Fork up

The front forks on the bike where originally painted black, like the rest of the bike. But the forks are scratched and rusty. They'll look horrible if I've got a new paint job and beat forks. So I decide to paint the forks now before I spray the legshield and body with two-stage paint and avoid overspray mess.

I consider going two routes with the forks. I could paint them the original black. But I don't really like that look. Here's why. Lambretta forks are so distinctive that they're meant to stand out. And that's probably why many original Lambrettas have silver forks. Most Indian SILs and all Italian GPs had silver forks. Since I'm going to use rattle cans on the forks to save time and money (the two-stage paint I'm using is 50 bucks a pint, mind you), I spray a couple of different silvers on the forks. It looks terrible --- the kind of paint I'm using looks cheap and metallic.

I start over, this time with gun metal grey. I spray it with four coats of Rustoleum and it comes out looking sort of like polished bare metal. I. Like. This. Look.

I may change my mind later. But for now, I'm going to prep and paint the rusty-as-balls wheels and the kickstand with the same gun metal grey Rustoleum. It may not be original. But hopefully, it'll look mean when I'm done.