It's a Small, Small World.

I don't know if it's fate, but the Pedigree BSA build is living up to its' name.  First, have a look at this photo (I'll explain why it's important in a sec):

When I bought the bike, I promised the previous owner that I'd let me know how it goes.  I even remembered to write down all his info and staple it into the front page of the manual.  I found it while I was researching, so I figured I'd get in touch.  Sure enough, he called he back and was super exited to hear that I've been getting the build going again.  He sent me his email and facebook link, so I thought I'd check out some of the motorcycle pictures he'd posted.

Like almost all of us vintage bike nerds, he goes out to Vintage Bike Days in Ohio every year, and he posted this picture of an amazing BSA hill climber with a history of a lot of wins.  Originally, the bike belonged to Earl Bowlby, and was his racer.  Does that name sound familiar?  Earl's the guy who I've bought all my parts from, and has given me all the little bits of advice when building the motor.  Small world.

The hill climber bike's now owned by Mark, who raced it back in the day.  It sits in his garage, which is where he and I are building my motor.  Smaller, smaller world.

You Pay For What You Get.

I dropped off my crank last week to get ground to spec.  I left the book so in case they had questions, they could see all the tech data.  This was Quinlan Automotive in Indy, by the way.  I asked, what's the estimate?  They said about $70.  Okay.

I picked it up today, and was a bit surprised.  First, the bill was $110.  WHA?  Then the tech went on to explain that they not not only did the proper grinding, but they had to drain the grease trap, which help over a pound of sludge, before they could do the grinding.  Oops.  I was intending to do that, but didn't realize that I should have done it first.  Anyhoo, the not only cleaned the crank to new condition, but they reset it with new divots, too.  Also, they ground the crank AND the bearing to match, so it would fit perfectly, and not constitute a bigger bearing if I wanted to redo it in 20 years.

They also said that this was the first BSA crank that they'd done in 40 years, and were all very interested in it.  Part of me says that I got charged an extra $20 since it's an expensive rare bike, and they could get me to pay it.  Another part of me says, it's an expensive rare bike, and it's really tough to do it right.

Lo and behold, I'm told that I paid well under what a Harley guy would have paid for the same thing, so at worst it's a respectable rate.

Also, Mark had to go to a benefit that was honoring his dad tonight, so the bottom end goes back together tomorrow.  (On the plus side, I found the extra motor stud for my friend Mike's CL175, so he saves $20 and I get some credibility.)

*addendum - The planets misaligned and we couldn't get together last night.  No worries, since with a bit of luck, the 0.313 (7.95mm) reamer will come in the mail in the next few days and we can do the top and bottom end together.

Integrated Taillights

I want to do something new and unique with the tail lights, since most of the time they look like they've been bolted on as an afterthought, and are goofy.  I started looking at modern sport bikes, since they tend to have really cool integrated lights with LED turn signals in them, and so far, I found something that might work:

This is from a Yamaha YZF R6, and just might work out, if I flip it upside down, or modify the mounting bracket.  The annoying part, is that all the tails on these bikes are either ugly as shit, or have tails that are long on top, and short on the bottom - completely backwards for a traditional cafe tail.  Anyway, it's just a thought so far, and I've got a lot of research to do, but so far, I like this idea.

I Love and Hate the BSA Design

I think it was Abraham Lincoln who said, "You can please all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time."  With the design on the mid 60's BSA's (A50 and A65), I feel that BSA was trying to make a bike that adopted too many styling trends, and made a genuinely confused bike with a multiple personality disorder.

Here's what the stock bike looked like:

First, the engine is spectacular.  It's sleek, modern (for the era) and minimalist to the point that many folks called it "the egg".  There are some classic elements mixed in which do well to be great accents.  The exhaust mimics the simplicity with a subtle curve, ending in a nice, clean muffler.  These small, but interesting accents apply to the front wheel hub as well, since it's a clean, form-follows-function design, with only the slightest accent in the brake air scoop.  That's where the genuine BSA personality ends, and the anarchy begins.

The tank tries to be too "chopper-esque", following some of the American trends, and lacks the uniqueness that sets the British bikes apart.  It's covered in chrome and teardrop shapes that simply don't work for this type of bike in this era.

Just like the early 80's Hondas, the frame employs too much of a cruiser shape, with overly drastic angles.  However, the down tube and rear end are thankfully still in the straight-frame style, so a specialty tank can compensate for the abundance of angle.

The handlebars are halfway between a cruiser and an off-road bike.  This goes even further with the front end, have "scrambler style" forks rather than a road bike.  The gauges are bulky and overwhelming, bolted on as an afterthought.

The seat screams cafe bike, but is saddled (pun intended) with the idea of a comfortable ride for 2 people.  Of course, that's understandable for any production bike, but looks just plain ugly.  Add the goofball grab bar and the "too short for a cruiser, too long for a sport bike" rear fender, and you've got a mushy mix of neither.  Additionally, the angle of the rear shocks tends to be to vertical to be sporty, but not vertical enough to look classic.

