Black paint, yes or no

I like my bikes to be well maintained and looking pretty. I am looking at the GSX1250FA, and for 2012 they have either black or a lighter blue colour, all with silver / grey frame and swing arms. I have never really had a thing for black bikes, but this one actually looks great.

I am a little hesitant though, because I always had the impression that black ages a lot quicker than other colour. As I said I like maintenance, so even my Vstrom gets a polish and a wax every 6 months.

Would appreciate thoughts of those with black bikes. Can you keep them looking pretty?

I had a black ER6 for a while a few years back. Mrs had a GSX650F in black (and a bit of red) for a while till last year.
Reckon so long as you look after it and it lives in the shed or under the patio it will look good even a while

We never polished the bikes, just washed em and rode em

I had a black VX800 for 21 years, when I sold it the paint was original, for the 1st 10 years it got a polish after every wash (usually at least once a fortnight, that grew to 2 or 3 washes a year an maybe a once a year polish, when I sold it in January it was still nearly as shiny as when I bought it new in 1991.
I now have a Black Bandit and have polished that twice in 3 months, the 1st time it didn't need it, the 2nd time was to polish out a couple of small scuff marks it got doing 6500km in 16 days, I'm sure the Black on the Bandit is the same as the VX, they both have a Blue flake in the Black

Don't rub the paint too hard. Suzuki put it on way too thin.

Have you wheeled the Black Bandit out into the sunlight. It may very well have a fleck through it that will really pop in the sunlight.

Hammy wrote:Have you wheeled the Black Bandit out into the sunlight. It may very well have a fleck through it that will really pop in the sunlight.

Yep, saw one outside today, and although I did not notice the fleck, something about it made me think it actually looks a lot nicer than what it did in the showroom, and I just cannot decide whether I like the new blue.

What would have been first prize is the black bike with the black frame like they have in the US, and I think we had here in 2010 (although I stand to be corrected on this). They look MEAN, love it.

Vellies wrote:

Hammy wrote:Have you wheeled the Black Bandit out into the sunlight. It may very well have a fleck through it that will really pop in the sunlight.

Yep, saw one outside today, and although I did not notice the fleck, something about it made me think it actually looks a lot nicer than what it did in the showroom, and I just cannot decide whether I like the new blue.

What would have been first prize is the black bike with the black frame like they have in the US, and I think we had here in 2010 (although I stand to be corrected on this). They look MEAN, love it.

No black GSX in 2010, only Blue and grey, 2010 and 2011 had black frame though.

I do like the look of the black one, the new blue looks a lighter than mine. Black as with any dark colour is hard to keep looking clean.

Go the blue one they go faster

The black will show any swirl / scratch marks more than some colours , but if you give it a good protective polishing that will help a lot .

Thanks all. The one in the showroom already showed some marks, so I went with Blue.

Vellies wrote:Thanks all. The one in the showroom already showed some marks, so I went with Blue.

Black would have been too fast for you
I hope the blue is a few coats thicker than the K8 black.
Suzuki can learn a lot from Yamaha as far as painting goes. Actually a lot of things