If it wasn't for eBay, I wouldn't have these parts. Or this headache.

Well I've managed to scrounge up a heap of the parts needed to get some of this bike back together and in better working order than it was. Of course it didn't come without its trials. As we speak, I have a front sprocket on its way to me that I should of had a week ago. I'm still missing the right side cover gasket that was supposed to be in a kit that I purchased. In general, when you specifically ask a seller if a gasket kit is complete with ALL the gaskets needed to rebuild a motor, and they say "yes", and then you get it and its missing one of the main gaskets, and you want a partial refund because you're now going to have to find one somewhere else and spend more money that you didn't anticipate, and they say "its still a good deal even without that gasket. Those kits sold for $72 in 1974, which is like $250 today", and then doesn't get back to you at all, the seller is a douche. End of story. On the plus side, I scored an extra set of rear shocks for next to nothing, a kickstart shaft for $20, and got all the bearings that I needed.

I'm really making a push to get this thing done before the end of the month because I'd like to take it to the Market Days Vintage and Custom Bike Show. It's going to be pretty tight, but I'm hoping to get there. There's still a lot of prep to do before paint,  but I've made good progress over the past week or so.

In order to save myself some time and money, I've decided to clean, paint, and reuse the old spokes. They're pretty nasty right now, but clean up well. It's just going to take about 2 hours on the wire wheel to get it done. I haven't had the patience to tackle it yet, but I'll get there.

Once my dust covers came in, I did manage to finish up the forks. I changed my mind about painting them, and just went back to polishing. I'm still going to have to hit them with some more Mother's, but I think they look pretty damn good. They still need fork oil, but I'll get to that later.

My other big step last weekend was prepping and priming the frame. I've been needing to get that going for a while now, so it's good to finally make it happen. There was quite a bit of rust, so I used a combination of the wire wheel, multi tool, and wet sanding. I will say that the next time around I will most likely invest in having it sand blasted. Whether I do it myself or pay to have it done, I think it will save time and aggravation.

During prep. Owen is standing guard.

First 2 coats of primer.

 It really is amazing how much of a difference just the primer makes. This is going to look great in gloss black. Since I'm impatient, I also took some time to cut out my front fender, which I'm also quite happy with. It still needs some finish work on the edges, but it will be ready for primer soon.

This week I'll be working on spokes, hubs, frame, fenders, and wheels. We're going to need a lot more primer!