Total Motorcycle Community Forums

First things first, this is an awesome forum; I'm very impressed with how helpful everyone’s responses have been in all the threads I've read so far. I'm sure I'll be stopping in all the time from now on.

Alright, down to business. I just bought myself a 1974 Honda CB350. Not spectacular, but since I'm only 18, working part time and paying for school, it’s not too shabby for a starting bike. Thing is though it needs some work. I'm contemplating tearing it all down, to give everything a good cleaning, and I'm going to want to repaint the frame, since there is some minor surface rust and it could just use a nice repainting. If I could afford it I would love to have it done by a pro, but I can't so I'm thinking I'll take the rattle can route. I've read the thread on repainting in the general maintenance section, but it deals mostly with repainting the rest of the bike. So what I'm asking is what kind of paint should I be looking for? I'm not quite sure what kind of paint is on it now, but it is the stock paint, so I'm not sure if I should sand it down completely, or just get rid of the spots of rust and rough up the rest. And one last question, matte or glossy on a frame? I'm thinking matte but I have no idea how a glossy paint would look, as I've never really noticed before, or have any real good places to go check out bikes right now. Thanks for any help everyone.

Welcome! You could use rustoleum...some guys I talk to on another forum did...the industrial equipment paint, not the regular. Also, I like duplicolor, and have painted whole bikes with it. I just painted a tailpiece you can look at in this forum under "out with the old...". If you can get a urethane rattlecan, that would be best, but DON'T FORGET THE RESPIRATOR...especially with the urethane...very dangerous to your lungs.

Either way, you want to sand/prime and smooth the rusted areas first. I like to seal the primer coat with paint before I actually paint it. I usually prime back over that for surfacing. You can use clear, or black in this case. I'd use satin black, but some guys like flat or gloss better. It's really up to you, and I've seen pretty much every color, unless you intend to do an accurate restoration...that's not cheap, though.

Have a good time with it, and remember, 98 percent of the result is in the preperation and final sanding/buffing.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm sure to make sure to sand and prime well first of course. I think tommorow (or I guess latter today since it's 1:15 am here) my friend is coming over, and we are going to disassemble the bike, so I'll tell him if I pass out from paint fumes, to drag me somewhere with clean air. Let's just hope I can do a good job of it, and get it all back together afterwards. lol

You can get a disposable respirator that will work for a long time with the low volumes you'll be spraying. Fumes can really make you ill, so I'd really think about a respirator if you paint inside.