SPECIALIST SPOTLIGHT: Image Design Custom

Bob Pickett reports…

You’re out on a ride or pull up at a bike meet, and see a bike with an amazing, one-off paint job. Or you see a helmet, maybe the same model as yours, but with a design you’ve never seen before. Where do these amazing designs come from? And how do you get one of your own? Say hello to Image Design Custom

Tom Fuller and Steve Roke had been working together for a couple of years at a custom paint shop, but in 2007 they decided to branch out on their own and Image Design Custom was born. Things started happening quickly. Just over a year from starting, Sykes Harley-Davidson began using IDC to create paintwork for their custom builds. IDC also reached the attention of celebrity customers. Artist Sir Grayson Perry commissioned the first paint job (of four to date) for a bike designed for him by Battastinis.

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IDC has won a number of awards, including the Harley-Davidson ‘King of Kings’ competition and the World Championship at Sturgis with its design on Sykes’ ‘Strike True II.’

IDC continues to be commissioned by both custom builders and celebrities. Amongst the client base are Harley-Davidson Europe and Travis Pastrana’s Nitro Circus Tour. Sykes Harley-Davidson had IDC create a custom design for six-times BSB champion Shane Byrne, and IDC also produced a McLaren paint job on behalf of Warrs for F1 champion Jenson Button. World-famous bike builders Roland Sands also approached IDC for a special scheme on a BMW R nineT for Jay Leno’s Garage.

IDC has a long-standing relationship with Triumph, who had the company create paint jobs for Green Day and the Harley (appropriately) Quinn movie Birds of Prey. Arai UK came to IDC to create a stunning Superman design for (then) actual Superman, Henry Cavill. And it isn’t just bikes and helmets! IDC famously painted prosthetic legs for Paralympian Jody Cundy and comedian (and Last Leg host) Adam Hills!

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Since starting out 17 years ago, the team has tripled in size and collectively has over 150 years of custom design and paintwork experience. Five years ago IDC moved into larger, bespoke premises in Camberley, Surrey, offering a full range of services including airbrushing; custom paint design; fabrication and restoration; finishing; graphic design; and special paint effects.

To see how IDC operate, I rode over to the Camberley base to see the shiny new additional workshop and talk through my design with the team.

Dedicated to helmet paint and design, the workshop is sited in the new premises recently taken over by IDC. Sammy the designer has a station just inside the door, which allows the client to sit down with him and view the designs on screen and discuss any amendments.

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Next to this is a seating area where visitors can grab a cup of coffee whilst they sit back and watch a design being brought to life. The expansion gives the team more space to work, allows the customer to see the design evolve, and watch a helmet being painted, leaving the motorcycle and bicycle workshop plenty of space in the original building which continues with production.

BRINGING MY DESIGN TO LIFE

Custom Painted Helmet

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£1200 + VAT

Long-term readers may recall when not riding bikes I support Dagenham & Redbridge. A couple of seasons ago they had a shirt that was most unusual. Starting in blue on one side, it had a thin red stripe that, as you moved across the shirt, became broader until by the time you reached the other side it was red with a narrow blue stripe.

I thought this would be interesting to recreate on a helmet. To break up the blocks of colour, perhaps a white pinstripe in between? And, just in case stripes didn’t work so well, would it be better to start from a circle of colour on each side and then create the above effect in rings?

The helmet to be painted was the Schuberth C5 flip-front tested in the March 2024 issue (212). We told Schuberth we would be getting it custom painted, and they kindly supplied one in white gloss (which is better for the team to work on), and, of course, we would have the Schuberth logos added back after.

Before heading to Image Design Custom’s base in Camberley, I sent images of the colours and the original shirt, plus images of the helmet to be painted and my thoughts as above. This gave graphic designer Sammy a strong base from which to create a high-resolution mock-up using a sophisticated design program.

Visiting was invaluable. Sammy’s design was spot on, but discussing the design led to an idea I’d not considered: why not have one colour (we decided on the blue) in gloss with the other (red) in matt, to make the design pop? It looked good, so I was then shown a range of colour tiles to select the ones closest to the original shirt colours.

With the final design approved, it was time to leave my helmet in IDC’s hands. The process works like this:

The helmet is stripped down – linings, visors, etc., removed
Surfaces are polished to ensure they are ready for colour. A base layer is then applied
With the surfaces prepared, it is time to mask the helmet to create the shapes from the design ready for painting
Design masks in place, it’s time for the paint process to begin – complexity of design affects how many layers of paint are needed
De-Mask and repeat. This is the first view of the final (or close to final) paint job. More complex designs may need remasking to build the finished product in stages
There may be elements of the design that can’t be created with a spray gun. At this point, the team will airbrush the helmet to create the finer details that bring the design together
Layers are built up and paint matched to the artwork. The paint is sealed in with a gloss or matt finish… or a combination of both
The helmet is then polished (to a matt or gloss finish depending on your requirements), then is rebuilt to factory-fresh standard.

It all sounds so simple, but the skill levels required are phenomenal. Having stripped and resprayed a tank in a single colour, I can attest to how hard that was. To watch the IDC team create perfect paint jobs is awe-inspiring.

Once complete, the customer can either collect it or it will be returned by courier. As you can see from the photos, the result is incredible. The gloss/matt combination makes the design pop, and the attention to detail and precision are amazing.

THE COSTS

Paintwork £1000 + VAT – this includes strip-down, preparation, paint and finish.

Design fee was £200 + VAT (usually £400 + VAT but with the paintwork being done by IDC this was reduced by 50 per cent)

Total £1200 + VAT