Colour Schemes

[Guest]

For those of you that have painted your bikes (one way or another), how did you choose your colour scheme?

• Refinish/touch-up the original paint?
• Convert it to another GS paint scheme?
• Go for a safe blue on the tank, black on the frame?
• BACK IN BLACK!
• Racing scheme?
• Tribute to something else? ? Non GS related?
• Bright and eye-grabbing?
• Full custom ? Tank/frame/lights/engine/exhaust coloured to work off each other
• Graphic/Design inspired - textures, stylistic, effects, etc.
• Other

Cheers

 

[Guest]

Really? Nothing?

 

[cowboyup3371]

When I tried to paint mine it was just whatever came up in my head.

 

[storm 64]

I saw a bike done in FUR that looked very unique! It looked like he used some kind of carpeting and glued it to the motorcycle...

 

[Steve]

Really? Nothing?

Please pardon my blissful ignorance, but this is the first time I have seen this thread.

Some of us spend more time in the tech area, not so much in appearance.

Now, to answer your question:
My wife's bike was the first to get painted around here. It was black and gray. The tank looked like it had been on a race bike with a blind person doing the gas fills. There were chips all around the filler where the end of the gas hose had banged into it. The gray on the side covers had been painted on with a brush. The addition of a trunk added some urgency for the need to paint. We had it done in a blue that pretty much matches the blue on my Goldwing, then added silver in the stock pattern to brighten it up a bit, and added some pinstriping.

Next was older son's 650L. It came to us repainted in a medium-dark blue. We had added some saddlebags that were a darker blue. He wanted something different and drew up a pattern. We took it to the painter and chose some colors. Ended up green and black.

Younger son's bike is the most recent. It's harder than you might think to paint Vetter fairing, saddlebags and trunk. He wanted a dark indigo blue marble, but the effect came out MANY shades lighter. It's OK, but not exactly what we wanted.

 

[Guest]

On my Honda, I actually wanted almost a midnight blue metallic, with the stock stripes. I bought 6 Duplicolor cans of Intense Blue Pearl. Since they all had dark caps on them, I thought that would be the color. When I went to actually spray the paint, I saw that it was quite a bit lighter than what I had intended. It grew on me.

 

[steve murdoch]

Choice of colour is such a subjective thing.
Of course it should be painted the colour that YOU like.

My favourite look for a bike is one starts out with a classic paint scheme.
Something like a Katana, '78 GS1000E or Z1 and the stock paint scheme is retained and the personality/look of the bike is determined by the customization that follows.
Could be cafe or my favourite, a resto mod look. The forks, wheels, exhaust, seat, handlebars determine the look.

 

[Rob S.]

PO made my '82 11E look like an '83 (red).



Glad he did. Not fond of either '82 color.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the replies folks. Most responses so far have played pretty close traditional colours (except for the FUR and the green), which was somewhat expected. Agree that colour choice is subjective, just curious as to what others chose and why. Since I have some work to do on pretty much every section of my bike, I figure now is the time to change things if I want, and some prudent planning could save some disappointment later on.

Eveything's tied together, tank colour/frame colour/accessories etc., chrome or black, polished or matte, seat colour/material. I'd like it'd all to work as a package at the end.

Are there colours/finishes that just bother you guys outright? E.G. - Kawasaki Green or KTM Orange on other bikes? Terrible combinations?

 

[steve murdoch]

Nothing brown on the bike unless it is a '99 Busa and no matte finishes. YOMV.

 

[storm 64]

How about Green Fur? ... Black and Yellow or Black and Red or Black and silver all go good together. Or a Dark blue/light blue combination. I like traditional black frames, however color frames make it pop. I usually like polished aluminum engine covers. Whatever you decide keep us posted. Good luck

 

[LAB3]

"Period correct" colors really make a big difference on how an older car/truck/motorcycle looks. Other than black (maybe) the nicest ones look like they where meant to look that way off the showroom floor.

 

[Steve]

If you can't (or won't) do period correct colors, custom colors in the stock pattern will make a few observers think about it for a moment before saying "I don't remember seeing that color combination offered." :-k

We did that with my wife's bike, pictured above. That picture is a bit dark, here is a better one.

.

 

[LAB3]

Maybe I should expand on that a bit. A couple of years back I saw a restored Studebaker pickup at a gas station painted a very rich forest green color. Talked to the owner a bit and it was a very solid and clean looking truck without a doubt and he himself mentioned "The repaint was as close to the original color as we could find" but it just didn't look right, it was a bit too dark and rich. I wasn't going to rip on the guys pride and joy project but it really needed to have a little white color mixed in to lighten it up a tad and give it a pale tone that would have approximated the colors used in those days. As to two tone paint jobs, matching the colors to the same pallette is essential to making it look right, not many people have the right eye for that. Granted, I'm fine with a spray can "25 mph" paint job on my bikes, I like the rode hard and put away wet look myself.

 

[Guest]

Nothing brown on the bike unless it is a '99 Busa and no matte finishes. YOMV.

Why don't you like matte finishes?

 

[steve murdoch]

Nothing against matte, it just doesn't suit my eye.
Again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Make it your own.

 

[suzukigs1100ez]

On my bike I wanted lime green somewhere since that my favorite color. But all lime green Suzuki would confuse people. So I went with green accents but I know that taking every that can come off and painting one color kinda a bad idea. So I decided to just go with green graphic only. Also, like the look of dark gray and black so the was route I wanted painted then. Last year I had left a lot of the bright metal showing like the chrome header and the original finish on the wheels so this spring when I was working on it I decide to paint the exhaust black since it was getting rough and had some holes that needed to be welded shut. I had both rims off so I decide to paint the rims a dark bronze.

 

[wyly]

Nothing against matte, it just doesn't suit my eye.
Again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Make it your own.

I've seen a few matte and gloss combinations that were very nice.

 

[wyly]

Are there colours/finishes that just bother you guys outright? E.G. - Kawasaki Green or KTM Orange on other bikes? Terrible combinations?

almost any colour looks good if it's done well, I dislike brown but then I saw a few that looked really good. Kawasaki green, never cared for it but then I came across a 2019 Z900 with just a few bits of frame that were kawi green and Imo looked really good, more than the red version. I'm even considering buying one. Ktm orange, I love orange! like kawasaki it's all about how much and where it's applied.

 

[wyly]

When I restored my GS1150 I stayed with oem colours but now I'm rebuilding I'm not sure what I'll do. If I repaint it'll be next winter, this winter is all mechanical modifications. Nothing wrong with oem colours the suzuki designers did well.

Looking around the web I see very few people venture past oem colours. I don't know if that's because they like the original look, have no imagination, lazy, lack the skills or just don't have cash for a repaint? I'll likely try a new colour combination.