it turns out, is quite addictive.
The summer heat has obviously addled my brain. I decided to paint the swinging arm on my bike because it was very rusty, you know, almost dangerously so. Nervously, and with no preparation, I applied a quick touch up with 1 inch brush and some 'Smoothrite'. Growing more confident and getting slightly carried away I even painted the side panels carefully avoiding the '500 four' badges. Of course, having made one part of the bike look shiney, the rest looked strangely 'barn find' so I strove on and knocked off most of the winter mud and, before I knew what I was doing, I had mixed some paraffin with old engine oil to put into an old kitchen spray container and proceeded to spray and rub over the whole machine. My bike now has a lovely oily rag look and during my endeavours I even found good chrome on the rear wheel rim revealing the letters 'DID' for the first time in about ten years. All in all my 'restoration' took about an hour and a half.
I am looking forward to riding to the shops to show off my ride in the village.
