SUSPENSION AND CHROME

Not shown here but part of the strip down process – the rear shock absorbers have been wrestled from their mounts and subjected to lots of ACF-50, which I'm hoping will allow me to strip them down. As long as the seals are okay and the damper shafts aren't pitted, I plan to renovate them and reuse them. Yes, of course I could fit better rear suspension but where's the fun in that? Bouncy “over sprung and under damped” is all part of the bike's character, surely? Next, the frame needs to be tugged out of the garage, liberally covered in degreaser, and then chased around the garden with the pressure washer. There's some repairs to be done to the stand mounts, and I'll probably need to find a better stand as the original one looks rather tired. From there it'll be careful inspection of everything, prioritisation of repairs, and then looking at the plating that badly needs addressing. Despite only being a tiddler, there's rather a lot of bright chrome on an AS1 and I know it's likely to be painfully expensive. Smaller bikes are often just as expensive to refinish properly as larger ones – if only their restoration costs were proportionate to their engine sizes!