Repair or replace, and, is black, black?

Hi all-

Noticed a strange crack in my SW's LH skirt body panel--a small hole with a crack running down the panel towards the bottom. The hole/crack is barely discernable but bugs me on an otherwise pristine bike (only 450 miles on it!).

Two alternatives:
1. Fill in the tiny hole (bondo?) and glue the crack for stability. Super glue or ABS glue?

2. Buy a new panel. Bike Bandit doesn't have a listing for a 2013 model but does have a 2012 part, listed as "graphite black." Is that color the same as the plain-old "black" listed as the color on the Honda website for both the 2012 and 2013 US models? Is my assumption the same part fits both years correct?

Many thanks!
Bash

Drill a small hole at the end of the crack to keep it from running further, a 1/64 " should do it. You could then just repair the panel after placing a patch for strength on the back side of the damage.

Those hair line cracks in the floor skirt are endemic on the SW. Best to repair the crack from the inside with with smear of ABS cement followed by a layer of with fiberglass tape (for dry wall joints) then another layer of ABS cement. Oatey ABS Plastic Pipe cement, not PVC/ABS, cement or one of the Weld-On ABS cement products work well.

Tim

The exact color code for your SW can be verified on the panel under the seat

All good tips-many thanks! Will study the body panel section of the manual and hope that I don't have to take the whole bike apart to get to the back side of the skirt. Thanks again!

Tape the outside and use ABS cement on the inside. A reinforcement as Cosmic Jumper said is a good idea unless the crack is very short. When using ABS cement you'll get a chemical weld which is stronger than any epoxy or surface glue. I repaired a lot of old Goldwing plastic in my old shop with ABS. It's nice when a cheap cement works better than the high priced stuff. The right kind comes in a small round can with a dauber under the lid. Lowes or Home Depot or any good hardware store has the stuff. Gooey black gunk. Use thin coats rather than a thick heavy layer because the cement does soften the substrate plastic. A big thick layer will skin over which really slows the curing and gives the stuff time to melt clear through the bike's plastic.

You can make a paste of the fore mentioned cement by buying a ABS fitting and collect the grindings from a coarse sanding disk or wheel and mixing it together with the paste, it makes a great filler.

Yep, ABS 'putty' works well, just don't put it on too thick. A couple thin layers work best. You can even mold new tabs, if you have any broken ones, with the stuff