need help with paint color(long post)

[cheezy]

hi, i'm starting to move along with my project(thanks to Geezer), and i can't decide what direction to go with color. it's an 81 mns with 16k mi in rough shape. the gold on the luggage rack and grab bar are rusted and slightly pitted. the carb tops are rusty, as well as the handle bars, tank, and rear fender. i have a chrome fender for the front, as the original was missing. the gold air filter box is missing, no filters at all, just velocity stacks. i don't think i'm going to go back to original, but one scenario i was thinking of having the carb tops, grab rail and luggage rack powder coated gold this winter. i would repaint the rest of the bike gloss black enamel. next, i like red, so i was contemplating painting everything red, except the grab bar, rack, carb tops and handle bars, keeping them black. or, just paint the whole bike flat black, as i understand that is the "new" modern look. my wife even commented about the make over's she's seen on tv where they were going flat black. i was also thinking flat black for this yr, then having the gold stuff powder coated over the winter. what have you guys done, what worked, what would you do?
p.s just read about guys using bed liner?

[Pat Kelly]

Paint you can always redo. If you want red I would suggest painting it red.
I too have an LG and I lucked out, after cleaning it up it was in pretty good shape. Now I am keeping myself in check trying to not do any irreversable mods to it. (but that is my choice).

POST PICS!!!!

[dbeardslee]

I'll say one thing about red - it draws your eye right to it. I skydived for over a decade, mostly on relatively large rw jumps. Even with lots of people in the air, I always seemed to make into the center of the frame of the camera - not because I was a great jumper, but because my jumpsuit was red. We're already pretty invisible on motorcycles, but red is pretty hard to ignore. I'm not saying everyone should paint their bikes like pylons, I'm just saying that's a little added benefit you get with red.

[fredintoon]

hi, i'm starting to move along with my project(thanks to Geezer), and i can't decide what direction to go with color. it's an 81 mns with 16k mi in rough shape. - - -

Hi Cheezy,
thing is, Midnights sell at a premium so if it's possible to restore the stock finish, that's what I'd do.
But if it's too far gone for that, just pick a colour and go for it.
YOUR opinion is the only one that matters about what colour that will be.

[cheezy]

it's just too far gone to bring it back to stock, or i'd do it right. i love the stock look of these 80's vintage bikes. i just spent some more time trying to figure out how i could get it back to original, but it's just not worth it. has anyone seen a bike done up in bedliner? i saw a couple of pics on the web, and it looked like a ball peen hammer type finish, which i thought looked pretty cool. it was done in gray.

[T99Ford]

Flat black might be "in" right now, but I have always thought that flat paint was for people that couldn't shoot glossy. I have seen some neat flat paint jobs, but mostly they look like something from the rat rod movement. Just my .02, though, paint it however you want , and enjoy it. It just has to look good to you!

[mack]

restoration

Only you can decide how much work your willing to put into it, but don't be too hasty in walking away from trying to restore it to it's original state. Mine is living proof that they can be resurrected from the dead. The side showing in my week three photo was pretty much a solid slab of rust and coon poop. 1000 hours later, it's very close to what I bought off the showroom floor in 79.

[yamtom]

MNS resto

Hi,
I have to think the dollars might come a little more for a mns resto, I know thats the only real reason that I bought mine was because I had always wanted a midnight. If I wouldnt have seen it, I prolly would have gone zuki, I know, bite my fricking tongue.
For what its worth to the OP, that air box was/is not cool to have to manipulate regarding getting the carbs off for service. I only did it once, and put the pods on straight away. I wont part with the gold air box though, just in case the next owner down the road wants it for resto value.

I would say to the OP, that it may be for the best to preserve the MNS parts that he has and purchase the silver parts if he ends up going with a totally different color scheme. I am specifically looking for MNS blinkers if he is bound to change them. I have a good set of the chrome ones to swap or with cash or whatever. Silver parts are common on ebay, but mns stuff isnt so common at all.

[XS1100 Newbie]

The flat black look reminds me of the years when we would primer our rods with hot rod black primer, and that was the paint job. With spray cans i might add. Just brought back some memories of the last 57 chev i had.

[scooteraddict]

i used to like the flat balck look i have done several cars and bikes that way but
its just too over done now so imho the cool factor is gone

i look at things this way when i go into a project what are my finale goals am i going to sell it or keep it for a while

if im keeping it for a while i do what i want and dont worry about resale value at all

im all for doing what you want to your bike thats why my stella was cut up and a ford tear drop tail light was put in body lines and rear turn signals were filled

if you want red go for red

[fredintoon]

- - - im all for doing what you want to your bike thats why my stella was cut up and a ford tear drop tail light was put in body lines and rear turn signals were filled - - -

Hi Scooter and welcome,
Stella the LML Vespa clone? Swapping from one of those to an XS11 is certainly going from one extreme to the other, eh? Gotta photo?

[scooteraddict]

Hi Scooter and welcome,
Stella the LML Vespa clone? Swapping from one of those to an XS11 is certainly going from one extreme to the other, eh? Gotta photo?

over here
http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28471