You're probably asking, "Then why would you buy it, if you think it's so ugly?"  First, I'm not doing a restoration.  I'm doing a resto-mod.  The saying usually goes, "The whole is greater than the sum of its' parts", but in this case, the individual parts are spectacular, contrary to the stock design.  Rickman thought so, Clubman thought so, and now Ben thinks so.  The beauty of this bike is in the details, and even though the big cumbersome parts that stick out like Prince Charles ears are unsightly, the goal is to take the amazingly unique, intriguing bits and accent them.

I like a challenge.

(addendum - half of the challenge is convince the wife that it's not ugly, since her taste is wildly different to mine.)

The Original

BSA Goldstar Clubman.  Starting point.  Of course, this is a totally different bike (pre-unit), has a lot of unnecessary extras, such as all the additional bits and pieces, such as the garb bar, rear fender stuff, etc., that I'm going to slim down on my bike.

However, this tank is BSA appropriate for a cafe bike.  It's an original style, with the knee indents and is historically accurate.  However, I find it slightly bulbous and bulky, so if I have a tank custom built, I'll definitely work on "sleeking it up".

For example, here's what I consider to be the most beautiful cafe bike I've ever seen:

 

It's called the Bonita Applebum, and the builder started with a Honda CB350, and honestly had less experience than I do when it comes to bike building.  The tank and seat set is standard stock from Benji's Cafe Racer, and it's called "The Dolphin".  What makes it amazing is the sleek, straight line on the bottom of the tank, through the seat and the frame.  That's a design detail that I'm adamant about recreating.  The knee indents are similar to the Goldstar, and there's a fabulously beautiful simplicity of line work in the overall tank and seat combo.

Unfortunately, the BSA frame has a significantly more drastic angle on the center up-tube, on which the tank sits, so the tank will have to incorporate are much more strategic channel, as well as the difficulty in mounting, since the BSA tank mounts through a hole in the center.

All in all, it's a challenge, but could in the end lead to a much more amazing design.

Pretty Motor

The guys at Falcon Motorcycles have a lot of similar ideas as to what makes a motorcycle beautiful.  First and foremost - the motor.  This is a little bit of inspiration as to why I'm choosing to get some of the bits and pieces brass plated.  It's not wholly original, but just an amazing accent.

Additionally, this is what it should feel like:

In Too Deep

I wish I could say things were going good, but they're not... they're going GREAT!  Slowly but surely, everything's coming up roses.  First and foremost, I was introduced and now buy my parts from Earl Bowlby - a BSA racing legend.  He's in his 80's and spends half the year in Florida, but he's always really happy to get on the phone and help a guy out.  He's also selling me rare parts at 1987 prices, so that's more than I could ever hope for.  This is why vintage motorcycles are better than store-bought - there's always a good story.

Every time I go over to Mark's shop, I learn a little more, and this past month is no exception.  I'd honestly say that this motor is a great thing to learn on, since it's simple, yet maintains principles that are continued with contemporary engines.  I'm going to break it up, just like the motor parts, to try and keep records, and help explain what we're doing...

Bottom end: Being a unit twin, the cases house the transmission, the clutch and a bijillion other little things, but most importantly, it houses the crank, which looks like this:

On the left side, we've removed the old bearing, and I've purchased a NOS one with a new race.  The crank itself is being ground down as we speak to fit the new -0.10 rod bearings (that's the smooth cylindrical part on either side of the big figgin' wheel in the middle).  On the right, the "timing side" bearing was also replaced in a flurry of fire and ice (we froze the bearing and heated up the case to get it to fit) with a -0.10 and the crank is being ground here as well to match by Quinlin Automotive her in Indy.  I'd love to say that this part was easy, but it wasn't.  All-in (with amazing prices on the bearings) We're at $200 to rebuild the crank.  However, it's a small price to pay to make the bike run smoothly for another 40 years.

Top end: I have to say that whenever you pull out a big acetylene torch to super-heat metal, it's nerve wracking.  Here's the top end:

 

I polished the crap out of this, and it looked awesome, then we hit it with the torch to get the old valve guides out and got carbon all over it, so I've got to polish it again.  Derp.  The new guides went in pretty easily, but after lots of measuring, they need to be honed to 0.313 (7.95mm) for the new valves, which requires a new specialty reamer.  We tested the springs, and they're all in good shape, so that's at least something I don't have to buy.  So far, we're talking $175 to recondition and rebuild it.  Ugh.

Pistons/Cylinder: My first thought was to take my cylinder, get new pistons at +0.40 over and bore it out.  That would have cost $500.  Shit.  Now, my pistons are in great shape.  They're Hepolite +0.20, and I have brand new rings for them.

Instead...  I bought a used cylinder for $90 that I can bore out to +0.20 and not feel bad about.  Genius.  I can use my good race-quality pistons and rings, and get rid of a cylinder that already had a chip in the bottom.  All I have to do is clean it up and repaint it with engine enamel and it's as good as new.  (It's currently sitting in customs from Canada, because they might think it's a bomb.)

Apologies for the long post, but it's starting to look like the engine might actually come together, and I'm starting to learn a thing or two about how crazy-tough engines are to build.