How would you paint your F?

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 5:50 am

I have a lot of ideas for painting these bikes. One of my favorites is the stock 1100F paint scheme using "enhanced" colors which is what I did on my 900. If I were to do it again I would use a House of Colors flame cherry for the red or cobalt metalic for blue and a blue/white flip flop for the white. I like colors that look different from every angle or change color or highlights as you walk around them.
If money were no object, how would you paint your bike?

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 2:40 pm

I am having my bike done with paint and powder coating.
I found a guy that wants to do the four pieces at a good price and use some multi stage s%#t he was talking about. The frame and all the other parts that will not melt will be powder coated.
The side cover decals are being custom made and the tank decals will come from a 919.
When I paint my CB1100F, I will use the factory Maui red and pearl white paint just like when it was new.
I will not be painting the other red one because it is in good shape as far as I am concerned.

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 6:52 pm

Actually this is something I plan to do next year. A couple ideas tossed around was to paint the bike back to black, with a white flaming skull on the tanks, a ghost rider. But then I wanted to make it where the skull would glow in the dark. It is possible as I found many paint additives that would acomplish this.

Or, go all out and paint the whole bike with the glow in the dark...then it would be a ghost rider, just not sure how the local law enforcement would view it. No way I could hide with a glowing bike either.

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 9:04 pm

Spider,

Are you saying that you can take decal off a tank and reuse them?

Anybody, what is the general consensus on keeping a bikes paint scheme true to stock, or doing a custom paint job , ala the ghost rider?

I saw a sweet pearl paint job on a HD that I loved. of course that doesn't goe with a black engine block. But I would like to eventually paint Big Black, since the right hand decal is worn through. Looks like someone spilled brake fluid or something on it.

I think some nonstock black and red varient would look nice, but what?

Hawk Joined: Apr 23, 2004 Posts: 359 Location: NYC

Right now the only bikes I have thought about repainting are my sohc F bike and my kawasaki. However I think there are some general paint issues here that apply to the dohc f bikes.

I am a big fan of stock style schemes. I have found that the stock looking scheme that uses different colors or flashy paint can make a bike really pop, sometimes even more than a full custom job that nowhere resembles stock. For instance instead of painting my SOHC F bike I bought a set of skins someone else had painted in a stock scheme but used metallic blue base (not an available color on the 77-78 F bikes) and a gold stripe with black pinstriping (stock stripe was black with orange pinstriping). I had this mocked up on my bike and a friend of mine who saw it remarked that the bike looked great but he couldn;t figure out why it looked better than most of the stockers he'd seen. It wasn't until later when he got home and looked it up that he called me to tell me he figured it out and it was really good looking. The original color of the bike is red (it's actually a 1976) and when I have the stock skins done I will probably do a house of kolor dark red candy over a silver heavy flake base to give it the right amount of pop and really make the badges and factory stripes stand out.

For my Triple I really want a kawasaki like green but something different, and I kind of want it to look like the bright candy lime metallic of the 1973 models. I plan on using the new for 2004 honda 919 color Matte Uranium. It is pretty close in hue to kawasaki candy lime green metallic but more important it has a unique matte texture that will make the bike really jump at ya, espically if it has the factory stripes and badges in place.

If I ever get another blue cb1100F here is probably what I would do (money no object). Starting with the factory scheme I would spray the white areas '99 GM white - this is the brightest white I have seen on cars and I like it. No peals, but I might add a little metallic to get that glint in the sun - sometimes white metallics have a tendency to look dirty though so I may skip this. For the blue portion I would use a heavy flake silver base and shoot HoK candy blue over the silver. All lettering and striping I would then do by hand before the clear is applied - that way it is smooth to the touch and doesn't have that bubbling up that vynil under clear sometimes has. I like orange with blue so I would probably replace the red stripe with orange or at least add a seperation pinstripe of orange between the blue and white. Since money is no object I would do the cbr F3 wheel conversion and have the wheels anodized gold.

Another scheme I have often thought would be fun on a dohc F bike would be the stock cb1100F layout but instead of red or blue I would use a heavy flake burnt orange (maybe a candy or HoK tangelo pearl) with a black accent stripe. It sounds harley in typing but try picturing it and it will make sense.

Another really out there idea I had would be to paint the a dark gunmetal (the whole bike) and do the entire stock stripe layout (including the honda on the tank) using clear metallics and pearls and tints to create a ghost effect. From one angle it would appear to be all gray and from another angle it would look like it had the stock paint done in various shades of gray.

Now you guys did it...got me dreaming about paint schemes again.

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 9:45 pm

My thought is that if you are going through the process of doing a proper paint job, then do it correct to the original scheme. I wouldn't hesitate to add to the colours to enhance them a bit but I would stay close to the original colours. The 11F's have pretty complex paint on them as it is, with modern paint they turn out really well.
It all depends on what you want out of it and what you are willing to put into it!
Harleys really don't count, everyone paints them so they can tell which one is theirs! I suppose the same goes for all the repliracers!

