MotoSport.com's Brett Cue shows you how to install graphics for your dirt bike!
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This is Brett Cue from MotoSport.com here, and we're going to show you how to install some graphics on your dirt bike. Three things you'll need for this job:
- Clean rag
- Contact cleaner
- Hair dryer
No matter whether it's new or old plastic, you definitely want to make sure it's clean, just give it a swipe with the contact cleaner. Make sure your hands are clean also, because if you have grease on your hands or oil, it will make the graphic not stick as well.
Steps to Installing Dirt Bike Radiator Shroud Graphics
- Spray a little contact cleaner on the plastic and wipe off, make sure it's all clean.
- Once you have the plastic clean, you can either start at the top or at the bottom, but I prefer to start at the bottom.
- Peel the backing about halfway off, get it back a little ways, and fold it over, rip this part off since it's maybe in the way, but fold this part over like this.
- Line two of the holes up. You can line this one up here and then this one down here. And then once you get that in the right spot, the rest of the graphic should go on pretty smoothly.
Whenever you work out wrinkles and bubbles, you want to do it from the inside out and if you push from one side to the other, it will make the graphic not line up, possibly, or just push the wrinkles or bubbles to the middle where you can't get them out.
If you do get one, don't be afraid to pull this back up and just restart it, and push some of the bubbles out. So we got the bottom part done, got this part in here, got to make sure it's down and crease is really good, and the top part is still lined up, so we're going to peel the backing off and keep going with it.
When you get to the top, sometimes it's better to push up towards the outside instead of pushing side to side, and that's the part if you need to, you can use the blow dryer to help soften it up, but you just don't want to get it too hot. And that is how you do a successful radiator shroud.
Installing Dirt Bike Side Number Plate Graphics
All right, on the side number plates, a lot of the times people like to pull half of the backing off, like I did on the radiator shroud, or I prefer to pull the whole thing off at once, and it's just personal preference.
- However you're doing it you will, the first part that's going to stick is the part that sticks out the furthest, and that's what you want, you don't want to stick down the top or the bottom first, you want to stick the middle. And the way we do it is the same as the radiator shroud, where you line up the top, and you line up the bottom.
- Wherever you stick it down the very first part is going to stick down; it's going to be what sticks out the furthest. So we want to stick it down, and just like on the radiator shrouds, work from the inside out.
- Depending on which bike and how curved the number plates are, you're going to need to possibly use a hair dryer to get some of the wrinkles out and soften the material so you can work it.
- Whenever you're using a hair dryer, you want to keep it on the low setting so you won't get it too hot. You just kind of heat it up evenly across the metal plate and that will help some of the wrinkles and the bad spots come out a little bit better.
Whenever you get into the bottom of this number plate, you're going to more than likely have some of these small wrinkles, but the way you want to get them out is you look at, see which one is the worst one, and you work on that first, and you kind of work it towards the outside, and you'll get them smaller that way.
And if you have to soften it up, like I said, you can use the hair dryer. With the top, you kind of want to work it the same way as the bottom. See we got the bottom all, where there are no wrinkles; it's all looking good. So we just want to do the same thing at the top, kind of work the wrinkles out and work it from the middle out and up.
Whenever you're done putting on the graphics, a lot of times you'll have just extra sticky stuff like that with dirt on, and the way you get it off is with a little bit of contact cleaner, same rag, spray it on there, and then clean around the edges. And now that we've got this all figured, got all the graphics on, I think we're done. This is Brett Cue from Motosport.com. I appreciate you guys watching.
