Pin stripe detail on Roadster tank.

In reference to the pinstriping on the 850 MK3 Roadster tanks, I know that this model in original livery has twin pinstriping on it becoming a single pinstripe going accross the back of the tank, inline with the front edge of the seat.

My question is, where do the two lines become one?

I have seen two versions;

1. Where they gracefully join together just after the vertical indent just over half way to the rear of the tank.

2. Joining just as the two lines reach the rear most of the tank.

But which one is correct as per the factory originals?

pinstripng

Hi Reggie, looking through the various photo's / catalog pic's. of Mk.3 850's,the tank pinstriping is double line to the rear corners of the tank then single line across the back of the tank, parallel to the front of the seat. Hope this helps. I'll si thee Yorkie.
James.

I'm not sure there is an actual correct version? As I would guess these pinstripes were done by hand originally, not as they are done nowadays with pinstripe tape or modern bikes with laser cut graphics, so I would think that no striping would be kept exactly the same over a period of time (and the side panel stripes can differ slightly too).
I don't know if the factory used any kind of marking template or dimensional references for the pinstripes or not? Probably not!

The reason I was asking is because I have just had my tank re-painted and the chap that's done it has converged the lines where the pressing in the side meets the pinstripe ....if that makes sense. In other words about three inches behind the rear edge of the filler cap.

He's done a great job and says he's based it on some photos/catalogue pictures that Mick Hemmings sent him. I know he does work for Mick Hemmings as Mick had already told me. I am very happy with the job he has done, but the more I looked and thought about it, I wondered how near his version is to the way they left the factory?

The way James has described it is how I probably expected it to be, but if he has copied from information sent to him via Mick Hemmings, then who knows, maybe both versions appeared as standard? I'll be leaving mine as is. As I said, he's done a beautiful job on it.

Thank you both for your replies.

As L.A.B. says, the originals were hand-lined (and not lacquered under either). All the original tanks that I have seen have lines which converge very gradually towards the rear of the tank which seems to have been the "target point" The lines were not always identical on both sides.

Skill with a lining brush is a rare thing these days and the majority of spray painters will mask off and spray the lines over the base colour. The difficulty is that as the gap between the lines reduces, the only way to achieve this is to cut the 1/8" masking tape to a long narrow point which is then likely to lift.

An effect close to original can be achieved by spraying the silver or gold line colour first (this is necessary as a base for the candy red version anyway) and then masking the actual line itself off, overlapping the tape as it converges at the rear. If the tank colour is then applied on top, removal of the tape will leave the lines showing and the gentle convergence is possible. It will require a good coating of lacquer to hide the depth diference.

I remember that "Dream machine" in the UK were the worst offenders about 15 or 20 years ago. They used to join the two lines with a sharp diagonal line at the front of the knee cutouts.