished,however-just rough and dull. After they had been in service a while,they got repainted many times. One of my bikes came to me straight out of gov't service-every bit of it was painted british bronze green-even the carb! The whole bike looked like it had been painted with a mop,too.
Title: Re: militarys
Post by: jonapplegate on May 17, 2008, 06:59:21 am
The military just isn't thinking about fashoin when they maintain those bikes are they? Just slap it on. As long as it is covered. Guess they have bigger fish to fry. Thanks for answering my questions everyone. Just curious.