To Paint or Not to Paint?

My 4th Gen has seen some miles, has seen some sun, and has seen the pavement (via a tip over or two). She is starting to look her age. I have been thinking of painting the bike a different color over the winter. My idea is flat white with black belly pan and ducts. What do you guys think? Paint it or leave it red and faded?

 

Go for the paint job. I'm getting ready to do a paint job as well. I'm going to and a dark gray striping to my all red Gen 5. Post pictures once it done.

 

Paint her. Either stock style or go custom. you'll be happy at the end.

 

1995 VFR needs help!

I don't know where to start on this website but I just bought a 1995 VFR750 last week that was played down. It needs the belly and side fairings along with the front upper cowls around the headlight and windshield.. I am mostly worried about the front upper cowls due to that they are needed for the headlight and front turn signals and they cover up all the wires under the Speedo.. the only problem is I have been searching for the cowls with no luck I have found the belly and side fairing but info not have the spare money for them at the moment. I have heard about the VFR to CBR conversion but I don't want to have to change any mounts. Unless a certain year is relatively close to the 95 for the whole headlight assembly with the cowls. Any ideas on the CBR fairing or where I could find the VFR cowls for the front upper section? Thanks.

 

Layed down not played

 

Just a minor point: any paint other than original will detract from resale value. That may not mean anything to you, but I thought I'd get it out there.

 

original paint ......it will look pristine
JMO

Sent from my SGH-T679 using Tapatalk 2

 

This is true if you believe what a dealer or a low baller will say. I had a dealer (sales dude) tell me that same thing aboot Heli Bars.

 

Helibars not so much, but it's true with paint. Seen it happen quite a bit, happened to me a couple times. The buyers wanted to know why it was repainted, what happened to the original paint, etc. It cost me a few bucks on a couple of bikes.

 

Trying to move a bike with a crappy paint job is going to open all sorts of cans of worms. The dealerdudes have checklists of questions of the same type to get you to sell at under trade in wholsale. They also have lists that present counter arguments when moving that same bike on a new buyer at way over dealer retail.

Further, all these so called "trade secrets" are out front at dozens of sites and in books written by savvy pros. Sorry you got took or jus were not ready with the right response, but maybe next time a couple of hours of homework or a couple of pesos investment in a book might pay off better for you.

Dealers also are students of Pavlov and when some dude walks in and is drooling over some new ride, they spot that in a NY minute. Best dudes in the biz for tactics are the harleysalesdoods.

IMO the argument for custom paint and a repaint of faded paint so long as the work is not done with rattlecans or one of those Kirby vacuum cleaner HVLP rigs or worse one of the Wagner rigs that sound like a herd of killer bees that are really pissed.

Back to the Heli Bars for a mo.. I knew what this dude was going to say before he even opened his mouth. The polyester suit gave him away.. Doing my best modified Forest Gump routine, I told him I had the stock bars for sale too.

Thankee Jesus for letting BB be in the Boy Scouts and to "Be Prepared."

 

Just as a point of fact, I've never dealt with a dealer and aftermarket paint jobs. All of my issues have been with individuals and their issues with non-factory paint. Most of the people I've dealt with, non-dealers, just start feeling a bit skittish when there is non-factory paint on a stock looking bike. If the bike is customized then the one-off paint job is less of an issue, but a stock bike with custom paint just seems to set off alarm bells with a lot of people. Just my experiences.

 

Your level of experience diminishes with each post. I do wish I could tell more how "they" are feeling. I have to rely on other methods.

Stock looking bikes are sometimes sleepers unless they are Harleys of course..

Not that the famous mach 1 91 is up for sale, and if custom from outward appearance is another seat, some aftermarket bars and my 15" plasma TeeVee for watching Oprah is custom, I really believe I would get more even from a dealer now that if when before I painted it, it was in spots, a titty pink.

Fade to black..

 

I bow to your superior experience, must be more than my 50 years in bikes.

 

I like it when I go into the local Harley showroom, I have a bad limp, I wear my oldest work clothes, I wear odd boots because of my bad leg and the Harleysalesdoods don't come near me so I can look around without any hastles:beguiled: I usually don't buy anything anyway, prices in those shops just rediculous

 

To be as they, say "Fair and balanced" , if the mission in a Harley showroom (aka boutique) is to make a purchase, one should wear a pair of genuine HD assless chaps.

 

^funny story, I went into a store with ripped jeans and a "wife beater" shirt looking at a watch. I ended up going back a day or two later buying that watch, I asked the salesman if he thought I was coming back, his answer was that he did not judge people by the way they dressed. He treated me decently and got the sale.

Liked the HD story with the limping dude and missmatched shoes, totally classic.

 

Would that be the buyer or the seller that has to wear the assless chaps? And would that be "commando" style assless chaps? And would one have a choice of male/female if going commando?

 

Of recent all HD salesdoods must wear assless chaps. There is one exception. The Chrome Consultants wear both assless and crotchless chaps. The thrust of the suggestion therefore is that the customer wears the assless type. This forms a bond with the salesdoods especially in the confines of the sales offices with no windows.

Norton dudes ride Commandos. I can't speak to what those harleydoods do.

 

I would think the stock items would be suitable if looking ahead for trade in value. As to gender, the Harley Botiques cater to everyone and likely carry unisex styles.