TSS Custom Graphics Review

There comes a time in every bike's life when stock graphics become faded and chipped, the plastic scratched and the overall sex appeal bottoms out somewhere near the Rosie O'Donnell level. Thankfully, our loaner CRF250R was still looking sharp after taking some heavy abuse during our 2006 250F MX shootout. But, not wanting to face the intolerable shaming handed out by our riding buddies, we felt a little freshening was in order as we took the Honda thumper into our shop and began transforming it into an off-road weapon.

Having never done a full-custom graphics and decal package before, we enlisted the help of a company with less of an advertising presence. The idea was to see what kind of product a non name-brand company provides and the type of investment it requires on the part of a consumer. Simply because they don't rival One Industries or Factory Effex in marketing scope doesn't mean that TSS doesn't know what they're doing. Founded in 1992, TSS has already learned the ropes and been perfecting their craft for over a decade. They even provided former factory rider and Eastern Region SX champ, John Dowd with his farewell tour graphics. Hooking up with TSS Graphics was just the kind of thing we had in mind. One simple phone call to Doug Tierney was all it took to get the ball rolling with the Hudson, MA company.

Obviously, the first step was to create a custom design based on your personal sponsors/partners/whatever. Being that we have an in-house graphics department, our creative process was probably more advanced than a normal consumer. MotorcycleUSA's Creative Director, Brian Chamberlain was in charge of all developmental aspects of this little venture. Considering his elevated status in the Southern Oregon Computer Nerds' Club, BC had an advantage on the average consumer in developing and ordering custom designs. Click here for his version of the creative exchange between MotoUSA and TSS Graphics.

With the ordering done, all that was left to do was prep the bike and install our new MotoUSA duds. Peeling the old graphics off our machine and removing any remaining adhesive was the first step, providing us with a thorough chemical fumigation. Noting the cold temperature in our warehouse, I had moved the bike into a recently abandoned office space. Internal pillaging had stripped most useful items, but it was the space heater that I had my eye on. Leaving the bike inside and blasting the heater overnight revealed a balmy 70-degree climate for our installation the following day.

Being the graphics guru that he is, BC was simply too cool to follow the provided directions and immediately began peeling the backing off the 3M industrial grade adhesive. Thankfully, the thick PVC-18 vinyl was tough enough to withstand the abuse by our in-house Photoshop freak. Despite his lady-like fingers, BC was anything but gentle. I, on the other hand, was a relative newbie to the installation process, so I figured I'd give the instructions a try. As it turned out they were very effective and getting our decals applied was much less of an ordeal than I had originally feared.

We did run into two problems when installing the TSS pieces. First off, the precurved front fender decals weren't included in the package. We figured that they were lost somewhere in the Holiday rush but were bummed to have missed out on them. But, after moping around for a couple days, staring at the blank sections of red fender, we decided that it was actually a blessing in disguise. The nose decal was significant enough to spice up the fender and adding the arched decals along the sides would have actually been too much.

It took the both of us about an hour to install all pieces that did arrive. TSS threw the book at our CRF250R with custom radiator shrouds, preprinted number plates and full trim and fender kits. With the missing fender decals, that left us with 13 individual components, all of which utilize the PVC-18 vinyl, 3M adhesive and UV455W ink process.

Our second problem came after the installation. Using a heat gun to soften the thick vinyl was necessary for a smooth finish and things looked great once we were done. However, after putting the bike back in the cold warehouse for the night we soon discovered small ripples around the edges of a few decals, namely the radiator shrouds. Despite constant rubbing and even a re-attempted heating, the edges had five or six small spots that we simply couldn't make stick. The peeling edges led to only one small rip where our knees were in constant contact. Where the industrial strength 3M had taken hold, it didn't come off. Overall, the ripples were really a very small issue.

All told we had over a dozen rides on the TSS get-up, both moto and off-road, and they were holding up well. The small ripples around the edges of the shrouds and some peeling and chunking on the swingarm decals were all that we noticed. The colors held up well resisting fade even in the high wear areas where our knees caused constant friction. Based on the reaction of our coworkers, riding buddies and completely random strangers, the custom TSS outfit was a smashing success. There was a lot of interest in our project bike around the office, but the most common question was "Where can I get a set of those graphics."




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