Way to go mate, I had a CB350F that I restored back in the 90's, it was a fun little bike, and sounded like I was doing the ton when I was riding at legal speeds! I only bought it because the seller was an Indian restorer and he begged me to buy it because he was sick of dragging it around swap meets and taking it home again, it was extremely rough and cost me a fortune to get it nice, but a mate who owns a tool shop liked it so much when I finished it, he swapped me a $5K lathe for it, which has been a great thing. Enjoy your Christmas present!
I'll probably end up throwing a bunch of money at it simply because it will end up being my wife's bike and I want it nice for her, I just hope I can convince her to leave it the shade of blue that it is. Right now though she loves the 71 350 twin I finished for her earlier this past summer and I sunk a fortune into it too making it nice so we will try to get as much use out of it as a way to make it pay for itself before I get serious with the 400 .... unless of course I can find someone to swap a $5k lathe or milling machine for it.
Yeah, look the more I see "Over Restored" bikes all over the internet, the more I like old bikes with visible signs of age. My mate Pete has just retired, and he's finally re-starting some of his stalled projects, one of which is this 1935 Triumph 350 side banger. He was thinking about stripping it back and doing a full resto, but I reckon he should finish putting it back together, put some new tyres and chains on it and just ride it. It was a real "barn find" bike, he pulled it out of a farm shed a couple of years ago, and it's been in the same family since new, to me, I reckon it'd be more interesting just ridden as is.
Dobbo's Triumph by
terry prendergast, on Flickr