1100 Midnight Black Paint...finally?

[Todd TCE]

Just thought I'd post my "props" to the folks at Color Rite for helping me find the paint for my Midnights.

After searching high and low, and a couple of bad purchases, and even painting the tank on XV920 (same color) I noted that Color Rite will not only sell paint by number or title but mix to match.

For most you'll find the paint listed as New Yamaha Black. And I have a pint of that from them. We shot it in hopes of a match. It isn't. This is a very nice deep black but has none of the deeply embedded sparkle you'll find on the Midnight.

With a number of failed attempts I pulled the front fender off my 850 and sent it to Jenny at Color Rite. She agreed; it was not simply a black paint. And like others before her, and working with her, suggested it was a repaint. It's not. It's a very low miles 850. Not only does the fender sparkle but so too does the tank and Speedo houses etc. Of course that doesn't mean a lot...except that I have a low miles 1100 and both Viragos. All with the same "New Yamaha Black" paint. And all with the deeply embedded sparkles. Pretty sure I did not purchase four low miles bikes from four sellers who all repainted with the same color!

I've yet to get this sprayed out; first up will be the 1100 tank and then a re do on the 920 also. (its a nice real deep burgundy now, looks black at night tho~!)

If you're looking to paint one of these bikes check back with me shortly and I'll let you know how it works out. If I'm pleased I'll be happy to share the paint code info they generated with you.

[BillyRok]

Hey Todd - Good luck with the search, I hope Jenny finds the correct color for you. I have an '80 LG that could use a repaint if the correct color were to resurface so I'm interested in what you find. Maybe you'll discover that the original paint code was 867-5309 and was right under our noses the whole time!

[Todd TCE]

Thanks. We'll know in a day or two how it looks.

I'll have to check out that code number there and see what she, err, it looks like.

[Todd TCE]

UPDATE

Finally got the tank sprayed. Right now it shows a bit more sparkle in it than I'd like it too. The good thing there is that we have some other paint issues on it to deal with and now time to pull the fenders.

I spoke with ColorRite and Jenny on the mix. We figure we're going to take a bit of the original Yamaha Black and add that to the custom mix. As she says; bury it a bit more with the darker color, suggesting a 4:1 or maybe 3:1 depending on how it sprays out.

Overall the color is just about right tho. The sparkle has a gold tinge under the black. Just a bit more than we want. *Which I'm not surprised some given the 850 front fender was also a bit brighter than the tank on it or the others. The mix she ran was nearly spot on for what I sent her.

[dpotter58]

I have had several midnight special xs11s.

I have a new old stock midnight special tank in a Yamaha box. It still has the tape over the petcock holes, the gas cap hole and fuel gauge hole.

It is, and all of the midnights I have had are black. Black with no sparkle.
The 1979 special has "black gold" paint. It is black with a gold sparkle.

[Todd TCE]

That's interesting to hear.... Believe me I'm as surprised as anyone as to what we found. ColorRite was as well until they had the fender off the 850 in their hand- being certain it was simply new Yamaha Black which they said it would be.

I can't explain it unless you see it in the right light, but the 850, 1100 and both Viragos have this deeply embedded in the color here. We explored the black-gold and Jenny said she was certain it was not at all what she mixed for me as a match.

Wish I could show it in an image but no matter what I do to try it's just black unless my eyes are 2" from it in bright sunlight.

Be curious to hear from others as well!

[DAVINCI]

My 81 special also had the gold sparkles

[DeanR]

80 Special with red sparkles and 81 Special with gold sparkles here.

[Todd TCE]

So I'm NOT seeing things! lol

I suspected there would be some push back on this when I first posted it. And I confess I powder coated my headlamp bucket and gauge pods gloss black before I caught this.

Didn't really catch this until I looked (very) close on the 850 and found it. Knowing its originality I looked again. And again. Then went to the 1100 tank. Low and behold under the scratches of buffing for 30yrs it was there too!

I've chased it with to major paint suppliers here in PHX with no luck and two mc parts suppliers. None matched what is on these bikes. Yet. ColorRite confirmed the two Viragos show the same paint and of course I looked there also, yep they have it also if you look in the sun light and closely.


