"Tidying Up" the Bodywork

[Ingah]

For those of you that haven't read: "Foolish Pedestrians, Busy Crossroads and Manhole Covers" thread in Bike Chat, i've recently done more (mostly cosmetic) damage to my bike, and have decided that i'm going to try to stop spending on replacing cosmetic parts (which is a shame as it was a tidy looking bike, but due to it's age - 1995 - and mileage - 49K, and commoness - CB500 - it's not really wise to pay out a sizeable fraction of the bike's value on new or even second hand plastics - even though i have spent a hell of a lot of money repairing and giving everything a good service - the bike should be solid for years to come now... i hope).

Call me vain though, but i do like my bike to look nice - so non-bikers (most bikers seem to unconsciously turn their noses up a little when they work out what it actually is) will be like "that's a nice bike", rather than assuming that i must be some kind of tramp biker.

Anyway, i was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on how to go about making it all look tidy enough, without buying expensive parts or getting expensive professionals to help.

My mudguard is now quite cracked, my engine bars have been across the ground and eaten into a few times and are rusting in these places, and my headlamp metal rim is suffering in the same way, the rear seat cowl plastics now have a sizeable vertical crack across them, the rear of the speedo plastics are scuffed and cracked, the edge of the tank has orange "brick" on it from where i've dropped it onto a brick (not washing off), and the triangular plastic tabs (can't remember their name today...) that go behind the tank and in front of the rear seat cowling, have a hole and cracking in them (from aforesaid brick accident).

[Guest]

try t-cut on the "brick", and the plastics can be plastic welded on the reverse, or you could just use fibregalss mesh (on the reverse) to hold them together.. same with the mudguard..

the bodywork can be resprayed, depends on how much you want to spend, and how patient you are using spray paints.. i have resprayed a full set of Bandit bodywork, and Katana bodywork, along with a headlamp fairing.

with all bodywork and spraying preparation is key,.. you may need to use filler (mudguard) over the cracks/breaks, but use the highest number wet and dry paper (wet, use a garden spray bottle) and google spraying.. unless you know someone who is handy and would do it for you for a small fee..

otherwise, ebay, but i wouldn't guarantee that the items will be as new and unmarked....

if its black, try ford black, with a primer first, if you work on the mudguard first, then you can move on with your confidence or not, leave the rest and get a replacement mudguard,

your too far away from me to help you out with this..

[Colin the Bear]

Quick steel epoxy putty works well. Autosol the rust off and paint it black.

http://www.hemmingsdiy.co.uk/quickste.htm

[Guest]

follow Walneys advise for the cracks, buy a touch up paint and apply thin coats and build up the layers,use 1500 or higher wet and dry to flat it back,then something like G3 to bring the lustre back to the paint finish.then start on the rusty bits as Colin suggested,finely give the bike the best wash and polish it's ever had,use a good polish Autoglym super resin is good it contains fillers that will mask very fine surface scratches you will be surprised how that helps,