Painted saddlebags By Bashan (Read 1,869 times)

[Bashan]

'00 Vulcan 1500 FI. The saddlebags were professionally painted by a young man who owns Franklin Paint & Body in Chelsea, AL. I bought the windscreen from Clearviewshields.com and cut my own lowers from Lexan plastic. I had thought I might put some tank badges on the saddlebags at one time but decided against it. 10-19-10 Rich

[scooterran]

Hot Damn !!!!!! Looks really great. Fine paint job Bashan......No badges, leave plain, only 1 of a kind.........

[damin69]

Very Nice job. The bike they are attached to is not bad either.. LOL

[Bashan]

Thanks guys for your kind words. I shall heed your advice scooterran and skip the badges. You are in strong agreement with my wife so I guess that settles the matter.

[ccprof]

Looks great Rich. Nice ride!

[jct842]

check and see what you can find on just vulcan lettering that is smaller than the badge. like maybe at the bottom? or just kawasaki but small.

[flyangler]

Looks nice, I'd put somthing on the grey/ silver area it needs somthing to busy it up a little.

[Bashan]

I agree Flyangler, that's why I thought a tank badge, but they're too big I discovered. I like John's idea about some lettering or maybe a small badge decal. It's not that I'm shy about it being a Kawasaki, I love the bike and they make a great machine. But just by serendipity I've removed everything that identifies the bike. So now people come up to me while I'm gassing up and say "what the hell is that thing!?". I love that for some reason........ I know, childish pleasure. They guess Harley, Indian, Victory, everything but Kawi. Often I say "it's a Vulcan" which it is, but they leave scratching their heads. So I'm looking for a subtle '"V' decal right now, I'll probably procrastinate forever. Rich

[Hammerspur]

Here's a pic of me with my much altered '00 carbed 1500 Classic and the same bags:



Here's my brother's '00 Nomad we built last year:



A couple shots of the air cleaner I fabbed up for the 'Gonad':

[Alleyoop]

Now that is a really nice looking ride. I love the old bikes they had class, many had bad electricals but we used to put up with that. Very nice job on the windshield and lower wind deflectors. Maybe a small pinstripping in the gray would set it off.
Alleyoop

[Hammerspur]

Jan 6, 2011 18:57:47 GMT -6 Alleyoop said:

Now that is a really nice looking ride. I love the old bikes they had class, many had bad electricals but we used to put up with that. Very nice job on the windshield and lower wind deflectors. Maybe a small pinstripping in the gray would set it off.
Alleyoop

Not sure if I'm misunderstanding your post (forgive me if I am) but the 3 Kawasakis on this page are all year 2000's, they're just old styled and the electrics on these bikes are awesome.

I put extra lights and lighting features/functions, air horns, etc. on the 2 pictured in my post with nary a glitch.

[Alleyoop]

Guess I will forgive you on this one but watch it. I guess I wasn't clear in my post and do not want to confuse anyone. What I meant and wanted to say is that I like the the old style looking bikes better but that the orginals were a little troublesome with the electrics.
Alleyoop

[Bashan]

VERY nice Hammerspur! Both bikes are gorgeous. You're right Alley, you can't beat the "classic" look. When I bought mine 10 years ago the newer styles were just becoming popular. I walked in the showroom and it was a no brainer, there sat Big Red staring at me. I told the salesman to not not beat me up too bad because he had me by the 'nads, well actually not a nad (nad's the code for a Nomad for you non-Vulcanites). Luckily he was a friend of mine in Talladega Alabama and took good care of me. Great job on the air cleaner Hammerspur, you should market those puppies. You from Ohio? I grew up in Toledo. Rich

[wolfhound]

Now those are what motorcycles should look like. The saddle bags are awsome. You are both to be congratulated!! Ride on!

[Hammerspur]

Jan 8, 2011 10:44:22 GMT -6 Bashan said:

VERY nice Hammerspur! Both bikes are gorgeous. Great job on the air cleaner Hammerspur, you should market those puppies.

Thanks very much! A lot of hand work, one-off stuff on both bikes

Jan 8, 2011 10:44:22 GMT -6 Bashan said:

You from Ohio? I grew up in Toledo. Rich

No, Rhode Island. Took that pic of myself as 'documentation' on a 3 day ride I took by myself... I got sick of waiting for the other guys to get it together and do a road trip!