I decide the gloss black wasn't such a great choice for a bike that sees offroad use. So I switched to textured black satin (using Duplicolor spray-on bedliner).

I'm very happy with the results:



And I had to drop by the dealership to pick up an ATV that was in for service, and look what followed me home (for my wife):

 

Looks good

 

hell ya i like it. looks awesome. What was the prep?

 

Looks good but aren't those bedliner sprays "heavy"? Meaning they are thicker than paint?

 

I like it. Looks good and very different.

 

Looks good. Curious to see how it holds up. I used duplicolor bedliner on my F250's bottom 1/4 of the truck. So far holds up good. I get some small chips every now and then but whats nice is you can just grab some more bedliner and just spray the bad areas. Looks like an FBI bike if they had one haha

 

Thanks everyone!

Yes it is thicker and heavier than regular paint, but not really that much. I used a little over one can (bought 2, the 2nd is almost full), and did two coats on everything. A full can weighs about a lb, and at least half that weight is the can and propellant, so I doubt I've added more than half a pound to my bike.

The prep was to sand the shine off the plastic, wash with dish soap to remove any armor-all or wax residue, let dry and spray. Wait about an hour and spray again.

Since the panels were all removed, no taping was required, so it was a pretty easy job.

 

I have a Jeep Rubicon that I painted the plastic flares on about 3 years ago, and I beat on this Jeep pretty hard, scraping it on rocks and trees. I find that I do need to touch it up about once a year to keep them looking nice, but the touch up is easy and cheap.

That experience is why I decided to go this route with the bike. I've dropped it on trails a couple of times, and the plastic was already looking pretty rough for a 3 month old bike. Since my bike was black to start with, if I get a few scratches in it, they won't show near as much on a textured satin finish as they do on gloss black.

 

Looks good, different, what's your impression of the little Honda?

 

It's a nice running little machine. A lot quieter than the KLX, when it is idling you almost can't tell it is running. Feels very light at speeds over 55 mph.

I think it will be perfect for my wife. She is a little intimidated, but really wants to learn...