It's the biggest bike in the world!  :O

This could do with respray too!

BW, you have 5 choices,
1) leave it alone & hope they dont deduct too much from the part ex on the 1200
2) see if you can buy an aerosol from Suzuki & have a go yourself
3) take it to a competent spray shop & get it resprayed as near as poss.
4) see if you can find a rear panel from a breakers in better condition
5) well placed "Micron" stickers & the like can hide damage well-but the dealers know this only too well.
If you need instructions on how to apply your expensive aerosol(if thats the route you go down) then I shall-despite your rude remarks about me- be only too happy to help.
As for the Jag M8-been there & rebuilt a few-rot boxes, all of em.had 3 myself over the years-never an XJS though-all long wheelbase XJ 3.4, 4.2, 5.3.
nice ride awful consumption.
I can paint your bike for you-but as i'm up here & your down there-the bike is going to be off road for a week or so, & I'd need the tank for colour matching+ if you want to go for the bigger bike-is it worth spending more money?
Let me know what you decide to do.

Kin ell, is that two microbes on the back seat. I think this is what people did, before they invent microscopes.

Dunno what DP will think of this but...

I once repaired some scratches on our MG (now sadly gone), with a touch-up stick (as one does), which of course looks 'orrible. However, by waiting about 30 mins for the paint to go semi-hard, then very gently T-Cutting, I was able to take the touch-up paint line down flat with the panel. Then repeat with lacquer, and polish. It made a very satisfactory quick-fix. Only just visible in fact  :eyebrow:

yep, touch up paint will do-if you go easy with it.
As I dont see too many B6's-is it Candy red or "plain"?
If its candy-then a touch up brush will make a fine mess-you wont be able to hide the overlap on the edges of the repair.The ONLY way to go is to re-spray the ENTIRE panel.
Truth be known, you can get away with a lot on a plain paint finish (as I'm a professional, I tend to look a lot harder)
& if it all goes wrong-providing its not dried out completly-then you could always polish the "disaster area" out with T-Cut & have another go.
HTH

Yeah! That's macro lens for you... bastard camera thing... cannot get it to work properly. I'm going back to a box Brownie methinks

Thanks for the tips chaps... not sure what you mean about "Candy" though DP - how do I tell? Are there sweet wrappers under the seat

I've been mulling (from another post) about the future of Billy Bandit and think that I'll actually keep this one for a long while - I don't ride that often, I don't need more power and I don't really need to go any faster. The Bandit has it's faults of course (certainly ain't no Fazer Hilts I agree :buttrock: ) but I'm happy with it.

I suspect that, keeping the bike well maintained (and adding a hugger, scott oiler and some dangly bits ) and learning to ride it properly will keep me busy for the next couple of years.

DP - let me know how I check that paint thing! How much (I assume I can remove offensive panel and send it you along with another bit to colour match? - does that have to be the tank as there are other bits the same colour on the bike) to paint it properly?

Here's the story on the Jag... it was in my garage for about 2 years (always about to be / on the way to be repaired) having spent £1000 on new exhaust system, £500 on two front tyres and a load more... in the end I sold it "as seen" thinking it would make a good (with enough time, money and effort) car for someone as a project.

Chap comes to collect it with a car trailer - car fires up and he drives it up the ramps... whereupon the main chassis thingies appear to have broken and the front wings pointed up whilst the body pointed down. Luckily I was hiding indoors with his money by that time

Ya rogue. And you want us to buy some books.  :O  :laughcont:

Yeah... I look after me books

Did you ever go anywhere in that old Jag Blandwit? I never saw you in it...

Good yarn about the front suspension failing m8 - macpherson struts?

::

No, MacDonalds I think...  :laughcont:

Yeah, we used it for the first year quite a lot actually... usually blasting down to the coast in it (at £40 each way in fuel ) but then "times got tough" and I put it away... I shall have another but not for a while