Nils,
If it makes you feel better about the cash, there are a whole lot of us...me included, who received a lot of information and satisfaction from watching you do this restoration. Any time one of these SOHC beauties gets put back on the road in its former glory, it helps the value of each of our bikes go up.
But I've also come to realize that these bikes have a soul, to some extent. You can almost tell that the bike is happy about being put back out on the road. And that's something that is worth more than the money it cost to put it back out there. Thanks again for sharing the journey on this bike.
Man, that was MANY nice things to say, and I appreciate them all, and I get what you're saying too. There was a moment when I was refinishing the rear wheel hub and as I polished it down, several nicks started to show up, more than ever in fact. I spent a minute or two contemplating how much I was going to have to remove to make them perfect, caught myself, and decided that no, I wasn't going to obliterate the bike's past completely. I left them, and a few others, and the bike is better for them I think.
We all admired your drive and derring-do on your project Ron, moreso I think because you waded into the deep end unflinchingly, and you were doing it for and with your son. And your willingness to share your learning and yes, mistakes, made it even more valuable for the zillions of people that will read that epic thread for a long time.
So "Right back at ya brother", thanks for some amazing contributions to this excellent site in the past year.
Looking forward to your next project, and my own.
Cheers!
Nils Menten
