Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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P104 CN III LOWSIDE BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK T he past weekend during Thanksgiving, I decided to do something I've always wanted to fo but never had the time or the equipment to do so. I painted a helmet. I've always enjoyed custom paint designs, especially the stories be- hind the layout and the little intrica- cies in each helmet. Helmets are a rider's identity, and it strikes me as odd that kids these days don't go for one design and make it their trademark, rather than changing helmets more than they change their underwear. My design, however, would involve almost no intricacies, as I had not painted something since kindergarten when using just my fingertips. Ever since the Kawasaki Z900RS was unveiled at the EICMA Show in Milan a couple of weeks back, I thought that retro theme would look great on a helmet—the thick white stripe adorned by black pinstriping, with the lime Kawasaki green flank- ing both sides. It didn't seem too hard to accomplish—even for me at my less than elementary stage of painting—so with a bit of time, I figured, "stuff it, I'll give it a go." Bad decision. The first thing was to find a donor helmet. Looking at the retro bodywork of the Z900RS. There was only one lid for the job in my old Builtwell Gringo S, the same one I'd worn on the Moto Guzzi MGX-21 and Yamaha SCR950 in- tros last year. The Gringo S sports the same old-school shape and the screen hangs over the front of the eye port, meaning it'll allow for a few discrepancies as far as accuracies in lines against the rub- ber seals. Next was the paint. I'd set my- self a budget of $50 for the whole thing, and as I was not about to invest in an airbrusher (nor have anything like the skill to use it). The Gringo S would be treated to a few cans of the finest $3.50 Rust- Oleum acrylic spray paint from Home Depot. In all, four cans were used in the making of this disaster—two for the white base coat, one for green coat that was the closest I could get to Kawasaki green and a can of clear coat. I also picked up some 60 and 120-grit sand paper, a small can of $4.99 black acrylic paint for the pinstriping, some $3.99 brushes and some painters precision tape for the bargain (not) price of $14.99 from Michael's. Taping up the base chrome liner, the eye port and the bottom of the lid to ensure no particles got in; it was time to dive head first into the project. The first time to you take sandpaper to a perfectly good helmet is a bizarre feeling. Like deliberately wreck- ing a nice painting, you know the second that sandpaper touches the red surface of the Gingo S it's THIS WAS A DUMB IDEA