ok quick question and thoughts,
My bushman tank is in overall great condition, theres no paint on it, just metal , and it looks ages as it should, so
im about to strip and renovate the bike for summer racing (vintage flat track) and wondered if i should re-do the paint back to original? of leave the tank patina as is.
i do have another tank in same condition but with a large butt dent from the forks grrrr, that i wondered of it could be repaired?
ps:i do like the patina style :)
Do whatever you are happy with!
If you like the old patina finish then leave it.
You could get the other tank repaired. Small dents are best left and filled. Large ones need dealing with. The biggest problem is access to the back of the dent to knock it out. I had a large dent in the side of a spare D14 tank I bought and that was a pig to get out. I ended up cutting the tank with a 1mm cutting wheel around the dent so I could get the metal out to try and reshape it, and them weld it back in place. I still had to fill and grind but the end result was fine and after painting looked perfect. Some dents can be improved using self tappers in a predrilled hole and pulling on them but the tank metal is not very supple! You could also try welding tags to the dent and using a slide hammer to ease out the dent.
Depends on your ability and equipment - otherwise you will have to give it the experts. I would point out tank repair is not cheap if you have to pay someone to do it. One other point, if there is any rust that needs removing, do this with your preferred means before painting!