Modern Buddy

many topics about adding mods that reflect your style. im working on some design ideas...

i think the checkers are classic, however, im worried that a lot of scoots have these. what do you think?




i know a few of you have custom paint/striping. post up your pictures. also...maybe you could mention some designs youve seen on other scooters in your area.

sailortot wrote:i think the checkers are classic, however, im worried that a lot of scoots have these. what do you think?

I like checkerboards....who cares if others have them?

I like. They are classic but not seen too often on a Buddy. How did you apply yours? Where'd you get 'em?

The pink/black/white is actually very '80s to me, in a good way.

My checkers (not a Buddy, but my Vespa):

...I prefer keyboards...



--Keys

Keys wrote:...I prefer keyboards...



--Keys

Sweet saddlebags! What model are your saddlebags and top bag?

i designed that in photoshop. its my prototype for what i want to do. still not sure if i want to continue them on the windshield, but looking at this makes me like it quite well.

sailortot wrote:i designed that in photoshop. its my prototype for what i want to do. still not sure if i want to continue them on the windshield, but looking at this makes me like it quite well.

I think it looks trick! Hooray for Photoshop!

sailortot wrote:i designed that in photoshop. its my prototype for what i want to do. still not sure if i want to continue them on the windshield, but looking at this makes me like it quite well.

stop stealing my ideas before I even have a chance to implement them! no fair!

sailortot wrote:many topics about adding mods that reflect your style. im working on some design ideas...
i think the checkers are classic, however, im worried that a lot of scoots have these. what do you think?

The checks look really great on the legshield. -But not so good on the windshield! It's not usually done, it blocks part of your vision, and in some States you could get a ticket (or not pass inspection) for doing it...

The checks look really great on the legshield. -But not so good on the windshield! It's not usually done, it blocks part of your vision, and in some States you could get a ticket (or not pass inspection) for doing it...

That seems unlikely. Since the medium windshield on the buddy is for the most part below your field of vision anyway, I wouldn't worry about it. That stripe isn't big enough for anything to hide in, especially that close. The other thing is that you could go talk to a goof vinyl or sign shop and they could make that out of vinyl you could see through if you were worried.

NathanielSalzman wrote:Sweet saddlebags! What model are your saddlebags and top bag?

The top bag is an S/X model from Scooterwest (www.scooterwest.com) and the bags are Dowco Sport bags (www.chaparralmotorsports.com)

The top bag went with the Buddy when I sold it, but the saddlebags stayed...here's a pic of them on the Sgian Dubh...650 miles that weekend!



--Keys

whenever i see keys' old red buddy, I think of Damone from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

illnoise wrote:whenever i see keys' old red buddy, I think of Damone from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

It makes me think of Mugatu from Zoolander,
"I INVENTED THE PIANO KEY NECKTIE DANGIT!!!"

KRUSTYburger wrote:

illnoise wrote:whenever i see keys' old red buddy, I think of Damone from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

It makes me think of Mugatu from Zoolander,
"I INVENTED THE PIANO KEY NECKTIE DANGIT!!!"

I bet Keys owns one of those.

Maybe he was the inspiration for the movie

I was going to post a picture of Damone with the scarf, but I ACTUALLY COULDN'T FIND ONE ONLINE. I thought that was the sort of thing the internet would have an abundance of.

StL_Stadtroller wrote: stop stealing my ideas before I even have a chance to implement them! no fair!

oh no, im sorry. if it makes you feel any better ill spill my other design idea. it was a set of black stripes (one thicker than the other) with one star cutting through about 1/4 down the legshield. it just didnt look as good when i photoshopped it. so i think i like the checkers much better.

ive heard the pros and cons of paint and vinyl. this would be a tough task if i decided to paint it.


has anyone who has used vinyl had any problems matching it up to the buddy's curves?

Metro scooter sold these NICE bikes back then.

http://metroscooter.com/BuddySE.htm

Creme and black looks very nice. I like how they also did the stripes on the sides of the front horizontally.

One thing that has me curious though is the "black jack 150" it's a buddy 125, but why is it named 150? Genuine didnt have the 150 engines until this year for internationals.

ericalm wrote:
The pink/black/white is actually very '80s to me, in a good way.

i actually designed a duvet cover for my bed in college that had the pink with checkered print on the inside. i think that was my inspiration for this.

i do think its a rad combo.

jfrost2 wrote: One thing that has me curious though is the "black jack 150" it's a buddy 125, but why is it named 150? Genuine didnt have the 150 engines until this year for internationals.

SHWING!

I'd been contemplating red rims on my black '08.. now I'm DENINITELY doing it! don't know if I'd do the white-walls or not though...

I wish you could get old-school "red line" tires in scooter form.

Red rims, blacked out chrome, and chequered rally stripe, Prima pipe will complete my pimp-out.

If you're doin' red rims, I say you NEED whitewalls... otherwise I think it'll look goofy. No offense, just my opinion. They make those maxxis performance wws if that's what you're worried about.

