Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Old-Nail]

Here are a few pic's of my new classic bike, a 1970 650 BSA.

I really wanted a Thunderbolt model as although they are a little slower being single carb' they're much simpler to keep in tune.

Anyway this one came along first, it has been fully rebuilt to a pretty decent standard and it starts first kick which is encouraging!



The motor seems to be oil-tight (impossible I hear you say) and there is very little evidence of wet sumping when left stood for any amount of time.



Notice the flatter European bars although this is a US export model as can be seen by the smaller fuel tank.



I think this old girl will allow me to run around in style over the summer, I'm planning to have the bike re-sprayed as the original paintwork would have been a metallic colour, and I will re-fit a pair of export raised 'bars when I find a pair for that relaxed cruising mode!

[Uncle Joe]

And very nice it looks too....congratulations!

UJ

[Stuchamp]

It's a Looker, Cool!

[welder]

That's a good looking motorcycle. Enjoy!

Ian

[welder]

Forgot to say.....you may want to reconsider changing the bars for higher ones. When I first had my 650 Trophy it had raised, slightly sweptback bars. I didn't like them much so replaced them with some flat ones. The result? Much better performance from the front brake, a seriously noticeable inprovement brought about by the fact that the new bars put more of my weight towards the front of the bike. As we all know the front brake on any bike does the lion's share of the work.
I mentioned this to our kid who was running a 650 BSA Rocket with raised bars at the time. He swapped to flatter bars and found identical results.........just an observation.

Ian

[Old-Nail]

Hi Welder thanks for the tip, I can see the reasoning in that.

In the end I did change the bars over but not for the reason of preference, the UK style bars fitted actually caught the fuel tank on full left lock!



When manhandling the bike past my other bike in the garage the bars hit the tank and chipped off the paint!



I checked the lock-stops for damage etc but they were spot on, the bars looked ok (not bent) but they did touch on the left. (see below)



Anyhow I spent a couple of hours today re-tightening the steering head bearings which had worked lose and changing over to the slightly raised US spec' bars and they are perfect!

Finally, regarding the front brake - when I picked up the bike the previous owner warned me to "watch that front brake it's a bit sharp".... well, sharp was an understatement - you could stand this thing on its nose which probably accounts for the steering head bearings working lose.

With the new bars fitted the brake is still very good I'm pleased to say, it may well have lost some efficiency but not noticeably so.... however, the clutch is now around 20% heavier due to the cable run!

I guess I'll now develop a strong left wrist to match the strong right wrist I developed as a teenager!