2007 Big Dog K9 detail

[Jngrbrdman]

Typically I`m closed for the season from November through about March, so I don`t really get too many calls this time of year. One of my regulars referred his buddy who was trying to sell a motorcycle on Saturday. He was showing it to someone on Sunday, so I figured if I push this back too far then he may very well sell it before I get a chance to make some Christmas cash on it, so I dropped what I was doing and made the appointment. I figured, it`s just a motorcycle. How tough could it be? (famous last words)

Well, apparently he had left it in the sprinklers overnight and then put it away wet. Grrrrrr... Gotta love that... This is EXACTLY the reason my bike has very very little chrome on it. I could sit down and polish all the chrome on my bike with a tooth brush and be done in 30 minutes. This bike was another story though... Very little WASN`T chrome. Not my favorite looking thing either, but that`s ok. We don`t get paid to like the vehicles we are detailing, right?

So here are some before shots. Not totally thrashed, but the chrome was pretty dull in some areas and all of it was spotted. The freaking wheels were ginormous! 300 series tire on the back with probably a 4 inch deep dish on both sides. They were huge! Huge and water stained.







The paint was in pretty good shape. The only real problem was where the seat connected to the fat rear fender.



It has a great pearl clear coat on it that I`m sure looks amazing in the sun. I`m just not a fan of yellow choppers or that style of graphic on them.



Not really too many action shots here since I was by myself in this warehouse polishing chrome, but I can say that it came out pretty good. I brought a whole bag of metal polish not knowing in advance how serious the spots were going to be. Ultimately I used Wolfgang Concours Aluminum Polish for most of it. The spots were coming off pretty easily with that and it really brightened up the chrome. The paint got Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish since it was in pretty good shape. Then I decided to see what a little Wolfgang Paint Sealant would look like if I topped it with Blackfire Midnight Sun paste wax. I didn`t get to see it in the sun, so I`m just going off my belief that both of those products are outstanding by themselves, so layered they can only look even better. On a yellow with a pearl coat like this has, I`m sure it looked outstanding.

I finished off the chrome with Blackfire Metal Sealant just to help keep the spots from staining like that again and then cleaned and conditioned the seat with Pinnacle leather cleaner & conditioner. I was in and out in 3 hours flat, so that makes me happy. For once I actually estimated the time right. lol The owner was thrilled and said he`ll have more business for me in the spring. So I guess I should change my policy to "I`m closed in the winter, unless you have a nicely lit and heated warehouse for me to detail in" or something like that. lol







It`s tough to photograph chrome indoors. I tried it with a flash, without a flash, from a distance, up close... Anyway, it was shiny.

[mrclean81]

That turned out great. 3 hours is really making good time on it too, considering the amount of chrome on it. Like you, Im not a huge fan of chrome, but it does make the bike in many cases. Those bikes are nothing to take lightly when it comes to hp either. There is an old man here who has a silver one, and it`s as fast as many crotch rockets on straight aways. It takes all that my Katana has in it to pull away from him. If I ever got the urge to buy a chopper (which wont happen), it would be a Big Dog

[Jngrbrdman]

Big Dog does make some sweet bikes. I think I`d probably buy two Honda Furys for the same price though. lol This bike is 4 years old and he still owes $20k on it. I could have sworn they were less than $30k brand new, but I guess he is on a slow payment plan. I`ve ridden the Fury and it is a fun bike with Honda reliability. Kind of a practical chopper, if there is such a thing. lol

[tropicsteve]

wow, talk about a lot of chrome to clean, but it sure looks great polished up. i really like the paint and i`ll bet it looks gorgeous in the sun with your layered finish. very nice work !

[Beemerboy]

Fun bike to work on and nice job. But 3 hours start to finish? That`s hustling for sure, most all my details on bikes like that are 5 hours

[C. Charles Hahn]

Wow. Massive improvement! Not my cup of tea, but I`m sure someone out there will love it.

[Todd@RUPES]

Anthony that bike looks amazing. Great work! The Wolfgang/Midnight Sun combo seem to make the paint look alive. 3 hours!!! My arm would have fallen off.

[holland_patrick]

I would treat it like snow.. +1 to the exposure and you should be fine.

[Old Pirate]

Wow, " I was in and out in 3 hours flat "

Bravo!