Bryan

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 10:23 pm

I am building a bike from an F-bike.
She will have the initial lines of the original F-bike.
But when I fire up this bike for the 1st time, it will not be a 79 CB750F anymore.
She will be a mutation of sort, kind of like the Hulk.
She went in as a nice little 750, but has gone thru a metamorphisis and come out as a monsterous CB7/1123F with CBR wheels and Progressive suspension and a solid black paint job with custom made decals displaying the good ole CB-F in an old school style.
I have my 1983 CB1100F to keep the stock look with. She is untouchable.
I have my other 83 1100 that will get a CBR wheel swap but get the stock Maui red & white paint she came with originally.
Three Hondas, two with original paint and a monster that is beyond original paint.
All Black!!!

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 10:32 pm

Rattle can flat black, or perhaps finely textured bedliner. My F is not jewelry. It is a tool. It gets parked outside and ridden in all conditions. If I do hit the freakin lotto, and have more money than I possibly know what to do with, then it gets the big buck stock paint job. I already have a big dollar Harley painter lined up. The F is third, after the ELR and CBX. It's nice to have connections in a chopper shop. NOTE: To anyone who thinks I am a ham fisted abuser, my valves are at .005, my camchains are tight, and there is not a single oil leak on it. I have motorcycles I am an AH about. This isn't one of them. I also have been riding this bike since WAY before it was cool. I have said it before, Skid's work is beautiful. And his designs look like they left the Honda factory. Which is to me, a huge compliment. I worked as a motorcycle shop line tech and service manager for over 15 years. There is no mystery in this anymore.

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 10:50 pm

the 750F i had i painted basic white with blue and red stripes to match the HRC emblems i put on the tank where the HONDA letters were. the whole thing came off looking pretty good, if i do say so, and i had never seen the stripes of any honda CB other than the 79 before i painted it. the bike i have now is royal blue, but is just crying out for some kind of accent. i am just trying to decide on white with red stripping like the CB1100F or maybe a turquoise with gold pinstripping.

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 11:13 pm

to me it doesn't matter if you paint to stock or trick it out. As long as you, the owner, is happy with it, then it is all good.

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 12:14 am

Roger that! Very Happy

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 4:53 am

Sounds to me that the popular vote is for the stock 11F paint scheme with a little enhancement. I will be restoring an 11F this winter and I would like to come up with a paint scheme that gives that factory concept look but has a personalized touch to it. I spent a lot of time taping and painting my 900F and I'm happy with it but I want this 1100 to jump out at you but look factory at the same time.
You guys have some good ideas and I like them all from the glowing ghost to the hand painted emblems. Maybe I'll buy an air brush and start playing with that just to see what I can come up with. I would like to include the wheels and frame in the paint scheme too. You see a lot of frames and wheels painted red or blue but you don't see many with pearl or metalic paints.
I saw a crotch rocket at the local drag strip painted as an eagle wrapped in an American Flag. Although I don't like the idea of a Jap bike with an American flag on it I thought it was interesting because the paint scheme involved the whole bike, frame, wheels, even the seat was worked into the design. I don't think I want to go to that extreme but it did give me some ideas.

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 1:23 pm

I was thiinking a bit further on this and some of the paint schemes that we didn't get in North America would be a nice change!

Bryan

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 1:04 am

Like the black with the fade stripe like doc's...TASTY!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 4:29 am

Once I finally do paint, I am thinking it will be something like that streetfighter over in Oz with the VFR mono swingarm and crazy looking mini dual headlights. Mine will be in a gloss black base with white/red stripes and thin gold pinstriping. The wheels will be black F2's with a polished outer edge. If you guys saw my helmet and riding jacket it would be clear why that is a good color combo.

Jose

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 4:32 am

When I first got my F I couldn't stand the -silver/green - paint!!
But that has definetly changed !!
Next year when she's getting redone she's going to be
the Exact same colour !!
Twisted Evil

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 12:11 pm

I'm also a fan of keep it stock.. almost.
I'd paint it... just like my little picture on the left... For the white I used 3 stage like on the new caddies, then just a little pearl in the clearcoat. The best part about having a couple "stock looking" decals and a scheme close to the original is that most people look at the bike and say.. Wow! that's in great shape for 23 years old.. I just say thank you.

Posted: Sun Aug 08, 2004 1:28 am

Thinking of doing black, with the stock stripe pattern, except in gold. Would have to be hand done, no gold decals. That would be sharp!

Posted: Sun Aug 08, 2004 10:41 pm

To my eyes, this is the most beautiful 1100F I have ever seen.
Picture is from CBFDme's website. He has found a wealth of images on the internet.

Of course I am partial to black, but just the same, its a great paint scheme. Hope you don't mind me borrowing one of your images Julio.
My favorite 900F paint job is the one on my bike Very Happy

.

Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 1:38 am

SWEET! The red velocity stacks are a nice touch.

Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 2:17 am

jons wrote:

To my eyes, this is the most beautiful 1100F I have ever seen.
Picture is from CBFDme's website. He has found a wealth of images on the internet.

Of course I am partial to black, but just the same, its a great paint scheme. Hope you don't mind me borrowing one of your images Julio.
My favorite 900F paint job is the one on my bike Very Happy

.

I have to agree with jons, that bike is almost perfect.
Mine is gonna be real similar, but just different enough to be distinctively mine. CB7/1123F

Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 3:42 am

I like the idea of incorporating the Honda wings on the tank. Very nice!! Cool

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2004 2:49 am

I'm looking forward to seeing your finished bike, Ray. I have a strong feeling that it will be worth the wait. Cool