Any Motorcycle Gurus?

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ChargedDart75

ChargedDart75

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I recently picked up an '05 VTX 1800 that I can't decide if it's factory paint. If not, somebody did a good job. From what I can tell, Honda never put the Illusion Blue P44P on an '05 1800F (I'm assuming it's an F because of the rear fender/taillight, I need to verify) nor did they put black flames, but my bike is Illusion Blue with flames. They aren't stick on either. Any thoughts?

Screenshot_20220804-100915_Messenger.jpg
 
RammerJammer75 said:
I recently picked up an '05 VTX 1800 that I can't decide if it's factory paint. If not, somebody did a good job. From what I can tell, Honda never put the Illusion Blue P44P on an '05 1800F (I'm assuming it's an F because of the rear fender/taillight, I need to verify) nor did they put black flames, but my bike is Illusion Blue with flames. They aren't stick on either. Any thoughts?

View attachment 1715965448
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Not factory but I am not really Honda savvy? I just don’t see many Hondas with flames on the road so total guess on my part.
 
I need a better picture but I'm going to venture that is not a factory paint job. Are the factory emblems still on the tank? That's the first dead giveaway of a repaint. Usually they get bashed in the wreck that justified the repaint. Most people do not repaint a bike before it's wrecked.

The matching aftermarket air cleaner tells me it is also likely not factory.

If the levers have been replaced and the handlebar controls and master cylinder have all been replaced with aftermarket, that also points to wreck-repair/repaint.

Inspect the front fender. Is the underside oversprayed? Any rivets on the fenders that have paint excess around the rivet heads? The factory paint should be pretty thin in these areas.

I don't recall Honda offering paint sets, but I was in a Suzuki/Kawasaki or Harley dealership at that time. You either ordered a special edition or a plain edition, you didn't get a paint set like you did from HD. The Jap bikes usually had tribal crap at that time. The Japanese didn't care for flames so much....they tend to shy away from anything violent or aggressive.

?u=http%3A%2F%2Fonlymotorbikes.com%2Fpublic%2F02%2Fhonda-vtx-1800-r-2005-moto.jpg

This bike shows what I mean about the tribal thing.
?u=http%3A%2F%2Fonlymotorbikes.com%2Fpublic%2F27%2Fhonda-vtx-1800-f-2005-moto.jpg


It's tough to tell from OP's picture, but his looks more purple than factory blue.
 
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jos51700 said:
I need a better picture but I'm going to venture that is not a factory paint job. Are the factory emblems still on the tank? That's the first dead giveaway of a repaint. Usually they get bashed in the wreck that justified the repaint. Most people do not repaint a bike before it's wrecked.

The matching aftermarket air cleaner tells me it is also likely not factory.

If the levers have been replaced and the handlebar controls and master cylinder have all been replaced with aftermarket, that also points to wreck-repair/repaint.

Inspect the front fender. Is the underside oversprayed? Any rivets on the fenders that have paint excess around the rivet heads? The factory paint should be pretty thin in these areas.

I don't recall Honda offering paint sets, but I was in a Suzuki/Kawasaki or Harley dealership at that time. You either ordered a special edition or a plain edition, you didn't get a paint set like you did from HD.
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From what I can tell, the VTX 1800F didn't have emblems on the tank. The reservoirs/levers look like they have not been replaced, and I'm pretty certain it's factory grips. The underside of the tank did not show any overspray when I was changing the spark plugs, but I have not looked at the front fender. The side panels also do not show signs of overspray. I assumed the aftermarket intake was put on with the Power Commander III & the aftermarket pipes, but it could be wrecked. It just looks like it's never been laid down, either that or somebody did an excellent job fixing it.
 
sabre.jpg


Silver ghost flames an '04 and '05 thing for the Sabers. I know, wrong decade :rolleyes:. Orange with flames too if I recall.
 
I had an '02 VTX1800R model for a while. It wasn't uncommon for people to trade tins or sell desirable colors to swap parts. There were also quite a few people doing custom paint as a service (over the factory paint), including trading the parts out for your 'cores'.
It's also common for motorcycle parts to be completely removed when painted. The VTX is pretty easy to disassemble, and so it wouldn't surprise me if the original paint color is still underneath there somewhere, but typically the filler neck tells the story.
 
