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MOTORCYCLE OUTLINES
does anyone know of a company that does motorcycle outlines? the car outlines are everywhere but bike outlines? does anyone know of a company or anything at all?
cheers,
matt -
31 Replies
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Matt, this question has been asked a few times before and I believe the answer has always been that nobody produces them because there is not enough demand for such a product. Try doing a search on the boards for some of the old posts about this as I could be wrong.
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oh ok martin, cheers. not enough demand!! got to be joking my friend!!
matt -
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quote matt2112:oh ok martin, cheers. not enough demand!! got to be joking my friend!!
mattWe have been asked about 20 times in the last 12 years. The amount of time it would take to produce a disk would not justify selling a couple a year. Wouldn’t be helped by the fact that many manufacturers change their models every year either.
I think Digital Auto Library in Canada have some, not sure if they have much in the way of Jap bikes though. Mostly just bikes that don’t go around corners 😉
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hi Brian, to be honest we do alot of work for race bikes etc and we are constantly getting asked for bike stuff. its just frustrating when you have to turn down work due to not having the outlines of the bikes! unless they bring the bike here then its nigh on impossible to do anything!
cheers dave for the link, i’m having alook at it now, don’t suppose you know how to use it do you? or is it just a picture of the item?
matt -
brian, do you have a Link for the company in Canada?
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I gave the PVO guys a call. They indicate that they have a handful of motorcycle templates (Harley, Suzuki, Kawazaki). The demand for motorcycle templates is low because there is relatively less effort for the designer to take measurements of the customer’s motorcycle, as compared with a car or truck. As such, PVO focuses its activities on creating new car and truck templates each year, as that is where the demand is.
Cheers,
Rod
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hi Rod, thanks for the info. is there anyway of getting hold of the templates you mentioned?
cheers,
matt -
2007 Digital Auto Library only has 1 page of motorcycles and dirtbikes and they are miscellaneous ones (8) to be exact + 1 drag racing bike.
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quote matt2112:hi Rod, thanks for the info. is there anyway of getting hold of the templates you mentioned?
cheers,
mattBuy the disc?
Peter
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quote matt2112:hi Rod, thanks for the info. is there anyway of getting hold of the templates you mentioned?
cheers,
mattquote George Kern:2007 Digital Auto Library only has 1 page of motorcycles and dirtbikes and they are miscellaneous ones (8) to be exact + 1 drag racing bike.Exactly. There are just a handful, and these seemed to be included per special request.
Matt, the link that Brian provided is correct. I’d suggest you send PVO an e-mail explaining your case, and elaborate on the degree to which having the motocycle templates would benefit you.
All the best,
Rod
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yes Peter, i know, buy the disc 🙄 :lol1: :lol1: just wanted to know if they had a website to go through etc thats all. i’ll have alook and see what whats with those guys, thanks rod.
matt -
didn’t see the link that brian posted!!! 😳 cheers brian, just emailed them.
matt -
quote Rod Young:quote matt2112:hi Rod, thanks for the info. is there anyway of getting hold of the templates you mentioned?
cheers,
mattExactly. There are just a handful, and these seemed to be included per special request.
Rod
This is odd, we have all been looking for motorcycle/dirtbikes within the last few days. PVO is probably getting the hint now that there is a higher demand (just depends on the time of year) I spoke to Lucas @ PVO and he also said they are mostly special request outlines.
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to be honest george you would have thought that some company out there would have thought of this a long time ago! biking is huge all over the world and growing at a rapid rate for all ages! i’m a biker myself and we do alot of bike stuff and there’s not a day that goes by without some asking for this, that or the other decal for a certain bike!
matt -
I know where you are coming from Matt, I get bikers asking for stuff every week, most want bespoke stuff, but at mass produced prices, so its not an easy market. Bike graphics are so varied, it would be impossible to built a portfolio that would be saleable to everyone. I can see a market if you specialise in one make or model, to sell through a club for instance, but if you are trying to do all for all, can you imaging trying to keep up with all the model changes and paint options,?
The other aspect is for custom graphics, most bikers opt for airbrush rather than stickers, but then its a complete respray, even to replace factory graphics, so they tend to want it done right.
I am NOT being negative, just voicing thoughts,
It would be interesting to hear more about your market demandPeter
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no your no being negative peter, your have a very valid point, trying to keep up with the new changing shapes and colour schemes year in year out would be a nightmare for sure!! i do alot of one off custom designs for most bikes, and alot of race bikes, but am constantly getting asked for this bike or that bike!
matt -
I think the prob with the bikes is as been said so many maodel changes every year and just silly little 1’s aswell, to get the gfx for the gp bikes we had to get yamaha to send a set over and we just copied them and had them on file from then but so many little changes and everybody wants the latest gfx set.
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Nobody is a bigger, keener biker than myself, but I won’t touch them.
All we get is muppets wanting us to match the offside of their bike because they’ve thrown the nearside down the road and don’t want to pay the sixty quid that Honda/Yamaha/Kawasaki/Suzuki are asking for a replacement decal.
