The rear light

The rear light is a simple unit secured to the rear mudguard by two cheese head slotted screws. One of these seems to enter a weld nut whereas the second has a loose nut that detaches when the screw is removed. I'm not sure whether both should actually be welded but the loose nut was obvious when the light unit was removed- rattling. Once both these are removed the light will detach from the mudguard. Its in two sections; a rubber base that adapts to the curve of the mudguard and a metal body that houses the bulb holder and reflector. There is a thin rubber gasket between the two. These lights are no longer available although there is a more modern replacement that doesn't look too bad. I wanted to keep mine though so I took it apart to see if it could be renovated.

Removing the rear light. Two sections visible

Rubber base units surprisingly are still available. I opted to repaint mine in body colour Dove grey, but I may change it for a new part in the future.

The thin rubber gasket was in poor condition- dried out. These are now unobtainable. Mine has hardened and worn uneven, but its not broken so I will try to restore it with some rubber grease and siliconiser.

Looking inside the light unit the source of the rattling was obvious, not only was the free mounting nut shaking around, the bulb was also detached.

The bulb holder is removed by unscrewing the slotted screw at the top

Its not that complex and was in good condition although the copper contacts were bent out of position and wouldn't hold the bulb until bent back. The bulb appeared OK but twisted into two parts when trying to refit it! I ordered another. This is the low profile bulb

The rear reflector is held in place by a spring wire clip. This just squeezes together and lifts up to release the reflector. you have to remove the bulb holder though to get it out.

My reflector has become whitened and no longer as translucent as it used to be. This is due to discolouration of the inner plastic covering only. The reflector itself isn't affected. I will see if I can restore this but since replacements are not available, if I cannot restore transparency I will just cut the opaque plastic away as it seems to be separate anyway.

I cleaned and prepared the light unit before respraying this in aluminium effect engine paint. Finally I reassembled the unit and inserted a new bulb. I will test and assess it once I get the bike working and the electrics connected. I do anticipate needing to run a separate earth wire to the motor.