If this is a repaint, it seems like somebody went through great lengths to make it appear like the factory did it. If it has been wrecked, somebody did a great job fixing it, down to even putting the correct fenders on for an 1800F.
 
RammerJammer75 said:
I don't believe the lever is. Yep, it's an '05 VTX 1800F3. It is tribal graphics, I'm just blind apparently. View attachment 1715965656 View attachment 1715965657
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If that's the clear adhesive layer over the paint to prevent the seat from rubbing the paint, I'll wager that the paint is factory. I've NEVER seen anyone go to the trouble to replace that, and I've looked at thousands of repainted bikes. I'm not even sure Honda sells that.

The fact that there's no edge at the decals also tells me that's a factory paint set, but not necessarily from your year.

If you pull the side covers, there's probably an injection molded date matrix on the interior face that will tell you when they were manufactured as raw plastic pieces, and the OEM part number sticker may still be on the underside or hidden areas of the tank somewhere.
 
jos51700 said:
If that's the clear adhesive layer over the paint to prevent the seat from rubbing the paint, I'll wager that the paint is factory. I've NEVER seen anyone go to the trouble to replace that, and I've looked at thousands of repainted bikes. I'm not even sure Honda sells that.

The fact that there's no edge at the decals also tells me that's a factory paint set, but not necessarily from your year.

If you pull the side covers, there's probably an injection molded date matrix on the interior face that will tell you when they were manufactured as raw plastic pieces, and the OEM part number sticker may still be on the underside or hidden areas of the tank somewhere.
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I will take a look at it tomorrow. It may not be from this bike, who really knows. I just think it's cooling finding odd ball stuff like this, because as far as I can find they never offered any VTX with tribal markings in that purple. Maybe it was special order, maybe it's not the original parts. The title also lists the bike as purple in color.
 
RammerJammer75 said:
It's a lot faster than any lazyboy I've ever rode!
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Yep. I always had sport bikes and still have my Kawi 636. But my buddy would change bike like changing underwear, so I got to ride all kinds of bikes. And when he got a mint 08 Goldwing a few years back, and I took it for a ride it for sure is the king of sofas. And it goes like stink… I’ve always said, if I was going to get a cruiser, I’d get a metric one… Enjoy
 
Damn near killed myself on one of those things years ago....
I went over to my uncle's house and we figured out that the speedo sensor on my Harley had went bad and he threw me the keys to his VTX and said go get one at the Harley shop... The thing was pretty comfortable and I buzz down the freeway for about 5 mi or so till I hit the Gladstone exit and came off the exit not thinking but just downshifting like I normally do... Well don't you know my Harley had a foot clutch and hand shift ... By the time I figured out I was on a normal motorcycle the stop sign was coming close fast...
I barely got that thing to stop before I ran out into traffic....
 
j par said:
Damn near killed myself on one of those things years ago....
I went over to my uncle's house and we figured out that the speedo sensor on my Harley had went bad and he threw me the keys to his VTX and said go get one at the Harley shop... The thing was pretty comfortable and I buzz down the freeway for about 5 mi or so till I hit the Gladstone exit and came off the exit not thinking but just downshifting like I normally do... Well don't you know my Harley had a foot clutch and hand shift ... By the time I figured out I was on a normal motorcycle the stop sign was coming close fast...
I barely got that thing to stop before I ran out into traffic....
Click to expand...
:steering:
 
j par said:
Damn near killed myself on one of those things years ago....
I went over to my uncle's house and we figured out that the speedo sensor on my Harley had went bad and he threw me the keys to his VTX and said go get one at the Harley shop... The thing was pretty comfortable and I buzz down the freeway for about 5 mi or so till I hit the Gladstone exit and came off the exit not thinking but just downshifting like I normally do... Well don't you know my Harley had a foot clutch and hand shift ... By the time I figured out I was on a normal motorcycle the stop sign was coming close fast...
I barely got that thing to stop before I ran out into traffic....
Click to expand...

And the vtx was never lauded for its brakes. They were a substantial part of my decision to sell mine.
 
I wanted to let everybody know my findings (because I hate threads that are left unanswered). My bike was factory y181p (Challenger Brown) and has been resprayed the Illusion Blue since Honda apparently never offered the 1800F in that color. I don't know if the bike was ever damaged nor can I tell if the parts are factory, but if it was repaired at some point they did a great job getting all correct panels, fenders, and tank for an F model. Thank you all for your help!
 
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