The longest journey begins with a single step and once the bike was in the garage, I was struggling with what the single step might be. Where do I start? How am I going to pay for it? There are 1001 things around the home that are competing for my restoration budget so how can I balance the needs of the family with the desire to rip into the project and get things moving?
I started by drawing up a rough project plan of what I knew had to be done, what I thought would need to be done and some things that I have always wanted to do with the bike. I have never been keen on putting a price on a hobby but this one needed a budget to keep things in check so I put some known and some guesstimate prices in my project plan. Probably should not have done that!
While the bike is 90% complete, there are some bits that have been lost over the years, were wrong or broken, I started hunting Google to see what I could find. I contacted a guy in USA who is listed in a number of Ariel club newsletters and who professes to have container loads of Ariel stock that was left to him by his step father (a prominent motorcycle dealer of his time). A couple of emails later, my BS radar was up and I was not happy with some of his answers but thinking that there is a brotherhood of Ariel restorers out there, I decided to take a punt and ordered a couple of small parts that I wanted from him. The parts eventually turned up but one was not what he promised while the other was not even an Ariel part. My suspicion confirmed and a couple of hundred dollars poorer, with no response to calls or emails left me disappointed in myself for not listening to my BS meter and a bit despondent about the Ariel fraternity thing.
After another period of procrastination, a change in Aus govt policy with the scheduled introduction of a “Google Tax” on offshore purchases in 2017, the collapse of the GBP with Brexit along with another unscheduled quick trip back to New Zealand prompted me into action.
It also prompted me into breaking the first rule of restoration and that is to pull something apart, finish restoring it then move on to the next part. My wife was travelling back to NZ and would be in the town of one of the best chrome platers of small parts that I know so I could not let that opportunity go by. A day in the garage later, I had all the shiny bits off the bike and they were winging their way to New Zealand as hand luggage (yes, she did have some explaining to do at airport security) to be dropped off at the appropriately named Shiny Bits chrome plater in Geraldine. I cannot say enough good things about Geoff and his team at Shiny Bits. They did a fantastic job, realistic price and most importantly, everything that I sent away came back beautifully finished and carefully wrapped for protection. While I am on chrome, I often hear people complain about the cost of chrome plating. The quality of the plating finish can make or break a project. I am more than happy to pay for quality.
Also underway was the first (of many to follow) orders to Draganfly Motorcycles in UK. I dealt with Draganfly back when I repaired the engine all those years ago and while they were excellent to deal with, the NZD against GBP of the time made purchasing parts a harrowing experience. Post Brexit, AUD to GBP is probably as good as we are going to get it was time to bite the bullet so to speak and unfreeze the credit card.