Camourflage shiny bits and paintwork
 

Hi

This may sound a bit silly but I was thinking.

I have bright blue bike, I want to tone it down a bit, making it less noticable.

I was thinking of putting dark or black sticky contact stuf over most paint and any shiny bits to lessen the attraction to passers by and the like.

Yes I will be putting a cover over it at night but wanted to try and make it look less conspicuous through the day as well.

I read something about someone once doing similar kind of thing, I think they used sticky back plastic (contact) but I was concerned that it would ruin the paintwork. It will be on for around 12 weeks.

Anyone have any bright ideas on how to achieve this?

Thanks.

A slight negative comment from an Aussie in Russia

fly the flag, you are a foreigner in a strange country

Unless you are wanting to hide in the bushes and do stealth camping, then clean the bike(if you wish) then camp or do whatever you want

In fact I am considering deleting my replies, why?? Because this whole site is about getting out there in strange places and meeting people. So, why would you bother joining an Adventure Rider site unless you were interested in something different

Anyway, good luck in your endeavours

Travellingstrom

interesting
 

Hi Travelling Strom.

I should have been a bit more precise, I'm not trying to hide in the woods, I'm trying to tone the bike down so that when I leave it unattended, it's not so ... welll bling bling bling!!!. Bright blue is very noticeable, especially in dull and grey places. This might not make any difference but as I mentioned before, it might sound silly.

I have a black one the same and there is a fair bit of difference. I cant use that one as its not kitted out for off road.

Maybe lack of washing (the bike that is) will be the answer.

My wee adventure is not about following the ethos of this site in full. I'm doing my own thing and this is just part of it. This website is the best thing for travellers on bikes. I don't necessarily agree or go with everyones else ideas, but its the best source for info as you know. That's why I joined the site.

Maybe water colours, one for everyday of the week perhaps?

Go along to your local sign shop (one that does vans)

There are various types of vinyl; thick and thin, permanent(ish), temporary. Also, some are made specially to take compound curves so would be great to "wrap" bits of bike.

I understand where you're coming from haggis. Fear that the bike might not be there or might be damaged is always there in the back of my mind

You try not to let it spoil the trip and usually it's fine but its always there.

An Almax chain and a great big visible lock might also do wonders to put off opportunists

Lightweight cover
 

For parking, very lightweight bike covers are available these days that roll up to about the size of a shoe.

For example:
Travel Motorcycle Covers that are Light Weight. Free Shipping.
Get a nice drab grey or olive one. Not psychedelic like some you can buy.

They make your bike disappear.

Camped somewhere in Africa, my daughter came up to me and asked "Where's your bike?"
"A couple of yards from yours," I replied. She'd walked right past it and not noticed.
So it seems to work.

Ditto for McCrankpin's suggestion for the lightweight bike cover. Easy, cheap and effective.

I met a couple of American riders two years ago in Angola that were worried about standing out too much in Africa. They taken it to the extreme and had taken steel wool to their bikes to dull them a bit. INMO, it wasn't effective as foreign bikes stand out anyways and it just made their bikes stand out fof different reasons.

The not washing angle is a good approach too. Just be careful if you ever let a local mechanic do any work at all, they usually like to automatically give it a good polish thus offsetting all your hard work of avoiding any form of cleanliness!