Restoration: Kickstand

All in all our kickstand was in decent shape. Originally it was rusted, slightly pitted, and bent -- so that the legs were not paralled. As I said in an earlier post my computer hard drive died and lost 90% of all the original photos I had of the bike; therefore I can not provide you with a "before" photo. It was sandblasted with body and treated with PPG metal cleaner and conditioner, which all sat for over a year in my very dry basement. None of the parts were ever touched by bare hands after sandblasting, even with the PPG product protecting them.

I hired Christopher Markley to powder coat it and the mounting brackets the stock coat with the very slight matted look, as it likely came out with from the factory back in 1967. Before Christopher painted it he used his hydrolic press to bend the kickstand back in place. Pictured above is the finished product at Moto Rapido, Christopher Markley's shop.

Now for the discussion of purity, we know that powder coating was not available until the 1970s I believe (do NOT quote me) and therefore the restoration of this kickstand is inaccurate to what the manufacturer produced. My stance on this restoration is that powdercoating can take a decent beating and this scooter, which is midly customed, will be riden and enjoyed. It is important to me that the bike continues to look good and hold up as it being enjoyed. I believe that the powder coat is the perfect solution, because it will still look "stock", but be able to withstand pebbles and rocks hitting it as the bike is ridden.