We’re lucky in the classic world. We’re lucky as we have some of the best colour-schemes, paint jobs and graphics in the biking sphere.
Take a look at most modern motorcycles and you’ll probably wonder what all the fuss is about (I sometimes do). So, can any colours really match up with the luscious palettes we see on Classic Japanese two-wheeled works of art ? I mean, just check out this Kawasaki S1A : it’s simply gorgeous in gold (even if it’s probably called ‘orange candy crush’ or some such nonsense).
If there was a heyday for Classic Japanese colour schemes it was probably the 1960s/1970s with vibrant colours and everyone wanting a candy-coloured bike with a dash of metalflake, or perhaps a flip-flop...
While the 1980s gave us some lovely colours on road bikes, such as Kawasaki’s lime green (straight from their racing paint schemes) and race replicas came in some cool colours – like Suzuki’s corporate blues on the GSX-R750 – things went wrong in the 1990s !
If you remember the first ‘pink’ Yamaha YZF750R in 1993 (like the figure above) or the zig-zag purple shell-suit that was the water-cooled GSX-R750 and 1100WNs then you’ll realise that for the Japanese it was a time that taste forgot! There were some notable exceptions – such as the CBR900RR First Blades, "Ferrari Red" Honda NR750 & Ducati 916, and also the single-colour tone ZXR750J – but many factory schemes of that decade were hideous!