It's been a bit quiet here lately so I thought I would babble on a bit about my 1967 BSA.
I was going through a photo album when I came upon pics of the BSA I picked up in July 2000. Hard to believe that many years have passed
The bike had been running quite well when it was parked about two years before I bought it, but it wouldn't start after I brought it home. A carb plugged full of varnish from stale gas was the problem.
It was quite obvious that the wiring was a complete mess and I tried to sort it out. For the life of me (and I'm very poor at electrical matters) I couldn't make sense of it.
Eventually, I came to the conclusion that the wiring harness was from another BSA model and "modified" to make it work. Well, the bike did run, and everything did work OK, but the wiring was a mess of multi-coloured wires spliced together.
You can see the mess I was confronted with as I attempted to sort it out. I pulled out the entire mess and fitted a completely new harness.
With the forks exposed (and leaking) I removed them one at a time and rebuilt them. I don't think they had ever been apart due to the amount of dirt and crud that was in each one.
That effort was worth the time as the bike is quite smooth on the road for the age and technology. I often spend 200 mile (320 km) days in the saddle on club runs and don't feel the least bit beat up when I get home.
Later on I completely rebuild each wheel and hub with s/s spokes and chrome rims; fitted new sprockets and chain; had the head rebuilt, and fitted a new Amal carb - along with many other bits and pieces until I got it the way I like it.
The bike was awash with rusty and damaged nuts and bolts all which needed replacing as I went along.
I've been riding the bike every summer since 2001 which is close to 8,000 miles (12,800 kms) and the bike has never failed to bring me home.
As far as I know, there isn't another one like it around here (at least I've never seen or heard of one) so it gets quite a bit of attention out on the road.
I was going through a photo album when I came upon pics of the BSA I picked up in July 2000. Hard to believe that many years have passed
The bike had been running quite well when it was parked about two years before I bought it, but it wouldn't start after I brought it home. A carb plugged full of varnish from stale gas was the problem.
It was quite obvious that the wiring was a complete mess and I tried to sort it out. For the life of me (and I'm very poor at electrical matters) I couldn't make sense of it.
Eventually, I came to the conclusion that the wiring harness was from another BSA model and "modified" to make it work. Well, the bike did run, and everything did work OK, but the wiring was a mess of multi-coloured wires spliced together.
You can see the mess I was confronted with as I attempted to sort it out. I pulled out the entire mess and fitted a completely new harness.
With the forks exposed (and leaking) I removed them one at a time and rebuilt them. I don't think they had ever been apart due to the amount of dirt and crud that was in each one.
That effort was worth the time as the bike is quite smooth on the road for the age and technology. I often spend 200 mile (320 km) days in the saddle on club runs and don't feel the least bit beat up when I get home.
Later on I completely rebuild each wheel and hub with s/s spokes and chrome rims; fitted new sprockets and chain; had the head rebuilt, and fitted a new Amal carb - along with many other bits and pieces until I got it the way I like it.
The bike was awash with rusty and damaged nuts and bolts all which needed replacing as I went along.
I've been riding the bike every summer since 2001 which is close to 8,000 miles (12,800 kms) and the bike has never failed to bring me home.
As far as I know, there isn't another one like it around here (at least I've never seen or heard of one) so it gets quite a bit of attention out on the road.
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Very nice bike Rocky. You did a terrific job. I love thumpers.
