1979 GS 850 tail stripes

[Jonesz]

I am trying to locate a source for a kit to re-stripe the tail piece on my bike. The tank is in great shape so I will not be repainting that. Does anyone have a lead. I had located a supplier in the province of Ontario and got a quote but when the invoice came it was in US funds?? didn't matter that I am in Canada as they are. That brought the cost of the already costly stripes up over 30% more. No mention of US funds were made on the quote and the supplier was aware that I live in Canada. I cancelled the order due to what I thought was a devious way of doing business. If I can't find another supplier may just repaint the tail and leave the stripes off.
Thanks for any help

[Phred]

Am not sure if they still carry them but Canadian Tire used to sell pinstripes in various colors for cars. I don't think it was their own product, but if they still have them you could check and see who the manufacturer is on the packaging. Over the past several years they tend to drop products that do not sell.

[Big Block]

If the originals are still on there a local sign shop can make a set patterned off them for cheap.

[Jonesz]

Thanx guys. Will not be putting any stripes on unless they are the same as original. Will take the tailpiece to the city next time I go and check with a custom sign place. Good idea. The worn stripes are still intact. I have dealt with a couple of sign shops redoing striping on a camper van and lettering for a boat name. They did good work. Will also check at Canadian Tire to see what they have available for colors. If I can't get stripes that are very close then I will just repaint and leave the tailpiece like the side covers (no stripes).

[650Skull]

Probably not interested due to the price .....but

https://www.diablocycle.com/GS850-1979-Complete-Tank-and-Tail-Stripe-Kit.html

[Jonesz]

Probably not interested due to the price .....but

https://www.diablocycle.com/GS850-19...tripe-Kit.html

Yep that is the company that gave me the original quote on the tail piece stripes. I was not expecting to have to pay in US $ as I live in the adjoining province in Canada. No mention of US $ was made when they gave me a quote and their shipping charges appeared to be full bore international rates when they invoiced me. Had the deal been better presented I likely would have bit the bullet & bought them, just felt that I was being hoodwinked a bit. I see that the ad you posted has US prices highlighted but I originally had contacted them by email for a quote on the tail stripes only. Might still order from them if I can't locate elsewhere but have to get my head around paying over $80 Canadian for a few pieces of vinyl stripe. Maybe I am just getting old and grumpy.

[Big Block]

They did the same to me on a seat cover for my 750. They probably have nothing in stock, my seat cover came from overseas.

[Nessism]

The stripe pattern seems simple. If you can find the right color stripes you can lay them down yourself. I did just that on a GS550 and KZ750 I restored.

017 by nessism, on Flickr

P1010841 by nessism, on Flickr

[650Skull]

Had the deal been better presented I likely would have bit the bullet & bought them, just felt that I was being hoodwinked a bit. I see that the ad you posted has US prices highlighted but I originally had contacted them by email for a quote on the tail stripes only.. Maybe I am just getting old and grumpy.

I can relate. Not being up front put me off to

[steve murdoch]

Excellent work, Ed!
The curves look so smooth and symmetrical.

[Jonesz]

Excellent work, Ed!
The curves look so smooth and symmetrical.

+1 on that comment.The paint & striping look very nice

[Lorenzo]

The stripe pattern seems simple. If you can find the right color stripes you can lay them down yourself. I did just that on a GS550 and KZ750 I restored.

017 by nessism, on FlickrP1010841 by nessism, on Flickr

The golden striped one is the job! you even rounded up the stripe ends...

[dpep]

I am currently working on a tank striping issue that is posted on another thread in this forum.

I was able to find a pretty close vinyl match at 143vinyl.com. You could probably get away with more than I could because there is no oem color on the tailpiece to contrast. Here are before and after shots.



The bottom strip and up an inch or two is the replacement vinyl. I've still some work to do but I am satisfied with the striping part--that was the biggest challenge.



It is an option to consider anyway, probably the cheapest if you are able to get a close match on the first try. Diablo, when doing their first set for a particular model matches to a vinyl vendor's samples the same as anyone else. It would be nice if they would share with you the color set for that model. You could try asking but of course it would not be in their financial interest to give you the info. I communicated with them thinking they might somehow have access to factory color decal/striping codes but they do not.

There are several vinyl vendors. I matched mine on an Avery 750 Permanent chart I orered on Amazon. Once you find your color Google the product details to see who has it and how much.
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