I am happy to report that things are moving along quite well with the BSA;
I had a couple of minor hiccups that have now been cured, mostly in the fork department. I don't have photos, however the originals were in horrendous condition. I could not get the cups off by any method available and had to do minor angle grinder surgery! Getting the fork tubes out was managed on one of the lowers, however I gave up on the second one. Luckily I found an appropriate set of lowers advertised as 'BSA Chopper forks' and won them for $30.00 USD on Ebay.
They arrived on Friday and I was able to clean them up and paint them by Sunday. I used some JB Weld epoxy to fill in some gouges and rough sections on the chrome.
I also decided to clean up the C11 mudguards with a wire wheel and cut off the bad/bent metal. By definition, this makes the bike a 'bob job' or 'bobber'. Being a seriously low budget build, I have to use what I have and buy as little as possible. Fortunately for me these C11 parts can be very nicely adapted to do the job!
The big parts pile did come with a rear hub with an extremely worn down sprocket. These are not the bolt on variety and are riveted to the hub. The only way to rectify this problem is to have the hub machined and a new sprocket welded on. This tip was courtesy of the aforementioned Elder Statesman during my last visit. Down the road for sure, but big dollars I simply don't have right now. Cruising the CVMG classifieds, I saw a number of Triumph Trophy 250 parts for sale/free from a member in Toronto. I asked if he had a rear wheel , he did (sans brake plate and shoes) and was kind enough to send measurements. I brought my rear frame and it was a lovely fit. As it turns out, the wheel is actually from a BSA C15 or B40. It has a giant 4.0 x 19 Dunlop trials tire (Made in England) that has probably been on it for 50 years. He let me have it for the princely sum of $20.00 so I was extremely happy. We chatted and he showed me his lovely Trophy that was having some teething problems, sadly I had little to offer in the way of help. Thank you again Bruce for the lovely visit and the wheel!
I began looking for a brake plate and bought an incorrectly advertised one on Ebay. Fortunately it was only $19.00 and arrived in a few days. I was able to use a couple parts from it, so I decided to keep it. Another Britbike forum member came through with a nice plate for $15.00 plus shipping.
Needless to say this has been merciful to my budget thus far. Not having access to my US mailbox, I had forgotten how brutal shipping costs to Canada are. Hopefully things will return to normal soon.
Back to the wheel.
I mentioned the rather huge tire on the back. A while ago I was given a NOS Pirelli MT53 tire that can be used on front or rear. This tire is 3.5 x 19 and should work out a lot better. That being said, that rear wheel does look rather good and it was made for serious business! It is just too big for this bike.
This BSA has been an excellent exercise so far and has allowed me to hone my new approach to building. I am now organized and fit everything on before I start spending serious money. I clean up and paint some parts such as the frame, but that would have had to be done anyway. The Cub wheel incident was the last straw and a turning point in how I do things. I keep the garage as clean as possible now and put tools back when they are no longer in use. Sweeping at the end of the work day is now routine behavior.
If I can make what I have 'in stock' work, the time to find out is now, rather than assume it will work later. That has caused me expense and heartache in the past and often left me buying parts I will likely never use. When I bought the Matchless, I should have taken what I had and fitted it together from the start. Instead, I started sending things out for blasting and powder coating before really knowing what the plan was. As I look back on seven years worth of blog posts, I can see my pattern of failure. Buy a project, get completely entrenched in it, spend money, get overwhelmed, lose interest and sell for a slight loss or break even sum. While I have certainly made money here and there, that was never my goal.
Seeing is truly believing and hindsight is what it is. I can't change the past, but I can certainly change the future.
Until next Time.....
I had a couple of minor hiccups that have now been cured, mostly in the fork department. I don't have photos, however the originals were in horrendous condition. I could not get the cups off by any method available and had to do minor angle grinder surgery! Getting the fork tubes out was managed on one of the lowers, however I gave up on the second one. Luckily I found an appropriate set of lowers advertised as 'BSA Chopper forks' and won them for $30.00 USD on Ebay.
They arrived on Friday and I was able to clean them up and paint them by Sunday. I used some JB Weld epoxy to fill in some gouges and rough sections on the chrome.
I also decided to clean up the C11 mudguards with a wire wheel and cut off the bad/bent metal. By definition, this makes the bike a 'bob job' or 'bobber'. Being a seriously low budget build, I have to use what I have and buy as little as possible. Fortunately for me these C11 parts can be very nicely adapted to do the job!
 |
| The cut down front mudguard. I kept the remaining piece (just in case) |
 |
| a P/O made some indentations for the forks (they were awful) |
 |
| Front and Rear (rear is a 2-piece part) |
The big parts pile did come with a rear hub with an extremely worn down sprocket. These are not the bolt on variety and are riveted to the hub. The only way to rectify this problem is to have the hub machined and a new sprocket welded on. This tip was courtesy of the aforementioned Elder Statesman during my last visit. Down the road for sure, but big dollars I simply don't have right now. Cruising the CVMG classifieds, I saw a number of Triumph Trophy 250 parts for sale/free from a member in Toronto. I asked if he had a rear wheel , he did (sans brake plate and shoes) and was kind enough to send measurements. I brought my rear frame and it was a lovely fit. As it turns out, the wheel is actually from a BSA C15 or B40. It has a giant 4.0 x 19 Dunlop trials tire (Made in England) that has probably been on it for 50 years. He let me have it for the princely sum of $20.00 so I was extremely happy. We chatted and he showed me his lovely Trophy that was having some teething problems, sadly I had little to offer in the way of help. Thank you again Bruce for the lovely visit and the wheel!
I began looking for a brake plate and bought an incorrectly advertised one on Ebay. Fortunately it was only $19.00 and arrived in a few days. I was able to use a couple parts from it, so I decided to keep it. Another Britbike forum member came through with a nice plate for $15.00 plus shipping.
Needless to say this has been merciful to my budget thus far. Not having access to my US mailbox, I had forgotten how brutal shipping costs to Canada are. Hopefully things will return to normal soon.
Back to the wheel.
I mentioned the rather huge tire on the back. A while ago I was given a NOS Pirelli MT53 tire that can be used on front or rear. This tire is 3.5 x 19 and should work out a lot better. That being said, that rear wheel does look rather good and it was made for serious business! It is just too big for this bike.
This BSA has been an excellent exercise so far and has allowed me to hone my new approach to building. I am now organized and fit everything on before I start spending serious money. I clean up and paint some parts such as the frame, but that would have had to be done anyway. The Cub wheel incident was the last straw and a turning point in how I do things. I keep the garage as clean as possible now and put tools back when they are no longer in use. Sweeping at the end of the work day is now routine behavior.
If I can make what I have 'in stock' work, the time to find out is now, rather than assume it will work later. That has caused me expense and heartache in the past and often left me buying parts I will likely never use. When I bought the Matchless, I should have taken what I had and fitted it together from the start. Instead, I started sending things out for blasting and powder coating before really knowing what the plan was. As I look back on seven years worth of blog posts, I can see my pattern of failure. Buy a project, get completely entrenched in it, spend money, get overwhelmed, lose interest and sell for a slight loss or break even sum. While I have certainly made money here and there, that was never my goal.
Seeing is truly believing and hindsight is what it is. I can't change the past, but I can certainly change the future.
Until next Time.....
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