Do dings and scratches drive you NUTS???

[PowderToastMan_imp]

Battle scars... I bought the bike to ride and enjoy. Yes it hurt a little at first that I have some scrapes and dents, but it doesn't bother me one bit while I'm riding, so I'm over it!

[Ghis_imp]

It kills me every time! But I fix any scratch with scratch remover or touch up paint. It's never perfect ever, but I do take care of it. Dents I fix every time. I just can't look at my bike if it's damage. I like to keep my bikes in very good running condition but also very clean. You'll think that I'm nuts but I never put my bikes away dirty, and I clean them (at least wipe down) before each ride. My way of checking that everything is tight, and in good running order, before getting on the road. That's when I find rock chips, and anything else that needs attention. I'm much happier when the bike looks amazing even after a few years of use, but yet with imperfections that no one would notice, or know about but me. If it bothers me that much I get it fixed, and move on.

[Guth_imp]

Finding the first ding/scratch is always a bit of a bummer as far as I'm concerned. I just found my first paint chip on the lower frontside of my tank the last time I washed my CB1100. Strangely, I didn't even flinch. That's a bit out of character for me.

There's a place here in town that specializes in antique tools - a vendor inside one of those "antique malls" actually. I first happened upon it a few years ago when I was out with my wife and we made a stop there. She made it all they way through all of the other vendor booths before I even stepped out of the booth with the tools. Now I'll stop by there on my own every so often. Usually just to kind of looks things over but every once in a while I'll find a good buy on something that I have a use for. The booth isn't that big, but it's chock full of beautiful old tools of all different sorts. The likes of which are hard to come by these days — each one a great display of craftsmanship made from high quality materials. These are tools that have been well used as intended by their manufacturers. It might seem odd to describe old tools as beautiful, but to me these truly are just that. A big reason for that is the the patina of honest use that they've picked up over time.

That's sort of how I've come to look at motorcycles as well — vintage bikes in particular. The fully restored examples are great to look at and are a nice way of honoring the designs just as they rolled out of the factory. But in their own way the bikes that exhibit a patina of honest wear from use are just as beautiful, if not more so. So it goes with my bikes. My Hawk GT is in really great shape. It's almost completely original although I've replaced a few parts here and there, mostly with OEM units. But it has 25 years on the CB1100 and up close it looks it. You can tell the bike has been used and enjoyed. The CB1100 still pretty much looks like new. There is some wear from my key fob on the top triple clamp and the engine shows signs of interacting with flying road debris (along with the previously mentioned paint chip on the tank). It's inevitable that my CB1100 will end up with more of the same. Fortunately there has been no real major damage to either of my bikes needing to be addressed so far.

The first 19 years that the Hawk spent on the road was with someone other than myself. The wear exhibited by the CB1100 has all come from my use of the bike. It is, and will continue to be, a rolling story of the time I've spent with it, and that's pretty cool.

[holy666diver_imp]

i just found a big chip from a rock on my tank yesterday. I was a little bummed but I figure at some-point I'll probably get a different tank. And with my black model scratches are unavoidable on that color. Especially with my knees. I need to get some tank pads

[the Ferret]

Good lord Guth, you are on a roll today lol. Comes with age.

[lukeduck_imp]

Nope. Really like the CB1100, but it's still just a motorsickle.

[Headbanger02_imp]

I'll confess, on my matching red side covers theres a very light 3 inch scratch on top of the paint above my cb 1100 emblem, that I can almost wax out, I must have had something on my cleaning rag.

[Rebel73_imp]

When is someone going to invent invulnerable paint?

We can put men on the moon but we can't invent tougher paint?

[ClassicVW_imp]

I think the stuff I used recently was called Scratch Doctor. In an orange squeeze bottle. As long as the scratch isn't all the way through the paint, it does a nice job of removing it without dulling the paint nearby.

[Hedge_imp]

I look forward to the first scratch or dent so that, like others have already said, I can stop worrying about it. I scratched the heck out of the frame putting the headers on and even scratched the tail pipe a bit and you know what? I don't really care. Thank God because now i can roll it in and out of the garage without worrying and stop worrying about the perfect parking place!