Starting to make the Classic 350 mine

I am trying to adopt a more straightforward life and get rid of "stuff" that I've accumulated but has no place in my life any longer; and/or is unlikely to feature in it in the future.

So I decided that I wasn't going to start getting anything for the new Classic 350 until I'd got rid of an equal value of stuff on EBay. I've been slowly selling stuff over the last few weeks and surprisingly have raised over £450, with more to go. This has mostly been surplus guitar and motorcycle bits and pieces.

So I definitely have enough to order the canvas panniers and RE racks from Hitchcocks now and was ready to order them when I had a bit of a change of mind. I definitely will get those, but I know I'll be able to order them anytime I want.

In a previous post I mentioned that I really liked the chrome tank with the original style of Royal Enfield tank badge on my old bronze Classic 350 and that it might be quite cool to get hold of a s/h chrome tank and get it sprayed in the halcyon green colour.

Well, I'd been keeping an eye on EBay and not a lot of suitable tanks were coming up second hand - one in quite poor condition and then one that was off a nearly new bike that had been replaced as a warranty job due to a minor paint defect.  I decided that I REALLY did want to do the chrome tank thing, so took the plunge. I got it for £150, which is pretty good compared to £500 for a new one.

It's turned up and is in really good condition - I can't see the paint defect. So now I'm on the look out for a paint shop to respray it in the Halcyon Green colour. I think it will look amazing once this is done.

I've also been trying to make it easier to get the bike down the entry to the house. I repositioned the handlebar controls inboard by about 25mm each side and hacksawed off the ends, to gain 2" of clearance, which should make quite a difference. I thought the heated grips might be a bit of an issue as they should be glued on, but they just slid along nicely. I may get some short adjustable bar levers as well which will help a lot.