Sick of the dark blue colour

First topic message reminder :

Well I have a fork brace coming and I need to remove the fork guard things where the brace will bolt to, I didn't want to cut them off so I had to remove the whole kit n kaboodle, while I was at it I decided to do something about this boring dark blue colour on the K7 1250 that everyone else has, it's been urking me for the whole year that I've owned it. How am I gonna liven it up, boring black, while I thought long n hard over the colour I settled on gloss black, I considered matt black but in the end I'm going with gloss. I have the paint in stock which also swayed me to black. While it's obviously still dark, well, dark-er, I reckon black will go well with the red rim strips I wanna put on, thinking of painting the side covers red but not sure on that yet, it might be too much. 
Seeing as I don't want the bike off the road right now I decided to just do the front guard, I'll just wack it back on tomorrow and pull the guard back off in the future to wet sand n buff because I'm using old school acrylic lacquer which takes a while to go hard, I put 2 coats primer, 2 black and 8 clear coats for a deep mirror shine. Here's a pic with 2 coats of clear, will be putting a coat of clear on every 1/2 hour till I have 8 on.
I'm going to do the rest in stages as the inclination takes me, I just thought I'd do the guard seeing as I had it off. Glad to have begun to ditch the dark blue at last.

On ya Paul.

paul wrote:Came up well Nic , good job 

+1

Thumbs up. Good job

Nice finish, well done!!

Thanks fellas, I'm in deep shine 

Wow
Looks great.
A new tank is around $900 maybe?
 Also bet yours has a lot more paint applied then the factory item at a fraction of the price

Yep the OEM paint is thin.. My whole bike needs someone to respray it as I don't have the tools or the talent. Might have to pull it apart soonish and get it sorted once the weather turns to shit

Yep, the oem paint is thin alright, as I first hit the tank with 600 getting it ready for primer the clear coat gave way to the colour and then I went through the colour in no time flat. My paint has 8 clear coats over the black. Now that I have done all this I have decided to sell the bike. I don't expect the new paint to add one iota to the price though.

Nic 2 wrote:I don't expect the new paint to add one iota to the price though.

What's an iota worth these days 

Nic 2 wrote:Yep, the oem paint is thin alright, as I first hit the tank with 600 getting it ready for primer the clear coat gave way to the colour and then I went through the colour in no time flat. My paint has 8 clear coats over the black. Now that I have done all this I have decided to sell the bike. I don't expect the new paint to add one iota to the price though.

Unfortunately , even a very good paint job can set off a suspicious mind, wondering why it has been resprayed so close to placing a bike up for sale . What bike are you thinking of buying next Nic ?

paul wrote:

Nic 2 wrote:Yep, the oem paint is thin alright, as I first hit the tank with 600 getting it ready for primer the clear coat gave way to the colour and then I went through the colour in no time flat. My paint has 8 clear coats over the black. Now that I have done all this I have decided to sell the bike. I don't expect the new paint to add one iota to the price though.

Unfortunately , even a very good paint job can set off a suspicious mind, wondering why it has been resprayed so close to placing a bike up for sale . What bike are you thinking of buying next Nic ?

Oh I'm not worried about that, the bike's gonna be lucky to fetch 5 grand,  you're right though Paul but I'm hoping 12 months rego clinches the deal with someone. 
I'm not gonna have enough dough to look at anything else for quite a while, hoping to just put the money away, do some saving and ride my old Honda, if I see something I like then that will dictate what happens. 
I've had a year with the Bandit and I can't take it any more. I know this is Bandit heaven but I just can't stand the wind noise any more. I've been riding it around as a naked lately n it's still driving me nuts. If I get off the bike at least 50% of the time with the shits then it's time to ditch the bike, I've been throwing money at it and trying to fool myself that I can live with the bike but the other day I just got the shits with it one time too many. Funny though, I don't hear anyone else whinging about the noise, just me, I dunno but I gotta piss this thing off 
I love the power of the bike but can't use it 99% of the time but the wind noise is just abhorrent.

Not all bikes suit all riders ................bloody boring if they did ,I hope you find one you like .

Did you change the screen Nic 2?

madmax wrote:Did you change the screen Nic 2?

Hi Max, yeah, I've done a couple of screens, I also cut the stock one down to half height and ridden it with no screen and also right now I have taken off all the front fairing crap, as a naked it's the best it has been but still no cigar. I find I can NOT get under the dirty air, my only chance is to get up high in the seat and over the muck. I'm 6'1" so it just doesn't work for me. Sad but true, all else I was very happy with, esp with the Cogent shock and fork brace but the wind just kills me. My old Honda is like being in a car with the windows up compared to the Bandit.

Maybe a Madstad screen would have worked for you

madmax wrote:Maybe a Madstad screen would have worked for you

When I got the bike it had the stock screen, I have a lot of 3mm clear acrylic sheeting here, I made up an extension, curved it with the heat gun to fit and bolted it to the stock screen, went for a ride, no good, came home, added another 100mm to the added piece, worse. I did this to see what results occurred  as I was thinking of buying a high screen, can't remember the brand off the top of my head (it had the curved bit at the top)  but I wanted to see how my bodgy screen did before I shelled out the $200+ for the name screen. 
So in my experience the higher the screen the worse it got, and who wants to sit behind a huge windshield anyway,nope, I think I've had a good go at screens. I think the final piece of the puzzle may be the shape of the tank, can't verify it, if the bike had carbs I could bung another tank on to see what happens but because of the fuel pump I think I'm over my head with testing different tanks. I've given the bike a full year but it's just over.

