Big day in the shed and the yard working on plan B.
Plan B is basically the plan you adopt when you have no money to execute Plan A, so plan B is the 'improvised' version of the bike you would have built in plan A.
Which means you don't spend $600 on sand blasting and two layers of powder coat to achieve that special matt back look you want on the frame and other parts - instead you spend $50 on spray cans and do it all yourself at home.
First up - clean the frame as much as possible to prep it for paint. Now, I knew there was a spider living in it because every few days I would wipe a web off the frame. What I did not know until today was just what kind of spider it was.
That little black screwed up thing with the red back is in fact a Red Back Spider.
Yep, they kill you.
And who said restoring bikes isn't fun huh?
So, the frame and associated parts got sprayed matt black. Nice day for it out in the back yard, warm dry day with no wind.
Then I looked at the side covers I have. They are actually painted in a very nice deep metallic black and have the badge recesses filled. Slight issue with some chipping and scratching in the edges which meant I needed to do something with them. Now I happened to have some vinyl numbers cut for my race bike that I did not use, and I had matt black spray - so ...
I then cleaned the wheels and thought - what the heck...
Gave them both a good coat of etch primer and then started with the matt black - but ran out before I could finish. No biggie - I will need more anyway.
I expect to be touching up the paint on the rims after tyres are fitted. I read somewhere that you get a deck of playing cards and slot them in between the rim and the inflated tyre to mask the rim when painting - so I will try that.
End of the day and I have a freshly painted frame ready. I fitted the new lower shock bushes in the swing arm so I now feel like I have begun frame assembly.
I am still keen on the Ducati Monster front end, but that may be plan C in early 2016. I did recently pick up a good set of forks, I already have a lower triple and I have sourced a billet CB450 upper which also fits a CB750. So I may just get stock brakes with a stock front for a few months so I can ride whilst designing and test fitting the Ducati front on the other frame.
