Moto Guzzi 850 Café Racer – Custom Paint & Candy Metallic Finish

The Moto Guzzi 850 café racer moves into the custom paint stage, starting with the side panels and fuel tank mounts. For this part of the build I'm experimenting with a candy metallic base underneath white paint to create a subtle metallic or pearl-style finish rather than an obvious heavy metallic effect.

The episode covers the complete preparation process, beginning with the side panels and getting the surfaces ready for paint. After preparation and masking, primer is applied before experimenting with the candy metallic base coat and then the white top coat.

The combination of the metallic base and white paint is intended to give the finished panels more depth, with the underlying colour changing the way the white appears as the light catches the surface. It's a relatively simple custom paint technique that could give the classic Moto Guzzi a distinctive finish without overwhelming the café racer design.

This is the start of the paintwork on the Moto Guzzi 850T café racer. After working through the frame modifications, custom controls, exhaust, fuel and oil lines and electrical system, the paint is where the individual parts of the custom motorcycle really start to come together.

The Moto Guzzi 850 café racer project is being built one stage at a time, experimenting with different ideas along the way to create a very different custom motorcycle from my previous builds.