I've spent the last two weeks working on my bike. I wanted a different look for it, so I decided to pick up some paint and give it a shot. Also, the flat black was terrible at protecting the tank from gas I always tend to spill.
Before:
After:
Still more to be done. I'm having issues in one little spot on the other side plastic with alligator cracking. The flat black was an enamol, and that might be giving me trouble.
I just used a duplicolor Victory Red paint. I'm pretty happy with the results. I plan on spraying everything with spraymax 2k in about 3-4 weeks to give it good protection. I also recovered the seat with some marine vinyl while I was working on the bike. That turned out pretty well. I'm not too happy with the quality of the vinyl though, seems too thin to last more than a few years. It was easy to do though.
The orange peel should polish out just fine with a few more coats of spraymax 2k.
This picture shows the alligator cracking problem I had. It was much worse on this piece, but it sanded out.
I currently have the handlebars and a few more little pieces in the basement ready for some flat black paint.
I'm in the same boat as Grantofhell, haven't kept up with technology much recently, my bike, cars, and snowmobile keep me busy enough. And sometimes I get to drive them too...