here's the 10 near Appleby in the Lakes

Not two stroke,not air cooled and definitely not single.

Got two of them out for a ride this morning. Just on the back roads because it has rained for the last few days and everything is soft and wet if you venture to off-road. I rolled my 400 out of the barn and all my paint on the side cases had wrinkled and flaked loose. It has been on almost a year with no signs of adhesion problems. Don't know what to make of it. I scuff the finish and prime it with self etching primer and then paint it with high temp gloss black. Always worked well in the past on other bikes. Looks like I get to try again....

Are the 400 covers magnesium?

My 76 Husqvarna has a lot of mag parts and they can be difficult to get paint to last if the original finish and underlying coating (usually Dow 7 or Dow 9) has been stripped. Best products to use are aircraft prep products. PolyFiber used to make a product called Magnedyne but I can't find it anymore. It used to be like $40 a quart which was plenty for a complete engine.

Here's a product but $$$$ www.skygeek.com/henkel-598970-alodine-ma...m-treatment-kit.html

I'd probably try a small airport and see if they know someone that paints planes... they would have the stuff or could prep it for you.

I've also read that zinc chromate primer after a good cleaning works... never tried it though.

Thanks Mark T. That would also explain why this method has worked well on my other bikes because they do not have magnesium side covers like the 400. I'm sure my 250 has the same covers, but that bike is being left "as is" because I acquired it from the original owner and it is pretty clean. I have a small private airport within walking distance of my house. I will stop in and see if they can put me in touch with a painter of planes! If not, I will try the zinc chromate primer on my next attempt. I won't be dropping that kind of coin for the stuff in your link. I try and play this game as cheap as possible. Thanks again for the info.

I have just spent the weekend camping and motorcycle riding with my grand daughter - just the 2 of us for 2 days and 1 night with 2 bikes in a remote mountain spot in the Central Highlands region of Victoria, Australia. Nice time of year here.

The pic. is Yamaha , 2 stroke, aircooled but not Vintage but will be - one day ! (PeeWee 50)

My 4yo grandson sitting on his soon to be restored PW50, Its in my shed, moves stuff so he can sit on it.
.

My 1975 DT 125

This poor old ratty DT2. Just not sure what to do with it. This is after the HT1 upper throttle cable installed by the P.O. hung up on the triple tree, engine was at 9000 rpm or so for about 20 seconds. Just pulled the plug wire and walked away...Look at all that debris that shook out.

Had to get out before it gets too cold!