Update: Feb. 28, 2007

Some great news to share:

1) Recently reived a call from my paint guy. He said they are "very close to completion." I fear the cowl louvre work will be $400 - $700 and I pray it's not the latter.

2) Still need to pick up the engine and photograph and video it for you all, but it is 100% complete.

3) I am rebuilding the front and rear shock. The fork will be baum painted and the shock housings and hub area will be powder coated the stock color (opting for the durability of powder coat). Pictures of disassembly to come soon. I know it is odd to rebuild a rear shock since they are available new, but I am doing what I can to stay original here and there. I am also considering replacing the spring with Clauss Studio's upgrade spring (need to research that more). Repro front shocks suck from what I hear.

4) Rims were stripped and my powder coat guy is looking at them. One may be salvagable, which I would use as the spare. Per my earlier post, I honestly did not think that any rim could be saved for my needs. The bike will have a showroom quality paint job and to powder coat pitted rims would do a disservice to the completely restored bike's appearance. In the end this is my wife's bike and I want it to meet her requirements and be the bike she envisions.

5) I was requested to photograph the inside of the rusted muffler before I throw it out. I'll talk to Christopher Markley to see if he has a way of opening it up and then I will photograph it; although some guy on YouTube commented he wants to buy it and it is in perfectly good shape. Who knows?! I haven't heard from him since I commented back to visit my blog to contact me.

** Note: and can you believe I am doing all of this at the same time as completely remodeling my kitchen? Posts have slowed down due to this big demand.