I think I've found my next bike, I had a ride on a 2001 Triumph Sprint RS, the rs obviously is for Rat Shit, anyway, surprise surprise the forward riding position didn't hurt my hands and the wind factor was very good. The best part for me is that it only costs my Bandit + a grand. This is a good outcome for me and a new ride is a great thing, power wise it's nothing like the Bandit and I'm more than happy with what power it does have. Here's a pic of the colour, this is not the bike, just one I took of Google. Colour is way better in the flesh.
I've always liked the forward riding position but thought those days were over due to coot sore hands but I didn't get sore hands with this one and I enjoyed it mucho. I suppose I'll be run outta the forum now

I've a mate who rides one of those. He hates the seat after 3 or 4 hours in the saddle - seems soft and comfy at first but he reckons you end up sitting on metal. Good luck though with whatever you end up with Nic2. And no need to be driven out of forum town - plenty of Bandit owners have upgraded their steeds and stayed members, including our founder and our admin.

No surprise there mate with the seat. I know I'll have to do something with it but I figure that's par for the course.

Just don't change the bloody colour!!!  

Ewok1958 wrote:Well you've seen my Black and Gold John Player Special - that's the benchmark! 

https://nswbandits.forumotion.net/t5929-a-big-lump-of-iron-but-i-m-very-fond-of-her?highlight=fond

Excuse my ignorance.....but makes it  "John Player"? The gold?

broncsrule21 wrote:

Ewok1958 wrote:Well you've seen my Black and Gold John Player Special - that's the benchmark! 

https://nswbandits.forumotion.net/t5929-a-big-lump-of-iron-but-i-m-very-fond-of-her?highlight=fond

Excuse my ignorance.....but makes it  "John Player"? The gold?

Ewok's bike is painted in the same colour scheme that made the John Player Special F1 cars famous, he's even include JPS logos to finish it off

Cool, thanks for the enlightenment!

Nic 2 wrote:

paul wrote:

Nic 2 wrote:Yep, the oem paint is thin alright, as I first hit the tank with 600 getting it ready for primer the clear coat gave way to the colour and then I went through the colour in no time flat. My paint has 8 clear coats over the black. Now that I have done all this I have decided to sell the bike. I don't expect the new paint to add one iota to the price though.

Unfortunately , even a very good paint job can set off a suspicious mind, wondering why it has been resprayed so close to placing a bike up for sale . What bike are you thinking of buying next Nic ?

Oh I'm not worried about that, the bike's gonna be lucky to fetch 5 grand,  you're right though Paul but I'm hoping 12 months rego clinches the deal with someone. 
I'm not gonna have enough dough to look at anything else for quite a while, hoping to just put the money away, do some saving and ride my old Honda, if I see something I like then that will dictate what happens. 
I've had a year with the Bandit and I can't take it any more. I know this is Bandit heaven but I just can't stand the wind noise any more. I've been riding it around as a naked lately n it's still driving me nuts. If I get off the bike at least 50% of the time with the shits then it's time to ditch the bike, I've been throwing money at it and trying to fool myself that I can live with the bike but the other day I just got the shits with it one time too many. Funny though, I don't hear anyone else whinging about the noise, just me, I dunno but I gotta piss this thing off 
I love the power of the bike but can't use it 99% of the time but the wind noise is just abhorrent.

Wind noise is definitely a big issue on these bikes from what I've experienced. I found the stock screen was just blowing wind (and every damn bug within 12 kilometers) straight at my visor, so I got a taller "double bubble" one. If anything, that made the wind noise worse. Whilst it got the wind going mostly over my head and not straight at my visor, it also seems to send more at my shoulders or right into the sides of my helmet. I've had to start wearing earplugs because of it.

Out of interest, what seat is that?

Cardboard Tube Samurai wrote:

Nic 2 wrote:

paul wrote:

Nic 2 wrote:Yep, the oem paint is thin alright, as I first hit the tank with 600 getting it ready for primer the clear coat gave way to the colour and then I went through the colour in no time flat. My paint has 8 clear coats over the black. Now that I have done all this I have decided to sell the bike. I don't expect the new paint to add one iota to the price though.

Unfortunately , even a very good paint job can set off a suspicious mind, wondering why it has been resprayed so close to placing a bike up for sale . What bike are you thinking of buying next Nic ?

Oh I'm not worried about that, the bike's gonna be lucky to fetch 5 grand,  you're right though Paul but I'm hoping 12 months rego clinches the deal with someone. 
I'm not gonna have enough dough to look at anything else for quite a while, hoping to just put the money away, do some saving and ride my old Honda, if I see something I like then that will dictate what happens. 
I've had a year with the Bandit and I can't take it any more. I know this is Bandit heaven but I just can't stand the wind noise any more. I've been riding it around as a naked lately n it's still driving me nuts. If I get off the bike at least 50% of the time with the shits then it's time to ditch the bike, I've been throwing money at it and trying to fool myself that I can live with the bike but the other day I just got the shits with it one time too many. Funny though, I don't hear anyone else whinging about the noise, just me, I dunno but I gotta piss this thing off 
I love the power of the bike but can't use it 99% of the time but the wind noise is just abhorrent.

Wind noise is definitely a big issue on these bikes from what I've experienced. I found the stock screen was just blowing wind (and every damn bug within 12 kilometers) straight at my visor, so I got a taller "double bubble" one. If anything, that made the wind noise worse. Whilst it got the wind going mostly over my head and not straight at my visor, it also seems to send more at my shoulders or right into the sides of my helmet. I've had to start wearing earplugs because of it.

Out of interest, what seat is that?

Yeah mate exactly, the stock screen is perfect for channeling the bugs into your visor, absolutely. As I've said before, trying to get under the noise is the wrong way to go at least in my case, that's not a problem anymore, bike is GONE
The seat is the stock seat reworked by a dude in Goulburn, calls his joint MJM, good bloke is Mick and his seats look great, in my case it did nothing for my arse pain.