cleaning, cleaning, sand and more cleaning

Today was an unusual day because for the first time I actually felt like I was making major progress! I am at the point now where I have more parts ready for paint than I have waiting to be cleaned. During the week I managed to sneak in some time with the wheels and gave them a good scrubbing. They almost look as if they would be fine to go back on the bike, but since there is rust on the rims still I figured that It would be best to sand them down and paint the black, saving me the hassle of having to repaint them next season. It will also make them look bad ass too! Today I got the front forks, swingarm, sprocket cover and handlebar controls all sanded and taped up for paint, and after looking inside my dirty parts bucket, I found NOTHING left to clean! I also was able to measure out the wiring harness as I plan on keeping the wires but scrapping the black insulation keeping them all bundled together. I will be replacing the insulation with braided PET wire sleeves, and I may even use orange sleeving just to spice things up. The handlebars and rear shocks were delivered yesterday, and for what I paid for them I am happy with what I got. Here is a pic of one of the shocks

I know that this update isn't too exciting so to spice things up, here is a crummy photoshop attempt at what I want the bike to look like once finished (keeping in mind the handlebars and exhaust will be different by the time I am finished).

The bike will be painted in low gloss black spray paint (duplicolor) and will have a harley orange racing stripe down the middle of the tank and seat cowl.

Since I cannot continue with the painting until I actually know what modifications I need to do to the back end of the bike, I hope to, sometime during the week, get the bike partially back together again so I can figure out what needs to be cut, where to weld and so on. And I assure you, I will have many pictures to support the mock up post!