Minneapolis, MN (July 30, 2008) – Sharpe, a leader in paint spraying equipment for the professional automotive refinish market, announces that the final paint design has been chosen for the Razor Gun Custom Bike, which will be given away in a sweepstakes.Sharpe asked Justin Barnes of J.B. Grafix, one of the most well-known and innovative paint shops in the U.S., to design and paint artwork for the Razor Gun Custom Bike.
Barnes has appeared on the Discovery Channel’s “American Chopper,” and has painted a number of well-known motorcycles such as the POW-MIA bike, the Fire bike, the I-Robot bike, the Comanche, the Snap-On® bike and many more.“We’re very excited to be working with Justin,” said Penny Hanson, Sharpe Marketing Manager. “He’s well-known in the biker community as a truly innovative artist, and we know he’s going to do some amazing things with the Razor bike artwork.”
Barnes has now chosen the design for the bike. It will feature many of his signature details. “I’m usually all about doing metal-flake paint jobs, because they’re the most eye-catching,” said Barnes. “If you put a flaked-out bike in a sea of a thousand non-flaked-out bikes, it stands out from a mile away. Sharpe gave me free reign on the bike as far as design, but really wanted something that would stand out in a crowd.”
Barnes is also using a new line of paint on the bike introduced recently by PPG. It will likely take anyone who sees the bike straight back to their childhood days.
“We’ve used Hot Wheels colors from PPG,” said Barnes. “They’re really vibrant and they stand out a lot. We’ve used them on quite a few bikes now and like the fact that you can add pearls and flakes to the original candy color. They’re pretty easy to manipulate to come up with unique color work.”
The bike has a gold and silver metal-flake base, along with Hot Wheels Antifreeze Green. And, Barnes has added some of his own unique touches. “I’m a fan of black wheels, and we did that. It makes a difference to the bike. Gives it a bit of edginess, makes it look a lot tougher.”
For the actual artwork, Barnes took his inspiration from both the bike itself and the fact that it will be given away in a sweepstakes.
“Mark Calhoun from Stack’s Custom Creations built the bike and they did such a great job,” said Barnes. “It has really great lines, which I focused on in the design. I also kept in mind that Sharpe will be giving this bike away, so I didn’t want it to be too theme-oriented. We’ve used a heavy graphic pattern, with traditional style flames and green metal flake. We’ve also used variegated gold leaf, which is treated with heat and acid so you get a marbling effect.”
For all of the bike’s paintwork, Barnes will be using Sharpe’s Razor guns. “I’ve been really happy with the Razor guns. I hadn’t used them before I started working with Sharpe, and I’ve been really impressed.
They’re all I’ve been using now on every bike that I do. They spray really well, and are easy to maintain. I also found them very easy to get used to. After just a couple of times using them, I was really comfortable with the guns.”When the Razor Gun Custom Bike is finished, Barnes is confident it will be something people want to win. “We’ve already had some of the pieces in the sunlight and it’s pretty crazy looking so far. Definitely a unique bike, whoever wins it is definitely going to have a one-off bike from fabrication to paint.”
