IMPORTANT NOTICE: If what you are looking for is to learn how to paint a motorcycle yourself, we will discuss it in this other post.


Every time I entered the workshop, I pretended not to see her, and surely she paid me for it with her stubborn refusal to start. He had to pamper her. He had to make her feel pretty to get something in return.


That is why I decided to paint it myself, and that was the first mistake I made. I have to say that this is the second time I have made this same mistake, but man is the only animal that stumbles twice on the same stone. This time I wanted to try to spray paint it, since the first time it had been by spray gun and the result had been disastrous.


I started by buying some good quality sprays, which I assumed would be essential for a good finish. I bought four: a primer for metals, another for plastics (since the handles of the Ducati are made of plastic while the tank is metallic), a beige industrial paint, and a varnish. Of the four, the varnish was the one that convinced me least. In the sheet metal and paint workshops, they use two-component paints , which include a catalyst that accelerates the drying of the same and achieves the desired mirror effect. My varnish was not anywhere near two-component, but with my adventure I wanted to save about € 80, I would have to give up something! Not everything was the money, I have to say that the tangled dwarf inside me encouraged me to paint the bike myself.


You do it! They told me ... It will look good! They told me…

Equipped with the four cans and a good arsenal of water sandpaper, I went to the workshop. The dogs looked at me, wagged their tails, lowered their heads and turned around as if to say, you don't know where you are, friend!


I started sanding the pieces thoroughly and it was here that I made my second mistake , and possibly my final one. Halfway through the job the sander stopped (my father doesn't know this yet), and devastated I had to switch to manual power to continue sanding. It goes without saying that after more than two hours sanding, my bar for sanding had dropped considerably, and I decided that the result was optimal. Big mistake .


After the sanding marathon, I wanted to unleash my creativity, and decided to create my own paint booth. When I painted La Primitiva , everything was spoiled the moment the dust took possession of the newly varnished pieces. This time it wouldn't happen to me.


I bought a painter's plastic and lined an Ikea table that hung around the workshop. The result is not very attractive, but it allowed me to paint in a comfortable position and cover the pieces once I had finished, so that nothing would stick to the paint.


After the first coat of primer it seemed that everything was going smoothly. The part looked good and I decided not to sand any more. Third mistake .


I let the primer dry and began to coat the paint, waiting about 20 minutes between coats for it to dry. The cabin worked wonderfully, although the concentrated fumes it gave off caused me to lose several years of life. It is essential to use a mask and protective glasses . I used a mask, but not the right one.


After several passes over two days, I realized that I could stop whenever I wanted, the deposit was not going to look good no matter how much I insisted. The mistake made in the sanding was going to doom the result and there was no longer a possible solution, except to start over from scratch.


The small imperfections that a priori I believed would disappear with several layers of paint only surfaced as eager to accuse me, betraying my lack of demand from the day before. No matter how much I sanded now, I couldn't get them to disappear, much less a perfect result.


I decided to save myself the bad drink of the varnish, I had stumbled on the paint again. Now it only remained to consider whether to start over or give in to my stubbornness and take her to paint in the workshop. I have 15 days to think about it. At least I've learned that no matter how much you spend on paint, the most important step is undoubtedly a perfect sanding .