They think we will make them the equivilent graphic for about a tenner.
I soon put them right. Then they go away.
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John you are so right there!
just recently had an enquiry from a friend of a friend who was looking for replacement Yamaha decals ………….. I said no. They look for them for buttions. I won’t get involved. -
I think I like buttions
the birth of a new word is lovelyPeter 😀
John and Marcie, that’s what I said, didnt I?
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quote Marcella:John you are so right there!
just recently had an enquiry from a friend of a friend who was looking for replacement Yamaha decals ………….. I said no. They look for them for buttions. I won’t get involved.Did you say…….’On yer bike!’ 😀 😀
I’ll get me coat. -
quote Peter Normington:I think I like buttions
the birth of a new word is lovelyhaven’t you heard of those Peter ………..? It’s an upmarket version of a zip 😉
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We get the odd biker come in here. Most of them look gone out when you quote them. Their reply "We can get them cheaper on ebay!". My ansawer: "Then sod off and look on ebay and buy crap!"
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quote Peter Normington:John and Marcie, that’s what I said, didnt I?
Not really Pete.
I’ve never had anybody wanting custom graphics, just replacing standard stuff at low cost
I’ve never had anybody wanting airbrush work either. They don’t want to pay for it.
The thought processes and end result are the same though. 😀
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In my own personal experience you always get lowballed because the customer thinks that you are trying to rip them off when what they dont understand is there is design time, then time to cut the indivual colors, then weed them, mask them, install them. Yeah, let me do that for $10.
My favorite is when people insist on being able to install/fit them by themselves because its so "simple". Then you get a call asking to redo them for free. Which is why we instated a release form for difficult installs and customers who insist on doing it on their own.
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quote John Childs:quote Peter Normington:John and Marcie, that’s what I said, didnt I?
Not really Pete.
I’ve never had anybody wanting custom graphics, just replacing standard stuff at low cost
I’ve never had anybody wanting airbrush work either. They don’t want to pay for it.
The thought processes and end result are the same though. 😀
Thats the trouble with seneyl, sea nile, c9’ll, well you know, I only thought I said it, thanks for putting me right..
Peter
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quote John Childs:All we get is muppets wanting us to match the offside of their bike because they’ve thrown the nearside down the road and don’t want to pay the sixty quid that Honda/Yamaha/Kawasaki/Suzuki are asking for a replacement decal.They think we will make them the equivilent graphic for about a tenner.
I soon put them right. Then they go away.
Exactly. I usually ask them:- "Can’t you get these from the original manufacturers?" Only to hear:- "Yeah but they’re too expensive!!
So what makes them think I can do them for less when I have to re-create the design in the first place!! (And Alison wonders why I have a rabid hatred of bikers 😕 )A few years ago I did some graphics for a Biker friend for next to nothing (as a favour) only to have the bikers pals all turning up next day with various bike panels to be re-lettered!! – I had to chase the lot of them out of town (hot)
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motorcycles… now we’re onto a subject that i really do know lots about!
matching o.e. graphics, i really wouldn’t bother trying. Unless it’s a standard logo and the customer is able to tell you the exact size from point to point. colour match will be very tricky.
i recently tried to get a paint colour code from yamaha. In the early 90’s, they had a couple of fzr600/750’s that were released with a pinky/purple coloured wheels. i had one wheel in that colour, and a generic black other wheel, but needed to match the pink/purple. I went to Yamaha, and they were unable to get the colour code. Even finding a complete bike with the correct wheels on, in the correct colour, the coding plate was unable to give the colour.
i went to powder coaters (i’m sponsored by a powder coating firm) and they couldn’t get a match for it from their swatches. I went to a paint shop, and still couldnt get a match. In the end, i got ‘nearly’ the right colour, and redid BOTH the wheels. But i just knew it wasnt quite right 🙁
race bikes are probably much easier to do, race fairings are VERY different to road fairings. road fairings are plastic, race fairings are fibreglass. Although they usually hold a close shape to the OE, they’re are usually differences, for example, the lower fairing is more likely to be a one piece, due to acu catch tank regulations, the belly pan MUST be able to contain 2.5litres of oil. Most racers run all the overflow pipes into the bellypan catchtank, so this area is going to be subjected to oils/fuels.
Also, ACU regs state that the bike must follow the silhoutte of the road going version (ie. the fairing is a similar shape) however, ANY seat unit can be used. Sthis means that the seat unit on a race bike could be potentially VERY duifferent from the OE seat unit. As an example, my Ducati is running with a GSXR750 seat unit, and a 748 fairing (which is allowed within the regs for the class).
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we do ALOT of race bikes and kits etc for race bikes all over the world. bikes are a passion of mine and i love doing them. but am always getting asked if i can do this for a particular model or that for another model and of course without the bike there in front of you, there’s no way. hence the question, bike outlines!
i got asked yesterday for example to do a complete 02 aprilia, the kit from the shop is 260,00 of the queens english!! that is quite steep for what they wanted, but again, without the measurements etc etc !!!!
matt
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