Some time ago, I put Erica’s original tank aside. The plan was always to strip and repaint it, so I decided to clean the tank a bit this week in preparation for stripping the paint.
The first step was add the task to Erica’s list!

The tank has had some of the paint wear off already, so there is a bit of surface rust.

I decided to use up the last of the “Rust Buster” that once belonged to my grandfather. I wonder if they still make this stuff?

The top of the tank came up nicely.

I decided to give the bottom of the tank the same treatment.

I took the rubber grommets out first and put them aside.

There were a lot of nooks and crannies to get into.

After a good wipe down, there seemed to be a noticeable difference!
I gave the grommets a coating of rubber grease.

I made sure to be generous with the application!

They came up almost as good as new!

I labelled a ziplock bag appropriately…

…then put the grommets in the bag to keep them relatively clean.

While I was doing this, my cat decided to come supervise. Satisfied that I was doing a good job, she left shortly afterwards.

I decided to get a shot of the tank after cleaning but before repainting for comparison once it’s finally repainted.

Finally, I made a list of things I might do with the shed itself.

Also, I had recently noticed an increasingly annoying rattle in the helmet I got from the Aldi motorcycle gear sale a few weeks ago. This was the third full-face Aldi helmet I’ve owned and I’d never had problems with the previous ones apart from needing to replace them after coming off the bike. Not because they broke, just out of general principle!
This week, I noticed the local Aldi had one left in the same size and pattern, so I asked the manager to put it aside and went back later in the evening to swap it over.

After testing the new helmet for a few days and confirming there was still no rattle, I fitted the Bluetooth headset into it.

I’ve also tested the tail bag and can report that it holds up to light duty loads well, as I was able to transport several 1 litre cartons in it quite safely and securely. I still have to test out the tank bag though!