Triumphrat

magistermatt · 08-13-2007, 02:56 PM

You know how the story goes. It starts on a beautiful day with nothing much to do, perfect for a long ride. Wanting to hit the roads as soon as possible I begin hustling through a quick repair (the plastic elbow for the coolant overflow tube broke). As lady luck would have it this $1 part was in stock at my local dealer the day before, much to the surprise of both the clerk and I. Anyway, in my rush to get this simple 5 minute repair done, the tank happened to slip and go crashing to the concrete below. It’s been a few days now so I’ve moved on to the “acceptance” stage of the grieving process, though I still struggle at times to forgive myself fully for what has occurred. My only solace is that all the damage is cosmetic so at least I can still ride.

So, all in all, the fuel tank damage assessment is as follows. There’s a nice avocado sized dent on the right hand side above the badge complete with scrapes. There are some scrapes on the top of the tank. Along the right top edge above the knee pad there’s some scrapes and small dents. And to top it all off it hit and scraped the left side cover on the way down. Here are some pics of the damage if anyone would like a closer look.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mattandkasia/TriumphDamage

So now what? I’m looking for any and all advice regarding how to best fix this. Do I sand it down myself and bondo it up? Do I bring to an auto body shop and let them deal with it all. I’ve done some searches on the board trying to figure out how to acquire the proper paint thought I haven’t yet explored it fully. Obviously I’m looking for the route of least money spent so any feedback would be appreciated.

WoodsieIII · 08-13-2007, 03:43 PM

Mate I would take it to a proper motorcycle repairer. If you do it yourself and it is less than perfect I dont think you'll ever forget it. Better to get it done properly and say oh thats a nice job.

stevesrs · 08-13-2007, 04:49 PM

Know how you feel magistermatt,

Very similar thing happened to me last week, resulting in a similar dent on the left hand side of the tank (must remember to place it somewhere safe next time I service it). Decided against doing it myself and currently looking for someone in the Leeds/Bradford area to do a repair/paint job as I don't have the time or skill to do a proper job

jimmyj900 · 08-13-2007, 08:01 PM

Having gone the Bondo route on a few tanks over the years, I highly recommend taking it to a professional.

Jim

Slinky · 08-14-2007, 02:42 AM

A good body shop might be able to pop that dent out without filler.

Filling and sanding on a complex curved surface like a tank is a very hard thing to get right, it takes a lot of practise.

stmike · 08-14-2007, 10:14 AM

I have a good body shop close to home with which I've had good experiences with previous bikes. Find someone in this industry who you trust and fork out the few hundred dollars for a result you'll be pleased with.