Well guys, I got up this morning and looked at the weather forecast. Today was forecasted to be the only sunny day this week. So I went into work, put out the raging fires, called Rider's to arrange for inspection today, went home, loaded the bike in the trailer and took it to Rider's. I just got home about 30 minutes ago. I looked at all of the parts, and they look great at this point. Date stickers indicate October and November 2006 paint on all striped parts. Stripes are evident. Everything lookes great out of the boxes in the sun. Nice green sparkle. I was just a little skeptical about the tank.......until I held it next to the tank currently on my bike. The new tank looks much, much better than the old one. From what I could tell at this point, all parts match, and they match the unstriped black emerald parts remaining on my bike. So here we go. I think this is going to work out pretty good. I hope so anyway. I'm also having my rear tire replaced, and I'm having the braided stainless steel fuel cross-over line installed on the fuel tank so it will match the other braided stainless steel lines. Hopefully everything is perfect..........but I do know that it will be better than it is now.
Oh.........that melon at Rider's..........I looked at it again today, and it is at $1000 over MSRP, $32,995. Stripes cannot be be felt anywhere, and even in dim light, you can see the defect. It appears buffing was attempted on the tank. They also have a red jester on their floor listed at $35,995. Darn pretty bike, but................anyway, now you guys know.