Back in the saddle again...sort of

OK I've been a little, OK alot, inactive with the rebuilding of Vicky of late, so figured it was time to pull my finger out and do something.

Still putting the engine work off until ALL the various bits and bobs are in, but that doesn't stop other work such as painting, etc.

After taking a long needed vacation with my better half Teri, I had been wanting to get back into doing some actual work. It was after paying a visit to a sc**ter shop in Fredricksburg and seeing some beautifully restored bikes that got fires stoked so to speak. That and some unexpected prodding from Teri.

I say unexpected as Teri isn't overly fond of motorcycles, but she thought it'd be good for work to get started again.

So.....some work done on the seat.

Sanding of the rusty places was in order but the whole thing really needed it. Started off by removing the white vinyl piping from along the bottom edge as well as the two chrome flashing strips on the sides.

This was a little tricky as the wee nuts were well and truly rusted in place. But with some prior thought on the matter, liberal spraying of penetrating fluid helped that out.

With but a little bit of trouble, the nuts came off and it was discovered that the little studs the nuts screwed onto were in fact tiny little screws and they were held in a smallish channel within the flashings.

After wiping things down with an old sock and then a tack clothe, it was time for major surgery of sorts.

Using a fiberglass repair kit, and a few other things, repair work was started.

First off, using some wax paper, the kind used in cooking, the rusted through holes were masked off.

Then cutting pieces of fiberglass clothe that was supplied and with resins mixed, the holes were covered over with resin soaked strips.

For an amateur it wasn't a pretty sight with excess resin dripping everywhere along with stray bits of fiberglass floating about. But the job got done.

A word of advice, try and get this all done in one go as the resin starts to set hard pretty quick and it gets HOT as well.

Next step after letting it all dry is to trim any excess clothe and resin and then to sand or file it down.

Painting, which is the next installment