Motorcycle wrapping: tanks, fairings and panels, without touching the paint
Yes, you can vinyl wrap a motorbike, and it's one of the more satisfying jobs in the unit. A bike's tank, fairings, mudguards, hugger, belly pan and side panels take film well. The compound curves take patience. We wrap motorcycles at Caterham with the same 3M and Avery cast films we use on cars, indoors, with the panels off the bike where that gives a better edge.
“Wrap Cube are insanely talented. They’re able to understand your vision and execute it to the highest standard. Thank you so much for all your help and work over our festival season.”
Dami, Nando’s, Reading FestivalSatin black, gloss colour change, matte, colour-flip, carbon-effect, brushed metal, printed graphics and race replicas. Chrome on a tank looks incredible and is unforgiving to fit; we'll talk you through it. Satin over an existing gloss tank is the most common request.
What can be wrapped on a motorcycle
What can't: heavily textured plastics, badly repaired panels, and anything that gets hot enough to release the adhesive (exhausts, some engine covers).
Ask us and we’ll talk you through it.
Ask us and we’ll talk you through it.
Ask us and we’ll talk you through it.
seat cowl, tail unit
in colour or accent
where accessible
What to know before you decide
Race replicas and printed liveries.
Printed liveries (a MotoGP replica, a sponsor scheme, a custom design) are built on templates of your bike's panels, printed on cast film and laminated, then fitted panel by panel. The design has to account for where the panels split and where the tank meets the seat, or the graphic breaks up when it's on the bike. We proof it on the template so you see the whole bike before anything is printed. Lamination is not optional on a bike: knee sliders and jacket zips will go through unlaminated print in a season.
Vehicle graphics
Looking after a wrapped bike.
Hand wash, no pressure washer at the edges, no petrol left on the tank (wipe spills at the pump). Satin and matte want matte-specific products or they'll patch where you lean. Cover it if it lives outside; UV is the main thing that ages the film. Expect the sides of the tank to show wear first, because that's where your knees are.
Get a free quote
Scooter and moped fleets.
Delivery fleets on mopeds and scooters are a growing part of the work. Small panels, a lot of them, all identical: a panel map for the model, a livery standard, and a batch through the unit. We wrapped a whole moped fleet in one go for a delivery brand and the process is the same as a van fleet, just smaller and quicker per vehicle.
Fleet wrapping
Protecting a bike rather than changing it.
Clear paint protection film on a tank, tank sides and fairing noses does for a bike what it does for a car: stops stone chips and stops jacket zips and buckles scratching the tank. Several owners come for PPF on a new bike rather than a colour change, and some do both: colour on the fairings, clear on the tank sides.
Paint protection film
How we do it
Which panels, which finish, whether the panels come off the bike (usually yes for tank and fairings, which gives wrapped edges rather than trimmed ones).
Wash, decontaminate, degrease. Fuel tanks are checked for any petrol-damaged lacquer, because film pulls on weak paint.
Indoors, panel by panel, with edges wrapped round and tucked where the panel allows.
Overnight where the film needs it, then panels back on the bike and a final check.
Time and cost
Tank only: a day. Tank and fairings on a sports bike: two to three days with panel removal and settle. A tank on its own is the smallest job. Full sports bikes and printed replica liveries are quoted individually.
Questions people ask before they call
Yes. Tanks, fairings, mudguards, tail units and rims all take cast film well. Textured plastics and hot components don't.
A tank is the smallest job; a full sports bike fairing set costs more, and printed race replicas more again. We quote each job individually.
Three to five years on cast film with normal use and hand washing. Tanks take knee and jacket wear on the sides; that's the area most likely to show it first.
Not on sound factory paint. Petrol-damaged or resprayed areas can lift with the film, which is why we check the tank first.
If the main recorded colour changes, yes, update the V5C. Tell your insurer either way.
Rims, yes, in gloss or satin colour or as an accent. The film sits on the face of the rim and the spokes; it's not a substitute for powder coating on a rim that's kerbed, and it needs the wheel off the bike and clean.
Two to three days including removing the fairings, wrapping them off the bike, overnight settle and refitting. A tank alone is a day.
Motorcycle wrapping
The bike, the panels you want done and the finish. We'll send a price the same working day. 020 8944 6360.