Hi to everyone out there. I am a recent new member. I am 54 years old, live in Bundaberg, Queensland Australia. I have a long term love of bikes and have always owned at least one or more. Back 25 years ago I was into vintage bikes and had 15 bikes ranging from BSA, Harleys, Indian, Douglas and AJS. Like a fool, one day I woke up and advertised the lot, selling them all except a BMW I was then riding. In the last 2 years I have agin purchased a couple of old bikes. I am presently riding a 2009 Ducati 1098S which is just a bit fast for an old guy but i love it. I also have an immaculate 1980 Ducati SD darmah. In the shed out back I have an immaculate AJS 18S which I purchased fully restored. It's a beautiful bike but I was very dissapointed to find that it has a bad oil leak somewhere in the centre join of the crank case. I have an unrestored fully complete BSA M20 which I intend to restore in the next 12 months. I also have a Dusting side car I would like to fit to this bike. My present project is a 1951 BSA 500cc twin. The engine number is AA72288 and frame ZA7S17558. This is the short stroke motor and there does not seem to be much info out there on these. I believe they were only made for two years. I am have no end of trouble locating a gasket kit for this bike and everyone I have contacted does not know of this model. Gaskets are different to the A7 long stroke. I have just contacted a fellow at MODAC after someone on this site told me about them. The fellow I spoke to actually new what a AA7 is and was very helpful. He is trying to put together the gaskets I need. I bought this bike fully restored and about two weeks later was hammering ( probably a bit too hard for an old bike ) it down a back road near my home when it started making a horrible fluttering noise in the motor. I have stripped it down and found that the main bearing on the drive side was spinning on the crank shaft. I have got the motor and barrels back into the bike but have not been able to progress any further until I get outer primary cover and head gaskets. Anyway that's a bit about me. Please do not hold it against me that I am a ducati nut but I have 2 BSA's and like them a lot. Any information about the AA7 would be great. I would love to hear from AA7 owners just to see how many of them are still out there.
