At some point before the Himalayan journey, I felt ThunderDuck needed a facelift. Since I was not sure about how the bike would survive the trip, I put it off till after the trip. I have wanted to make a matte black motorcycle for a while. So, what eventually came off that idea is this Matte Black ThunderDuck.

What follows is a list of the treatments the parts got and pictures that I have picked out from my Instagram feed.

Matte Black ThunderDuck

There have been two things that I have done to make this complete matte black look. One part of this is to paint and the other to powder-coat parts. Zero chrome was left on this motorcycle and I made sure we found and killed every last bit of chrome. The only place you will find anything that reflects are the parts within the headlight, tail light and indicators. And, needless to say, the front brake disc.

The bend pipe from the exhaust has a heat wrap on it. As of now, 5 people have tried grabbing hold of it at signals and immediately after parking. Not sure what they are thinking, but they seem surprised that it is hot. Cue to you to *roll eyes*

Matte Black Painted

In no particular order the parts on the Thunderbird 350cc are:

• tank
• body panels
• indicators
• mud-guards
• engine
• exhaust
• meter covers
• many bits and pieces

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Matte Black Powder Coated Parts

Again in no particular order:

• Handlebar
• levers
• stays
• backrest
• luggage rack
• forks
• rims
• spokes
• many nuts and bolts
• headlight dome
• headlight grill

New Matte Black ThunderDuck Gallery

This is how it looked in the beginning. Royal Enfield also attempted a matte black with their new Thunderbird. But, I do not see many of those on the road, not very popular. I am not sure if it’s still available.

More photos

Other ride reports where you can see pictures of the Matte Black ThunderDuck:

• Chasing Anchetty – Riding with Ministry of Torque
• New 46 HotFix  – Introducing our New Royal Enfield Bullet 500

You can see how the matte job is holding up over time. Links are in no particular order and open in new window/ tab.

If you need anything added to this let me know in the comments below.