New Swingarm.

New Swingarm.

Right, so I've been so busy lately there hasn't been much done so far with this Lifan. I've been recently studying for some mature college courses for some extra new qualifications, massive list of of DIY / household work, of which the time was cut short for as well due to the studies (part of my bathroom is still waiting to be re-tiled by yours truely) and add to that the list of summer / outdoor DIY, that can only be done now when then weather is good and the little bits and pieces I've had to do to my own motorcycle = next to zero time.

Anyway, I've still been looking out for extra parts that may become available for this bike that need replacing, like mentioned the model is hard to find parts for and Chinese bikes depreciate a bit more than Japanese bikes. So a bike you bought for £1500 is probably worth a £1000 not long after being bought and about £800 a year to two years after you buy it and usually stabilizes at that for a while on the market . So what I don't want to be doing is paying at least half the cost or more for replacement parts on this bike so online breakers / eBay will be the best source for parts. It's just not cost effective.

I got the new swingarm (again from a breaker so has been in use previously on another bike) back out and gave it a looking over. It was in sound usable condition, although there were a few scratches, rusting / flaking paint patches. I scraped of the flaking paint from the patches with a pen-knife that was to hand on the side and used some black Hammerite I had, to repaint those areas before I proceed to replace the damaged swing-arm on the bike. It may need a second coat before it has soundly covered the patches.

I used a wheelie bin to rest the swing-arm against upright whilst painting it and leaving it to dry. It might look at bit common but it was there, perfect for what was needed to be done and saved me just in case I got black paint on my white garage wall. The bin was fine but, if I did get paint on it, I could get it off with soap and water while it's still wet. The nice white garage wall however would be smeared in black paint still. The Hammerite is designed for metal and to go straight on without a primer unlike black auto spray paint.

It comes in a spray can also if you prefer, however I already had a small tin and brush to hand. If it's put on quite plentifully and not sparingly I find it tends to dry without brush marks at all.

All this has to be done before hand really, as it's easier to get at every nook and crannie when it's off than when it's on.

* I'll add pictures in later.