Ain't old bikes fun! lol

[cajun31]

Todd

I am the original owner of a 1980 Midnight special. There is no gold sparkle in the paint and never was any. I have researched the paint and colorite is the only company I found that actually mixes the original new Yamaha black. The secret to the paint job originally from Yamaha is that they sprayed the base then a coat of clear followed by more base then the final clear coat. I don't know what to tell you about the gold sparkle in your paint but from what I have seen it is not original to the midnight specials.

[cajun31]

Billy Rok

This is the right paint for the Midnight Specials. http://www.colorrite.com/product/yam...k-nyb-1833.cfm

[Todd TCE]

I wish I could off you a clear explanation Jim. That's what ColorRite told me too. And what I had purchased from them thinking it was correct. And what they stewed over when I send the 850 front fender to them.

(yes confident that the rest of the bike and all the parts on the 1100 were the same- this was simply the easy one to send them for a number of reasons)

Like I said above; it had them scratching their heads some too. Your bike may be pure "new yamaha black" but these are not. And apparently I'm not alone. And I have no doubt it was not re painted. Or that all four of my tanks on different bikes were mistakenly repainted the same color before I purchased them.

I'm apparently not alone with some comments from others. If you're in the Phoenix area by all means stop by. Some of it will be re painted (with the sparkles) shortly so you'll have to take my word on some of it as I'd not have invested this much time and money into all of it for the sake of a can of black paint..it would be completed by now. lol

Maybe some were sold this way while others were not. I won't begin to suggest I know why or how but I know what both I and Jenny (she's the paint expert not me) see and that's where it's headed for this repaint anyhow. *And both Virago tanks as they have it also.

[dpotter58]

My 81 special also had the gold sparkles

80 Special with red sparkles and 81 Special with gold sparkles here.

You may well have sparkles. What you see is what you have. No arguing that. I'm not really going to argue anything about these bikes since I have seen parts from different years on different bikes to know that Yamaha put some strange stuff out there. I know they made Midnight Viragaos but never saw one so I can't address them.

Neither of these two guys that replied to you is referencing a XS 1100 Midnight Special.

Of all the Midnights I have had, I had one that came from the original owner with 2k on the clock. It was immaculate. nothing had been freshened up. There was no glitter. None have had any glitter or sparkle to the paint.

If you want the glitter or sparkle, have at it. I'm sure it would look nice. I'd like to see the pictures when you are done.

[Todd TCE]

Trust me; I'm more intrigued (and somewhat frustrated!) than anything else. I'm just sharing what I'm finding

Of all the bikes the here's what I have/see now.

80-850 sparkles, 3300mi, all original, on the gage pods etc. This is the fender I sent to Jenny. Of all of them this one is clearly the brightest one. The others however have or had more scratches on them than this bike does so maybe why.

80-1100 sparkles were on the tank. Me; I messed up and painted the fenders "new yamaha black" without sparkles, and pc'd gloss black the gauge pods. Has about 11k on it. Can't go back to the tank any longer.

83-750 Virago, supposed to be NYB, has sparkles on the tank for sure. Taking it to the Scottsdale show this weekend if anyone is near by. And on the front fender for sure also. Has about 9700mi on it.

83-920 Virago, supposed to be NYB, HAD sparkles...we tried to match it locally with two paint shops. Has a beautiful color on it. A real deep burgundy. Wrong. lol So it's going to be re sprayed. (but yes it had them) Bike was rough when I got it...has only 5k but required a lot of clean up.

Now here's where it get odd....

80-650 XS no sparkles. Pretty sure of that too. Looked it over very well and I would say 'no'. Bike had 452mi on it when I got it. Original owner. (now has 550)

83-750 XJ Maxim. I don't think it ever had sparkles. Before the sparkle fiasco...we painted the tank (small ding) NYB and I never really looked that much. I need to look closer at the fenders.

83-50 The little RX of course. Never saw anything on this bike but plain old black. Painted it all NYB incl the fenders which were never painted anyhow.

All of these bikes by Yamaha info are supposed to be NYB. But nobody has the formulas from 40yrs ago. Only reproduction info such as ColorRite- who told me mixed that from a customer supplied part to match. Not from any original data.

Here's one image of the 850 tank I took an hour ago. It's about as good as it gets. If you didn't know you'd think it was just dust. It's not even visible from 6" away.

[BillyRok]

Just now seeing this update. I'm in SC now heading for the rally on Friday but I will look closely at my '80 LG when I get home and let you know what I find. Interesting though.