50 | Coatings World www.coatingsworld.com April 2014
“Blue Baller,” a retro-styled motorcycle constructed by celebrated motorcycle builder Bill Steele took 2014 Bike of the Year honors
at the Easyriders Grand National Invitational Finals held February 8-9 in Columbus, Ohio. The unique bike features a shovelhead
motor, plenty of gleaming chrome and a stunning PPG silver-flake and candy-blue finish.
With Blue Baller, Steele and his team at Bill Steele’s Kustoms in Oakdale, Pennsylvania, chalked up their third win in the contest for this highly sought-after prize. This was Blue Baller’s first award. The bike was on display at the PPG SEMA exhibit last
November. Steele won Bike of the Year in 2009 with “F-2” and in 2007 with “Fascinator”—two outstanding bikes in their own
right, both sporting PPG paints.
Well known for his creative use of parts and materials, attention to details and imaginative paint schemes, Steele stayed with his
successful formula in building Blue Baller. The motorcycle was assembled with parts salvaged from other bikes. Shop metal master
Josh Hart shaped the pieces while Steele and painter Phil Williams tackled the bike’s finish.
Steele uses PPG products exclusively in his work. To achieve the paint scheme he envisioned for Blue Baller, Steele used an array
of PPG products including ONECHOICE SX1071 Etch Prime, ENVIROBASE High Performance ECP15 A-Chromatic Surfacer
and ECS25 A-Chromatic Sealer, DELTRON DBC DMD1687 Toner, DITZLER BIG FLAKE VM4421 and VM4402, Deltron
DC2000 Clearcoat, VIBRANCE COLLECTION RADIANCE II DMX 216 and DMX 220 Toners and Dyes and Deltron 4125
CERAMICLEAR.
At the same time that Blue Baller was winning at the Easyriders Grand National, another of Steele’s bikes, the “Honey Bagger”—
with its one-of-a-kind gleaming gold finish—was drawing crowds at the annual V-Twin Expo in Cincinnati. Steele created the
Bagger’s unique look with Envirobase High Performance waterborne basecoat, OneChoice SX1071 Etch Prime, ECP15 A-Chromatic
Surfacer, ECS25 A-Chromatic Sealer and VC5200 Custom Clear from the PPG Vibrance Collection. CW
Bill Steele’s PPG Painted “Blue Baller”
Named Easyrider’s Bike of the Year
