Cota 247 front mudguard quiz

[David Lahey]

Someone (who shall remain nameless to protect them) is restoring a Cota 247 and has just fitted mudguards that look quite nice.
Have a good look at the photo and see if you can work out what sort of front guard is on the 247. Yes it is a trick question.

[llewdaert]

Hodaka Ace 100 guard is my guess

[David Lahey]

Sorry Mr Art. Good try and suitably obscure but no banana.
I'm glad someone had a go.
Here is a clue. It's not a mudguard from a rare or obscure bike. The mudguard is a commonly seen type but has been disguised cleverly by Mr Cedric Van Heerden.
Cedric if you see this please spill the beans whenever you are ready
Regards
David

[PA]

Is it a modern plastic one that has been painted to look like Aluminium?

[David Lahey]

Bingo
Well done PA

[bogdit]

David/Pa,
quick question.
Did you have to apply a plastic bumper primer to the guard to get the top coat to stick. Or did you just rough it up with a red brillo type pad and wipe down with prepsol or some such?.

I have painted a couple of MX bikes guards in the past, some have worked very well, whilst others always end up a bit shonky and chip and peel in a couple of spots. These were older guards and this may have been the problem. Possibly the paint works better on a clean fresh plastic guard better than an old brittle/worn guard?

Certainly looks very very smick though, well done.

Regards bogdit

[David Lahey]

That Cedric is pretty tricky hey. He fooled me too about the guard in the first picture. I found out this afternoon that the front guard in the photo is steel not plastic and he thinks it might be off a Montesa road bike. So much for the quiz???

Anyway for bogdit's benefit the rear guard on that 247 is a plastic one painted with "chrome?" paint so I'll have a go at posting it up. I didn't post the rear guard photo originally because I thought it was too easy to tell what is was!!!

Regarding the preparation, I don't know what Cedric used on this guard but when I paint guards they are usually a bit weathered and stained, but all I do is thououghly degrease them with solvent and spray the automotive touch-up paint directly on the plastic. Last one I did that way was a TY175 rear genuine Yamaha guard and the paint has stayed put for 7 months so far.