Went down...now what?

[kyle_99_gtp]

Long story short, I went down on the GS in my church parking lot. Gravel lot, turned, boom. I was on the ground before I knew what happened. I'm fine, but the GS got messed up pretty bad by the gravel. The can is pretty scratched up, the motor case/custom decals on the motor case cover got chewed up, the front and sides fairings both got it. The bars got bent, but the carbon fiber levers and bar ends fared pretty well.

I'm thinking of repainting the bike entirely, It's a GSF and it's not the first time it's been down, so the fairings are starting to look pretty bad. I'm debating about doing candy red with matte (not flat/primer) black accents right now, sort of like a new R6 (love my R6 by the way, I know I disappeared from here when I got it). It's goign to be a DIY paintjob, but I'm talking paint guns, wetsanding, body filler, clear coats all that junk, not a spray bomb job.

I was wondering if you guys could post up some pictures of your custom painted GS's so I can get some ideas. I also need to figure out what all is involved with switching over to clip-on bars on a GSF (if it's even possible).

Anyhow, let's see some pictures, and if anyone has a candy red GSF, please post it! Also, any input on colors, paint schemes and clip on bars is greatly appreciated

-Kyle

[jonathanneely]

Similar story of mine.

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=53179.0

[bassmechanicsz]

The color scheme you are going for sounds alot like this one and he just did his maybe a few weeks ago now.

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=52975.0

[tt_four]

Long story short, I went down on the GS in my church parking lot.

Irony huh?

I also need to figure out what all is involved with switching over to clip-on bars on a GSF (if it's even possible).

Definitely possible, but not necessarily worth it. I don't think I've ever seen anyone manage to get clearance with the bars under the top triple, so you have to put them above and slide your forks up the inch and a half. You don't have to lift the forks as much if you remove the top clamp, but then you've gotta figure out what to do with your gauges. You also get a significant increase in vibrations through the bars. When I had them on mine it was somewhat uncomfortable once you got anywhere over 4500-5000 rpm. I'd recommend trying some drag bars first, or seeing if you can get some clubmans. That way you still having the rubber bushings between the top clamps to kill some of the vibrations as opposed to the metal to metal contact of the bars clamped to the fork tubes.

[kyle_99_gtp]

So clip-on's is a no go. drag bars are a possibility, but I bent the stock bars back (or so it seems, without riding the bike) so maybe I'll just stick with them.

I can't decide if I want to keep the fairings or not. The street fighter/dual headlight look has really grown on me since I started working at a motorcycle dealership (I see them every day) but I think I'd want a street fighter with more balls, like a speed triple or something similar. I'm still liking the candy red/matte black idea, but it's going to be hard to figure out how to make it work.

[kyle_99_gtp]

About how much paint does it take to paint a full fairing motorcycle? Less than a quart (per primer/base/clear), i'm guessing?

[Nber1LouFan]

Looks like someone already posted a link to my pic, but here are a couple. I paid someone to do mine and ran me aboout $650 but I took the bike apart, taped off everything and put it back together myself. I think the guy said it took less than a quart with the fairings matte black and half qt. on the frame-rims matte red. make sure you mix a little bit of the mmate black into the clear coat to get a little bit of a shiny look. other wise it look like doodoo IMO. 





good luck and post pics before and after!

[kyle_99_gtp]

Thanks for the tips on the clear coating!

This is the shade of red I'm thinking of going with, just haven't decided how I'm going to mix the red and matte black:

[Nber1LouFan]

I like that color! I used to have a 2000 integra GS-R about the same color with carbon fiber hood and spoiler.



Miss that thing!   

If you have the skill id say do the whole thing matte black and then do some custom graphics (paint) in the candy red. IMO would look sick!

[kyle_99_gtp]

I've been thinking some more about it and I think I'm actually going to make the GS a project bike

I want to make it something like a street fighter, but still like a GS. I'm thinking of going with the dual round headlight look with a small fly screen like. the one of a Triumph Speed Triple SE. I'm also going to make the fairings into a chin spoiler, something like this:


I'm still wanting to do matte black with candy red accents, I think it's going to look awesome. As for now, I'm still riding the piss out of the GS It's a great bike and the messed up fairings/pipe/motor case add character.