Each artist partners with a bike manufacturer of their choice to present beautifully crafted designs. We were privileged to support Tom at Kustomflow with his entry for this years’ competition. 

Evari and Kustomflow have worked together throughout the last year for the final phases of the Evari 856 development. Tom will continue to lead our paint activities for our 856CS bikes as well as the bespoke 856CS+ activities, working with customers to deliver their dream bike. Tom’s invitation to this years’ Jaw Droppers competition is additional confirmation of Tom’s status as one of the best bike paint artists in the country.

We sat down with Tom to discuss the Jaw Droppers competition and how he goes through the process of designing and spraying a bespoke bike of this standard.

Each artist partners with a bike manufacturer of their choice to present beautifully crafted designs. We were privileged to support Tom at Kustomflow with his entry for this years’ competition. 

Evari and Kustomflow have worked together throughout the last year for the final phases of the Evari 856 development. Tom will continue to lead our paint activities for our 856CS bikes as well as the bespoke 856CS+ activities, working with customers to deliver their dream bike. Tom’s invitation to this years’ Jaw Droppers competition is additional confirmation of Tom’s status as one of the best bike paint artists in the country.

We sat down with Tom to discuss the Jaw Droppers competition and how he goes through the process of designing and spraying a bespoke bike of this standard.

Tom, tell us a bit more about how you came up with the idea for the artwork?

Tom:  Each new bike that we create is always a collaboration and in this case, I was working with Craig (CEO of Evari) to create something different to what's normally seen at the Jaw Droppers show. Previous entries tend to go mad with colour and really go overboard with the design which does not normally match up with what customers actually are looking for. We wanted to keep the design on-brand and in keeping with the style of Evari. Craig wanted something which was a bit different, understated but also allowed me to show my talent

So, did Craig have some ideas already and how did you work with him to develop this into the final design?

Tom:  Yeah, so we toyed with some ideas around skulls and tattoos, tribal stuff but we wanted to focus on a very small part of the design to create a focal point for the design…So not overly detailed by quite abstract.

You ended up with a Japanese samurai head, how did you choose the colours to work with this design?

Tom:  Well, we kept the colour true to Evari’s CS palette, the purple we chose is the standard Catalina gloss in the CS range and then decided to keep it subtle, so the black and purple theme came about.

So, what was your creative process when working on this design?

Tom:  Initially we shared some ideas and a few sketches, creating a finalised rough visual with a 3D render - the same way we would work with a client. Back and forth until we agree on the design. Once we agreed on the design, it was a case of prepping an Evari frame for the job. 

There is a lot more that goes into it than you would imagine on any CS/CS+ Evari paint job, and the preparation is key to how the final finish will be. Each frame is primed, this is then sanded smooth to ensure the paint has a perfect layer to adhere to with all imperfections removed. Once primed we can start applying the base colours and any design required.

I guess this is a case of masking off certain areas, is that a big job?

Tom:  Yes. We need to mask the bike using a stencil made from flexible vinyl which is taken from the images in the render, and then it's a big job getting the areas masked off. Probably a full day of work to get the masked off areas right, bending and shaping all the masking vinyl. There's a lot of space on an e-bike due to the battery and larger tubes you tend to get, plus all of the beautiful angles and shapes thrown up from the Evari carbon monocoque frame.

So, a day of masking and then spraying can start. How is that applied?

Tom:  Well, before the masking is applied, after being primed, we have sprayed the bike jet black. The masking is applied and then the purple is sprayed to create the contrasting artwork. Once all of the masking is removed, we can clear coat the frame. We call this first layer of lacquer ‘sacrificial’ as we are going to sand it down. This takes out all the imperfections in the paint and stops there being any ridges felt between the two types of paint. It's kind of strange to finish your artwork with a nice glossy lacquer and then sand it back again, but the result is a perfectly smooth finish and it's worth the effort in the process.