painting my gas tank

[tball]

My tank is bare metal and needs a paint job.  After much looking, deciding, considering and research, I've decided to deviate from a stock look.  I've narrowed down to a few options and cannot decide so thought I'd get a general opinion if I could.  I was thinking of either an old CB look with a two tone or a new CB1100 look.  I'm leaning towards the old look, although the 70's CBs have more of a rectangular tank which the 2 tone compliments.  Not sure this look works for the VT500 tank lines...

[J6G1Z]

What are your plans for the fenders, side panels & tail piece?

I've seen some tanks done in bare steel that look pretty good. Get all the scratches lined up & squirt some clear on it.


J.

[tball]

I want to make the tank the main focus, so the plan was a flat black on the plastic panels.  Maybe even eliminate them ala this picture---

[J6G1Z]

I'm not a big fan of the stripped body work look on the Ascots. Especially when you cannot clean up the center section by removing the air-box/battery mount. The Ascots have real nice, classic, lines that flow well together as they come from the factory. If your body work is in good condition, maybe you should paint your tank to match. I am a big fan of original paint on a bike. Once they've been re-painted, it's just a matter of personal preference on whether you like the color or not.

Are you a painter, or have experience painting bikes & cars?


Good luck
J.

[tball]

Nah, I was going to keep the bike on the cheap side and give it a self paintjob, there was nowhere to go but up with the bare tank... But reading other's experiences with rattle can jobs getting ruined by gas spills, I decided to go with a pro.  I've been getting #'s around $250-300 for a 2 tone job done right. 
$50 for a round headlight with brackets
$20 for sandpaper and flat black for the fenders
$45 for a seat cover
& I think my budget is spent...

...unless I can find a cheap digital speedo cluster that will hookup easily,,, hmmmm...