Betor forks of Bultacos

[Old man]

Hi took the bulk of the paint of forks someone painted over the black with a thick dark blue paint now down to metal with black streaks and a bit left of blue to rub of by hand.Is there a hard wearing black spray or paint i could buy cheap to put back to near original black.Went to halfords and staff member pointed out black hammer spray but it was around 10 quid.I have 5 small tins of metal normal and 5 hammer paint paid 10p a tin in sale a year ago but all silver pity cannot use them as have 3 sets of forks to paint. Also started sanding one of the 198 frames and original colour is white under the blue.So need to buy white spray or paint is there a name for the white so can get close as possible to original .I am learning a lot from manual and this website can only do a little work hear and there because of pain but enjoying it. Thankyou 

[pschrauber]

Rally black with satin dull finish from rattle cans is what you want to put to the fork legs if you want to keep it original.

IMHO that matches best, just a thinner coat, no prep, no base coat, … that is the original Bultaco paint jop to all metal pieces painted black,

and to blue not better either, the orihinal blue paint did chip off like hell.

 

[woody]

I'm not sure hammerite keys very well to aluminium. I used smoothrite spray on a frame once and it chipped easily, which is the very thing I thought it wasn't supposed to do.

If you're looking to paint your frame the original colour, the only Sherpa to have a white frame was the B model 198/199.  The 198/199A was bllue, the rest were all silver

[Old man]

Thankyou for info will look into buying black spray paint for forks when got last of paint off.The frame is white thoe but no Letter B at end the blue paint came of to easy like it was sprayed with cheap spray paint.No bash plate thoe tube with grill welded could it be a primer under blue thankyou 

[section swept]

Despite not being original with some owners colour choices you do sometimes wonder what Bultaco we’re doing with some of their colour choices. White gets you noticed but clever and subtle colours get even more noticed by the officanardos sometimes with negative remarks but it’s your bike colour it what you will. The Hammerite you bought at a really good price is probably way out of date/ use by etc but silver is too close to the bare aluminium of the forks. Hammerite Satin Black would be as close to Bultacos original blackish paint, but it doesn’t matter what you put on those forks will eventually get scratched and scuffed by all manner of Mother Nature’s products rocks, roots, tree trunks etc etc oh and other bikes sharp bits. If you use Hammerite, re- coating to build up layers can be tricky if you go for the Hammered finish, the second coat can sometimes react with the first and you end up with a pickled finish a bit like painting cellulose onto oil based paint. It’s not a good look at all. One type of paint that you might consider is Chassis Paint, this goes on with no primer usually but doesn’t seem to mind about fussy preparation either. When it’s fresh it can be scratched but tends to act like galvanised metal in that the scratch will have the paint dragged into it. At bike cleaning time wash the forks in the normal way and if the forks are showing scratches that you want to hide put a little of the chassis black onto a soft cloth and carefully rub the Chassis paint into the scrathed area....hey presto scratch covered up. You could try it on a piece of scrap alloy on just small area of the fork slider before committing. If you have a Heavy Goods company or bus and coach business near you it might be possible to blag a half litre for not very much dosh. I did a 1973 Sherpa 325 frame and swinging arm in this paint, it didn’t chip very easily, more importantly when I later sold the bike through a well known motorcycle newspaper the buyers convinced themselves that the frame was a special manufactured item, I told them it was standard but they wouldn’t agree, still paid the full asking price?. I have to say that with the frame in black and a Sammy Miller aluminium tank and seat unit in light blue the bike did look very different from the drab standard silver, really good looking.....now when you consider I painted the frame by hand with a brush the end result was very good. Unfortunately I only have one or two photographs of the 325 in its original guise but none when it was painted. 

[Old man]

Thanks for info this is the frame I was sanding other frame blue and silver underneath but this white.Is original colour blue then not white just want to put back to original looked up model chart and no pictures just 198b with bash plate colour white

[fourex]

Stop wasting your time and energy oldman, strip the frames completely IE: no footpegs, no bushes, no bearings and get them blasted and then rattle can them if you wish(not recommended). Sand/bead blasting is not that expensive, save up the pension cheques or give up the gaspers for a week or two. Sanding that frame by hand is nonsense in my opinion.

PS: Your bike is silver, underneath all that blue and white you may actually find it, keep on sanding if it doesn't kill you.

Edited October 1, 2018 by fourex
keep on sanding.

[Old man]

Hi Sir for info am on the sick they say not fit for work not pension age yet but i do smoke 5 a day now with my coffee i do have a end day in a few weeks.I was bored to the point of insanity Its keeping me active as lost lots of muscle and am enjoying doing work call it therapy .Am doing forks at moment not ready for frames.I was curious what was under blue will strip frames when get to the them.Any spare money will be for parts as will no doubt need a few for the engines.Just wanted to know if white is a primer looks to good for one.My memory not to good now need to learn everything again.Trying to get into a class for 2 stroke engines as need the refresher course and its going to be embarrassing for me sitting with kids but to get all 3 Bultacos running well worth it Thankyou 

[woody]

Not sure if I can explain it any better than I have but whatever colours you find on those frames, you're asking what the original colour was for a 198 and that is silver. Remember how old those frames are, they may have been blasted clean of paint in the past and repainted any colour, and more than once.  Originally, the B was white, the A was blue and the rest were silver (excepting the smaller capacity models)

[Old man]

Thankyou sir both frames go blue who ever done it white done a good job thoe thanks again for info