www.zxrworld.co.uk

Hi all,

The bike I bougth wasn't in PERFECT condition when I bought it, obviosuly being 17 years old.
And I was considering restoring the paint job anyway...

Now, I regrettably had a lowside, which has caused some nice big scratches on the right hand side panel, and a small crack in the nose cone.
I can repair the cracks, and repair the panels, but now the question is, what to do with painting it?

I would LIKE to keep it as original as possible, since the rest of the bike is ALL original!
But I somehow doubt I will be able to get the original stickers?
(it's the '94 purple and pink (mauve?) colour scheme).

At the very least, I would like to paint it something vaguely original looking, any ideas?
I can find colour matched paint, Mauve, and ebony? But I don't know what to do with sticekrs...

Alternatively, I could just go with something generic like all black, or all white, or all green, or somethign similar, and get some custom stickers made up...

ALTERNATIVELY, I believe I found someone on eBay who sells a full fairing kit for £200, painted in any colour scheme you want, and would like to know if that is worth considering?

I had wonderful ideas about painting mine, do I make it original? Do I try something custom? I ended up painting it matt black, although I might re do it and attempt something this year again, and if/when I balls it up it will end up matt black again

Exactly, you can't really go far wrong with Matte Black...
But with such an iconic and collectable bike...
WOULD be nice to stay original.

Half the attraction of this bike is the radical 90's styling, which includes the bright and bold graphics.
Also, the girls quite like the purple

If I went black, I would perhaps get some white graphics made up to go down the sides...

I just can't decide what to do!

Why have the decals reapplied? If you take it to a good painter he will be able to redo the panels with the graphics in paint, not decals. If your panels are only damaged he will be able to work off what is left and do a complete respray.

The Ebay fairing kit will be cheap fibreglass more suited to a racebike. It will do the job but it will look tatty on a road bike. Racers want something light and which won't cost the earth to replace when they chuck it down the road.

You may well be better off looking for second hand plastics in your colour. If you can get a set in good condition it could well be cheaper than repainting your originals - you can flog them off as damaged to someone who wants to do a repair / custom repaint and recoup some of your cash.

There are plenty of companies who custom make decals - they would work off your originals.

Plenty of options out there, just a matter of cost.

Yeah, I know I could replace them with second hand panels, but in my experience, they are never in PERFECT condition.
I wuold very much like to have a showroom shiny bike =/

As for having the graphics painted on from the originals, that is where it starts getting expensive.
I am fairly competent with rattle can resto, and that is my plan.
Alternatively, I know some friends with access to spray booths. I plan to do as much of the painting as I can myself...

I guess It's going to be a case of visiting some signmakers and getting some quotes...

Although, the two tone paint on my bike... (Purple with a MASSIVE black decal I believe) is going to be either expensive, or a pain to replicate.

The fairings I found on ebay by the way, are ABS not fibreglass.

if you decide too get the fairing kits off ebay be careful some are okay and some are very poor. A mate of my dads bought a 1098 with them cheap fairings and they where wafer thin brittle and there now dumped out my back garden. i think postage is about £150 so at £350 all in its not much cheaper then a decent paint job.

ebay 1098 fairings

I've decided to do a Rattle Can Resto myself.
Then when I get more money, I will get some professional cut + stuck graphics.

Just need to decide on a colour!