revtothelimit - motorbike forum

I know, I could have tacked this onto the cars colour thread, but hey, I'm bored!!

Anyway, cos I'm bored, I've been looking at bikes

As the title says - do certain bikes have a definitive colour/colour scheme to you?


I'm particularly window/interweb shopping for a TL1000s, 1997 specifically. They do have to be red Proper red not the respray red after a crash (some of the reds are just wrong!!!). And any kind of carbon stuff puts me off! (But one had a smidge of carbon on the dash but also had remus cans, so I could forgive the smidge of carbon!! )

Suzuki in general should be blue/white

Blackbird - black of course, or pink


What others specific say a certain colour to you??

Obvious ones first...

Ducati 748: Yellow
Ducati 916/996/998: Red
Fireblade: Urban tiger

Has there ever been a KTM (in recent times) that didn't have some orange on it somewhere?

Proper raciing Kawasakis should be green and offroad Hondas Red.

KungFooBob wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2024 9:45 pm Has there ever been a KTM (in recent times) that didn't have some orange on it somewhere?

KTMs were white before they were orange

Honda CB200T's must be green with a vinyl pad on the tank.

demographic wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2024 9:50 pm Proper raciing Kawasakis should be green and offroad Hondas Red.

How could I forget that?! Although it did mean my ZX10r was christened the Snot Rocket by a non sportbike mate!!

KungFooBob wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2024 9:45 pm Has there ever been a KTM (in recent times) that didn't have some orange on it somewhere?

I have attempted to banish orange from mine, but I'm not quite there yet.

ZRX61 wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2024 10:53 pm

It’s quite funny that I have 3 kawasakis in my garage, none are green as i personally am not a fan of green colours on bikes .

H2 - is it chrome colour is silver??

For me, from motocross in the eighties, yes - they did!

Suzuki was yellow, Honda was red - both latterly with blue seats, Kawasaki was green, Yamaha was white unless you were American in which case they were yellow. And KTM were white, with blue seats & a red frame. Cagivas were red but with grey seats so they didn't look like Hondas. Husqvarna was white, too, also with blue seats but they got a white frame so they didn't look like KTMs.

KTMs had pastel green seats from 1987 to around 1993, I think the frames were still red. I had an 86 250 with the blue seat and red frame, it wasn't a very good bike, which I realised after someone let me have a go on an 86 RM 250.

Le_Fromage_Grande wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2024 7:05 pm KTMs had pastel green seats from 1987 to around 1993,

I'd forgotten about those. The late eighties and early nineties did get a bit more flamboyant

Kwaks should be green.

Hondas should be red, although my NC30 was a gorgeous black/grey and the purply blue 1991 CBR600 is gorgeous.

No Suzuki will ever match the 1992 RGV250 but GSXRs should be white and blue or red and black.

Yamaha can be whatever they like but I liked my 1992 EXUP and the 1987 FZ600.

And who could forget the purple, yellow and blue Maicos of the mid 90s?




Wot? You can't remember em? Well, I don't think they sold that well, ahem.

demographic wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2024 9:50 pm Proper raciing Kawasakis should be green and offroad Hondas Red.

In the 1960s the factory bikes were dark red/burgundy. It was the American distributor that started painting them green, trying to big up the bad boy image because many people consider green unlucky

Honda VFRs should be burgundy red, I think the name may be Candy Apple.

demographic wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2024 8:29 pm And who could forget the purple, yellow and blue Maicos of the mid 90s?




Wot? You can't remember em? Well, I don't think they sold that well, ahem.

Looks a bit like the Penta 125s that Jawa brought in around 1996/7....

Cousin Jack wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2024 10:26 pm Honda VFRs should be burgundy red, I think the name may be Candy Apple.

My pal bought a new one in 87 or 88.

We called it Dog Cock red. The name stuck

Cousin Jack wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2024 10:26 pm Honda VFRs should be burgundy red, I think the name may be Candy Apple.

My pal bought a new one in 87 or 88.

We called it Dog Cock red. The name stuck