I LOVE the checkers, sailertot. I did a little mini-checker thing around the top of my helmet in reflective tape (the helmet is black so I just did the white parts) and I really love it.

Go for it, then make me a set to put on MY scooter and I'll buy 'em!

I just customized my Buddy with vinyl. I love it, and there is now no doubt who's bike it is. My graphics were inspired by a really sweet handbag.

I wouldnt mind having that in a black outline and being reflective. It looks really nice on your bike.

I LIKES! The vinyl on the Bud reminds me of either a bee hive or some kind of sciencey elemental breakdown or something, however the handbag looks more like snake skin... I guess its the color pattern.

It might also work if you got another handbag and turned them both into saddle bags.

I like the checker look a bit, as you can see in my avatar. Silver reflective sheets cut up into 1 inch squares. They're brighter than the headlight (when hit with a camera flash at least - see below). But I think I'm ready for a design change. Still waiting for KRUSTY to start her scooter painting business.

piceloni wrote:I just customized my Buddy with vinyl. I love it, and there is now no doubt who's bike it is. My graphics were inspired by a really sweet handbag.

Very cool and original. Gotta ask: Did you hand cut all those hexagons?

Very cool and original. Gotta ask: Did you hand cut all those hexagons?

Thanks! Yup! I spent a friday night with a few beers, my rolls of vinyl tape, a pair of scissors and a plan. The idea behind the design (to me) was kind of a colorful honeycomb/mosaic. I added some color pops that aren't in the bag. Because I LOVE COLOR!

The bag as a saddlebag is GENIOUS! If only I could afford one bag, let alone two.

piceloni wrote:I just customized my Buddy with vinyl. I love it, and there is now no doubt who's bike it is. My graphics were inspired by a really sweet handbag.

WOW! That's awesome... I love it!

piceloni wrote:I just customized my Buddy with vinyl. I love it, and there is now no doubt who's bike it is. My graphics were inspired by a really sweet handbag.

very well done...it looks great! and definitely original. a little spunk to the buddy. that design just might inspire us all to create something unique.

KRUSTYburger wrote:If you're doin' red rims, I say you NEED whitewalls... otherwise I think it'll look goofy. No offense, just my opinion. They make those maxxis performance wws if that's what you're worried about.

i have red rims and whitewalls (came like this) and it's super hot!

piceloni wrote:

Very cool and original. Gotta ask: Did you hand cut all those hexagons?

Thanks! Yup! I spent a friday night with a few beers, my rolls of vinyl tape, a pair of scissors and a plan. The idea behind the design (to me) was kind of a colorful honeycomb/mosaic. I added some color pops that aren't in the bag. Because I LOVE COLOR!

The bag as a saddlebag is GENIOUS! If only I could afford one bag, let alone two.

Wow, that's some dedication. Thank god for beer!

There's actually a home die-cutting machine that I eye every now and then. (Okay, it's not technically die cutting, but it slices and dices according to computer input, like a printer with blades instead of ink.) It'd be really useful for this sort of project.

ericalm wrote:There's actually a home die-cutting machine that I eye every now and then.

Where are you eyeing this? How much does it cost? That's something I might want to look into as well.

my guess is a scrapbooking tool. ????

KRUSTYburger wrote:

ericalm wrote:There's actually a home die-cutting machine that I eye every now and then.

Where are you eyeing this? How much does it cost? That's something I might want to look into as well.

One is the Craft Robo, which runs around $325+ depending on model.

There's also the Roland Stika, around $400+

And the Xyron Wishblade, which is something like $650

HOT DANG that's expensive! I would've expected as much... It looks like its a printer-slash-cutter, can't really tell. Either way, they have to be able to cut any shape and that's a pretty complex task... I'd be happy with one that just cut different sizes of circles and squares. All the fancy cutting you could do with an xacto knife, unless you're gonna make a bunch of the same thing.

This is making me think I just want to buy a big sheet of reflective vinyl and cut my design for the front instead of pinstriping... I guess it would have problems with bunching/creasing unless it was really stretchy.

Ah, for cutting circles and squared there are all kinds of manual punch tools in various sizes. This is one of the few ways the rest of the world has benefitted from the scrapbooking craze. But, for instance, we need 1 1/4" circle cuts for the images that go on the very soon to be available Buddy buttons. We were able to order a circle punch in that size for around $8 online. There are all kinds of shapes out there and if you have many to cut out, that may be the way to go.

Beer and scissors also works!

piceloni wrote:I spent a friday night with a few beers, my rolls of vinyl tape, a pair of scissors and a plan.

I think my heart just skipped a beat. Are you seeing anyone?

Seriously though, that looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing with us.

If anyone wants to help me brainstorm ideas for my Pamplona, just let me know. Right now I'm wondering how much it would be to have a lace design put on the cream-ish parts in gold.

You might also consider a small local sign shop (i.e. SIGNARAMA chains). If you can create or have some else create electronic artwork for you, they can cut out or print and cut out any shape for you. It's actually not that expensive. I was thinking about going that route at first. For a 6"x9" full color graphic printed on vinyl and cut-out would have been about $25-30.