BSA Golden Flash

It took some doing, but the forks are now mounted on the frame. The reproduction expensive English bearing cups for the frame have their races cut too “high” up in the cap–almost a millimeter each. I didn’t note this, as they are the same external height as the originals, until I had mounted them in the frame. Alas, once there, they were not coming back out. So with the help of my friendly machine shop, we turned the lower triple clamp so that the bottom race sat correspondingly lower. This was fiddly and required much trial and error. Ugh.

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Sorry for the very long delay in getting anything further up here. Recently I finally got my cycle parts out of storage, and that allowed me to take them to my painter. He did a bang-up job, though I’m sure the cost is quite appalling to some of you. But so was the condition of some of the pieces!

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I haven’t quit, I’m just running waaaay behind where I thought I was going to be.

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Well, so much for being done by spring. I really haven’t started yet…though I guess that’s only partially true. A new hoped-for “first kick” is in time for the big local ride in late August, early September, but making that will take a miracle:

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Now for the waiting game. Let us count the ways:

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Well, my pocket book has finally opened, though not much actual work has commenced.

I placed my “mondo order” with SRM Industries in the UK. They had a lot of what I needed…the order total came to about $2,600. Cough, cough. My only complaint thus far has been a lack of communication regarding the status of the order; they do not seem to monitor their email very well, and that leaves expensive and late night phone calls to try to find out its status. I’ll be interested in seeing whether my credit card was charged the minute I gave them the number, or whether they’ll do the more gentlemanly thing and wait until it ships. I know what my guess is…

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Not much has been happening these last few months. I drew up a large spreadsheet of parts that I need to “complete” my restoration, and started checking catalogs and sending lists around to various companies on the web.

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I’m about to send my speedometer away for repair, but I’m not sure I have the correct instrument:

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Ya know? The whole damn thing is disassembled.

OK, that’s not the entire truth, but the frame now rests in its barenaked glory on the floor of the basement, and the engine/gearbox is the only remaining large bit… I bought five gallons of simple green, a couple of buckets, and now have some steel cycle bits soaking in them. I’m also making a list of what’s needed and missing:

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These are some shots of the bike pretty much as it arrived. The only missing bits were the mufflers, battery, and the seat cover, as far as I can tell.

Work has since commenced on the strip down, and I have gotten as far as removing the engine. Dismantling the front forks is next, and then an assessment of what is salvageable and what isn’t will commence.

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