A few years ago, I left the grom with a good friend for winter storage, and kind just left it with him because he would take it to the track for a pit bike. I left it there because it was convenient for the most part, but then I left to travel nurse so it sat for the long haul. But I’m back now, and the old hog needed some love.
At the time the bike came into my possession, it was already in pretty rough shape, lots of missing body panels, all of the body panels were hydro dipped this green digital camo, there was evidence of multiple drops, and horrible wiring. I fixed a lot of it, and painted a lot of the panels flat black, but the bike still looked rough.
Things started to get worse in the last few years though, lights breaking off, the bent rear sets had pegs falling off, and the green was still shitty.
So I tore the bike down mostly to do some restoration. I had gathered some parts, and decided to paint over the green.
New rear sets, new grips, new bars, new turn signals,and not pictured here is the new clutch and brake levers.
I started with the turn signals, the old ones were little plastic domes that I was never really in love with. I’m much happier with these slim post ones. They are sequential, and are made of aluminum.
Next was the rear sets, I bought everything on Amazon, so none of this stuff is top shelf by any means, but they fit, and they work well, so I’m into it. This kit didn’t come with any instructions, so it took a while to get the geometry right so the brakes and shifter worked correctly. It’s definitely nicer than the stuff i pulled off, even if the old stuff wasn’t all bent out of square. I even have passenger pegs now. Even though I’ll probably never use them, I can use them to mount an exhaust bracket for my muffler.
Next was the bars, grips, and levers. I didn’t need new bars, but if the bike was going to get refreshed, why not change the profile a bit too? The grips and levers were more Amazon bits, but they look nicer than the previous set up. The old vans grips had gotten gummy and sticky, hoping these done share the same fate, big fan of the red on here.
The last bit was just putting a solid 20 footer coat of Milano red on the remaining green fairings. It’s not the worst paint job I’ve ever done, but it’s definitely far from the best lol, all that matters to me is that it’s red and it’s shiny though lol. I don’t know if I’m going to bother wet sanding or buffing it, but for now, I’m incredibly happy with the results of this project. Working on the grom is so rewarding. I’m so much less timid about really tearing into it, and messing something up never feels like the end of the world. I love this little machine.
Geeky LURV 