Medieval Celtic Dragon
Armored Triumph Rocket III
Classification: Custom Paint Level III (over $3000 USD)

This project completely changed one of the first 200 Triumph Rocket III's that were shipped to the United States. This was a very complicated project entailing extensive body work as well as the application of many advanced custom painting techniques, such as ground metal effects, candied chrome, and candy fades. This project accumulated over 200 hours of labor and was completed in 2 months.

The painted parts that were chrome in the "before" photos are still chrome in the final photos, however, with the use of advanced paints, the chrome was tinted to produce colored chrome.

You can also see both fenders were chopped to accentuate the design of the medieval armor. The fenders and tank were also filled to produce more rounded shapes (notice the flange edges on the tank are gone in the final photos).

The last major body modification was replacing the stock tail light with a hidden, flush mount LED unit. This was a custom fabrication process since there were no aftermarket kits available at the time. The new tail light assembly was then painted over to effectively hide it, but when the bike is running the LED lights are still clearly visible (see Flush Mount Hidden Tail Light photo at right).

The primary theme of the custom paint was Medieval Celtic Armor. The armor lay on top of the candy basecoat, which was faded from front to back - light teal blue to cobalt blue to violet to red.

Ghosted graphics and Celtic runes appear on much of the candy base from the front fender to the side covers. Celtic knots embellish all pieces of the armor.

Two dragons were airbrushed - one on the tank and another on the rear fender. The tank mural features a blue, fire breathing dragon rendered on top of a black Crusader style cross with a black aura. The rear fender features a red dragon popping out of a portal framed by a tribal sword design. You can also see that the red jewel "hilt" of the tribal sword also frames the hidden tail light.

Paints: PPG Primer/Sealer, House of Kolor (HOK) Metallic Sealer, HOK Orion Silver Basecoat, HOK Oriental Blue Candy Basecoat, Alsa Cobalt Blue Candy Basecoat, Alsa Apple Red Candy Basecoat,

Alsa Clear 4 Chrome and various candy pigments for tinted chrome and bare metal effects,
Various HOK and Alsa basecoat and candies for airbrushing,
HOK Clearcoat

Step-by-step: Portal Dragon, Tribal Celtic Knots