aermacchi

when we stripped the 'macchi down to the component parts, i didn't even notice the rear splashguard fastened to the frame, it wasn't a mudguard, just a piece of metal sprayed that horrible 'great weastern' maroon colour, dangerous nitromorsed it off ready to take to the painter for a coat of two-pack, i stood and looked at it and started idly fettling it with some wet and dry, gradually working the aluminium to a matt finish with scotchbrite, we both agreed it didn't look right against the nicklel plating of the frame and i polished it to a shiny finish, tell me now, can you imagine it with just a coat of paint or does it just disappear into the ether when it's shiny?, spent loads of time dicking around with cardboard cut-out's for the footpeg mountings but, for once, dangerous was right, we need to keep the original rearsets, i straightened the bent, right hand, gearchange pedal in the miller vice and dangerous spun-up some new bushes out of nylon and some bronze stock i'd found in the scrap bin at work, the gearchange on the aermacchi was, to put it bluntly, a little sloppy, to me it's worth a bit of effort getting it sorted, i can't remember the last time i rode a bike with a right hand gearchange pattern, must be twenty five year's or more, nevermind a right hand, race pattern, gearchange, one up, four down, remember, i'm hopefully running the boxer, [left-hand, one down, four up] and the 'macchi in the same weekend races, just different classes, a recipe for disaster or what?