Painted the gills on my 2013 model.

I originally purchased the gills from a Chinese company on E Bay. The seller assured me that the "white" would match. It didn't.

I purchased the 3 stage kit from Color Rite and must say that I am pretty happy with the color match.

While I was at it I put silver metallic pin striping around the black portion to tie into the silver "Kawasaki" tank, upper fairing "Ninja" and rear cowl "ZX 14 R" emblems.

This is my first try and painting and pin striping. I think it turned out fairly well.

Before:

After:

Silver Pin Striping:

I used 1/8" pin stripe.

I'm considering going with 1/4".

The silver would stand out considerably more but not overpower it.

As it is now you really can't see it from a distance.

Thoughts????

The grills look awesome! They shoulda done that from the factory.

The silver would stand out considerably more but not overpower it.
As it is now you really can't see it from a distance.

The chrome stripe around the fins does not appear very prominently in the pics. A wider stripe would probably be too much. It looks like you painted the white into the recessed area around the fins which is fine. I'd let the pin stripe be a subtlety. Then again, did you see my bike? Not very subtle. I'm working on toning it back...a little

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Very nice looks natural, i like the idea of a bit wider stripes especially if you can blend in an angle with the flow of the gills instead of just a rectangle. Maybe subtle arrow tips forward??

Friend has some high end sports cars and most are white w/ black carbon fiber everywhere and if Lambo cars do it you know the combo is great as that stuff is as much a work of art as a hyper car

Now I would caution you before looking at Rooks details - he went more in the peace and love psychedelic mood, but he did pull off a sweet and personal masterpiece of a ZX14

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Thanks guys.

I have yet to do the other panel as I ran out of time today.

That being said, I might stripe the other panel with the 1/4" and see how it looks.

Maybe subtle arrow tips forward??

Uh, you lost me on that one??

Hey Rook, point me to a pic of your bike.

Or just post one here.

Nice job BIGO70. It should have come out of the factory that way. As for the pin stripes, The Black pops off the white really nicely. I would leave it without pin stripes but this is your bike, set it the way you like...

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Nice job BIGO7O. Bike looks amazing. I like your look better then the factory's.

Hey Rook, point me to a pic of your bike.
Or just post one here.

I'm working at toning some things down. I need black resets and a black side stand. The big gold cone washers have to be black too. I plan to try blue fins on my grills with matt black in the recessed area behind the fins. I know in my heart the grills are better off left as they are but I can't resist the urge to paint them. What I really need is another 14 so I can do all the stuff I want without having it crowd a single bike!

I am in the midsts of installing a gold EK 3D chain and gold Driven rear sprocket right now. I will probably end up painting the sprocket orange like last time but gold will be a nice change for a while. That orange is crazy, hey? I like it!

* Last updated by: Rook on 3/31/2020 @ 9:19 AM *

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Lookin WILD Rook!Excellent pics;)That bike is one of a kind...so cool.You've spent a lot of time making it special..it really is.Awesome my man.

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 3/31/2020 @ 10:26 AM *

Yup, should of come from factory like that.

Fantastic job !

Hey Rook,

I think blue fins (including in the recessed area would look fine. Maybe even better than the blue/matte black combo you are talking about.

I never would have thought of painting anything orange. However, since you are already down the rabbit hole you need to put just a hint of orange at the lower front of the bike. I'd say orange brake lines would be just enough to set it off. It'd also match your shock reservoir lines.

You've definitely spent a lot of time and money on getting the bike to where it is. Congrats to you!

I especially like the Ohlin's forks and shock!!!!

Oh yeah, definitely black on the rearsets and side stand.

Well, after a couple of days the silver pin stripe began to lift.

So, I'm leaving it off for now.

In the future, I might mask everything off and actually paint one on there.

Regardless, I still thank the white/black combo looks way better than OEM.

Thanks for the compliments.

If anyone else wants to try something similar give me a shout out. I have plenty of knowledge from the mistakes I made doing mine! LOL

Be safe,

Mike

Lookin WILD Rook!Excellent pics;)That bike is one of a kind...so cool.You've spent a lot of time making it special..it really is.Awesome my man.

Thank you Grn. I'm still working on it but I think the final look is coming together.

Yup, should of come from factory like that.

LOL!!!! Thanks KINGY2. When it's done I'll send it in to Kawi. Maybe they will take some pointers on next years models!!

I'd say orange brake lines would be just enough to set it off.

Interesting you should mention that. I have a set of orange lines waiting to go on before I slap her back together for the season. Blue banjos and bolts! I would go with gold but too late. I bought these several years ago, might as well use them. I have painted some things gold and it holds up OK. VHT Gold is the best gold color I have found. I will anodize everything some day. The engine cover paint has held up well but it get gravel stuck in it under the fairings...then again the OEM paint does too.

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Well, after a couple of days the silver pin stripe began to lift.

Those were a bit delicate but I would think it might have had soomething to do with the vinyl thickness (or was it mylar?). I have some blue mirror vinyl and it looks very good. I have had very good luck with the white vinyl I used on my bike. It's been there since 2009 and the only place it has lifted a little or torn is where the seat overlaps the fuel tank. I will probably let it go another year because it looks fine. If you were using some thin mylar material, you might try a vinyl for automotive use. They have chrome mirror vinyl and I'm sure you could find metallic silver if you prefer that. I think that would stick. Stay away fro sign vinyl because that is so thick, it is extremely hard to stretch it (or compress as the case may be with your fins) to fit the contour of the surface.

In the future, I might mask everything off and actually paint one on there.

That is the way to do it. A custom painted bike is really cool. If you're going after a mirror-like chrome, that will be impossible with paint but I have seen video years back of a process where they treat the surface and then wash a fluid over it and it looks just like chrome. It works on plastic. It might be something like the chrome pieces they include with plastic model cars. Looks just like chrome.

Regardless, I still thank the white/black combo looks way better than OEM.

I agree. All black is good but the black only fins are even better.

* Last updated by: Rook on 3/31/2020 @ 8:23 PM *

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Hey Rook,

The stripes were an "automotive" stripe:

Stripe

They went on easily due to them being so thin as well as flexible. They stuck on the flat surfaces but lifted around the curved areas of the grill where your inner thighs would rest. Maybe due to them being so thin (1/8") possibly there just wasn't enough sticky contact area on the stripe???

I actually did a trial run of spraying some silver(paint)striping but the silver didn't match the emblems so I said to hell with it and just painted them white again. I'm not going for a "mirror like chrome". More of a gunmetal/pewter that matches my emblems. I believe your emblems are more of a "chrome".

Anodized "gold" is an impossible color to match with paint. Hell, it's even hard to match with anodizing. I had Ohlin's kit on my Ducati and was trying to match the Ohlin's gold with not much success. Fortunately, the few pieces of the gold were far enough apart that they appeared to be the same color.

Very slick looking ride you have there Rook. Nice!