Robin - you know you want to give it a rebuild and liven the old bike a bit, buts lets be honest; it's your wife seeing the credit card bill that's the problem!

Make sure she doesn't see your post which now says you could do the job without spending too much and just get on with it. If it costs you fifteen hundred quid to do what you want or put it back on the road as is for a fraction of that she won't know the difference unless you tell her!!

I'm in the same boat with my bike, total strip starting soon. But I have been softening her up with tales of woe and big expense but it's cheaper to put it right than sell it in the current condition.

Best of luck Richard