Lessons Learned

Attention newbie restorers!

These are the most important lesson I can offer you at my own personal expense.

1) Double your budget
2) Triple your timeline
3) Relax, make this fun (the two items above will help you achieve this)
4) Research every little step. Make sure that each part you replace or add to your bike is original to your scooter. If cost a little more, but is closer to original. Go that route. This may slow down the restoration, but it's okay. I learned a tough lesson when restoring the engine-side cowl louvres. My louvres are incorrect. I could see that when they arrive and did NOT ask my weld/body/paint guys what it would cost to fabricate some that are correct. I did not email Scoot BBS and ask for advice. I just moved forward.

AND most importantly

5) I did not start off this restoration with the mind-set to keep this bike as "pure" as possible. I adopted this approach half way through my restoration as I learned more and more. My suggestion is: START OFF WITH A PURIST APPROACH and you can always back off as you see fit. It's like cutting hair, it's easier to cut a little off until it's perfect as opposed to cutting too much off and then to have to add hair extensions.