BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

I know it's not an RT, but you all know i love my Hayabusa's too.

One Hayabusa i have always wanted is an early 1999/2000 copper/silver colour one.
Not many come up for sale and are never the right bike for me for one reason or another.
And they normaly sell for about 1/3 more than the Black/Grey & Red/Grey ones of the same years.
So back in 2022 i brought a HPi clear main frame for a March 2000/W reg copper/silver Hayabusa with 14,095 miles at its last MOT in 2009 which cost me £360
I put the frame at the back of my garage with the plan of one day building it up into the bike i wanted.
My plan is to buy another 1999/2000 Hayabusa that has seen better days and use it as a parts bike to build mine.
For me what will take most of my time is the painting. So i thought i would get all the fairing panels and fuel tank together first and paint them ready for when i get another Busa to build my copper/silver one.
I already had the fuel tank, seat fairing and front fender from when i did my Black/Grey Hayabusa project.
So on the weekend i hit eBay with a plan to buy the rest of the fairings. £251.85 later i had all the panels brought.
I did not care what the panels looked like as long as they were no cracks or bits missing from them, and the biggest thing was they had to be in original paint as i never trust the prep work of others.
I thought i had done very well to get what i did for the price i paid. The worst panel is the right side fairing with some road rash (easy fix).

My total budget for this project is £4000, so i need to spend no more than £2750 on a donor bike that is running.
Your be susprised how quickly it can add up when fitting new service parts.

So yesterday i started working on the panels i had. The fender and seat fairing are both now ready for primer.
The fuel tank was taken back to bare metal with paint stripper and then sandblasted. The tank is now in etch primer ready for primer. I have 1ltr of both paint colours here already which cost me £75 per ltr each.

I learnt some years ago to always strip the fuel tank back to bare metal as your be susprised at the rust hiding under the paint. On this tank i know there was 3 areas where rust was. Once i had it stripped there were loads of rust spots hiding under the paint. This is why i always sandblast any metal parts i'm going to paint.

These bikes now being 25+ years old, getting new Decals is a job in itself.
But i have now found a company in europe that make them the same ways suzuki did for true OEM looks.
The only down side is the full set is nearly £300 with VAT added.
There is one thing that i'm going to do that suzuki did not do. I'm going to clear coat over the top of the decals.
It only takes a little knock to mark the decals. I have seen so many bikes that this has happend to.
The decals are printed onto the vinyl and not made up of layers of vinyl.

So just for info this is what bike i am hoping i will end up with in my garage at the end.

I love the look of that original Busa gold & silver paint - always have - they look just fantastic.

Sounds like you're going about it the right way.

I take it you work in a car spray shop center

Doctor T wrote: Tue Jul 01, 2025 12:24 pm I take it you work in a car spray shop center

No all from home. I'm self taught, and built my own spray booth and sandblasting booth.
It has taken me 15 years to get where i am now with the skill and the tool i have.

It's going a bit slow at the moment as i'm having to remove the paint from most of the panels as they have had some paint before.
So i'm taking most of them back to the ABS plastic and starting from scratch.
This way i know the paint wont lift as each coat will have a good keying for the next coat.
Had to buy some thinners ect ect as i was geting low.
10lts Panel wipe, 10ltrs gun wash thinners, 5ltrs basecoat thinners, 5ltrs clearcoat, filters and a pack of grey pads.
£180 that lot cost me.
I'm thinking about buying the decals next week, but i hate having things like that hanging around as it easy to damage them.

EasyRider wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 6:49 pm 10lts Panel wipe, 10ltrs gun wash thinners, 5ltrs basecoat thinners, 5ltrs clearcoat, filters and a pack of grey pads.
£180 that lot cost me.

And that's why spray shops charge so much

All the ABS panels are now ready for sandblasting. (I hear you saying "why are you sandblasting plastic")
Well i turn the air down and sandblast the back of the panels.
Most wont bother about this, But i like to make sure everywhere has a good key.
And there are some area's on motorcycle panels you just cant get to to give it a good enough key.
So the sandblasting gets into these area's.
I've seen so many bikes and cars with paint lifting and flacking off and i hate it. Its just the painter being lazy.
Will add some photos in the next couple of days.
I have had to remove all the paint from both left and right side fairings. Removed all the paint from the seat fairing and seat cowl (hump). As said the fuel tank was taken back to bare matel.
I am also going to paint the black trim parts that are near the clocks as there looking a bit old.
Its been hard work removing the old paint, but it will be worth it in the long run.
Also brought some u-pol plastic primer as i only have a little bit left. and i've also brought a clear 2k sealer for putting between the 2 colours so i dont get any colour bleeding on the fine line edge.

I've moved away from the panels for the moment.
Because the weather is so good i've been working on metal items.
So far the sub-frame and swingarm are now sandblasted and etch primed.

So i've now got the frame and swingarm, sandblasted, etch primed and 2k primed.
I've also got the sub-frame ready to 2k prime and some other small parts.

Here is what i had to start with with the frame. It was not in the best condition, but because of what colour bike is, it was worth saving. There are not many Copper/Silver Hayabusa's left out there and they cost more than the other colours to buy now. I wanted a genuine one and not a V5 colour change one.

I have everything here apart from a left side fork to build a rolling chassis. I will then over the winter buy a 1999 or 2000 year black or red hayabusa to use as a parts bike to build my Copper one.

I have been wanting to build this project bike for many years, and it nice now starting on it.
Once the rolling chassis is done i will finish painting the panels and fit them to the chassis.
Its the best place to keep them from getting damaged once painted.

Before
After

The swing arm being a work of art, I would have gotten it polished. Costs more than spraying, but I think they look better. Had mine done on my old 1050 tiger. Paid slightly less as I left it over winter, so that they could do it when they had a bit of time spare. That was about 6 years ago, so I guess prices have gone up.

getting a bit more done. This is going to be a slow build project.

I brought a pair of used fork for £70 knowing they needed new tubes.
They came today and the tubes are now removed from the lugs.
All the parts orderd and its costing £292 in parts to make them like new.
So a total of £362 for a pair of 20+ year old forks

I'm getting there slowly, But im getting there.
Every parts will be as good as new or better when there finished.
Just the finishing coats left to do on them.

Once the parts are finished, i can then carry on with and finish the main frame and swinging arm.
It will then just be a case of fitting all the parts to get my rolling chassis.
For the moment i will be using the spare set of wheels from my other Hayabusa.
I will hopefuly be looking for a 99/00 Hayabusa parts bike from October.

Looks like Guernsey import

Well this were im up to. i just need to find a donor bike now.