I picked up my wheels from the powder coaters today, I got to say they have done a great job as usual and most importantly got rid of all the corrosion and given it a finish that should last another 30 years!
I will have to do a little prep on them as there is an area on the rear wheel that should not be painted, so i'll be super careful and remove this myself.
The conundrum now is do I fit the old tyres, which look good but ate 5 and 7 years old, or fit new tyres? What would you do???
As part of the freshen up I decided to powder coat the swingarm and rear sub frame. The swing arm is highly visible so desperately needed doing, where the subframe could of been rattle canned on the parts you can see, however it was a bit rusty in the parts you couldn't see so I wanted that addressed also.
I use a local powder coater to my work and I have used them before and been pleased with the results, check out http://www.plasticoat.co.uk/ if you are in the Portsmouth/ Gosport area. A good powder coater will mask all holes and bearing surfaces all you need to do is remove everything including bearings.
The colour I chose isn't the same as the original Aprilia colour, the original is more of a grey which over time looks quite drab especially next to the brilliance of the main frame and footrests. I went for a silver with a little sparkle like a Honda swing arm, I hope this will lift the bike a little and give it a slightly more premium look... I hope I am right about this!
Swing Arm
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Subframe
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The complete text for the Performance Bikes AF1 Futura review: October 1991 Aprilia AF1 Futura £3,591 For a fully-developed, flexible road...
