Forum and bike builder newbie...

[Golden flash griff]

Well hi everyone,

My names Jay and a few weeks ago i became the proud owner of a 1950 A10 golden flash plunger (in bits I might add) this is my first bsa and first bike for that matter, so I'm looking forward to the whole build experience.

The chap I bought the bike off bought it in 1982 rode it for a few years and then tried to do some mods which were done badly which meant the bike stayed dry stored for 30 years...enter me! Unfortunately he had tried to lengthen the rear plunger section by about 4" and made a right hash of it, or his welder pal did!!! But on the plus side I bought it all with two frames, one of which the frame number does not add up but that can be a post for the future. Headless to say I'm going to use the front part from the frame I have the v5 for and the rear from the other. Sad as well is that the engine is a 56 but it seems in great condition so I'm hoping not to much needs doing to it to get her up and running.

I'm quite fortunate as my dad has two BSA's both handed down to him from my grandad in bits and he built them, one A10 super rocket and an A65. So where my dad fails to answer any of my questions I'm hoping all you guys can step in, and I'm guessing I'll have quite a few, one of which I'll be posting quite soon.

Anyway that's enough from me for now, looking forward to getting some great help and tips from you all and chatting to fellow BSA owner!!!

[RichardL]

Jay,

Welcome to the forum! Glad you decided to join us. That's a good introduction and a very interesting story. I think I can safely say that most here will be very interested in your progress and anxious to jump in and help when we can. Pictures, pictures, pictures. We really enjoy them regardless of the state of the project and they make offering help a whole lot simpler. If you've been watching the forum for a while, you already have some sense of the various levels of help you can get. I am among those who benefits frequently from our flock of A7/A10 gurus.

Richard L. 

[Golden flash griff]

Thanks Richard,

Well I've had the bike about 3 or 4 weeks now and crammed in every spare minute outside of wife and baby son time to start stripping parts etc, I really want to do as much myself as possible including all the paint stripping and re paint etc which is a labour intensive job but way more satisfying than sending parts off to be blasted. I'm a little worried that the purists here won't agree with my bobber style vision but be assured, where I can, all original bsa parts will be used!!

The past owner had planned to revert it back to original which makes his story of lengthening the frame all the stranger! He confessed that he knew nothing of British bikes and was out of his depth...which I now understand with some of the issues I'm finding already... Mainly parts of the frame welded unnecessarily but I guess that's part of the fun, and good way to learn how everything should be.

So far I've stripped the forks down and ordered all new stanchions and bushes etc, and have taken the frame and front wheel back to bare metal and primed (I'm not one for the shiny chrome bits...bit to Liberace for me) :) also I've removed the head and re seated the valves. Slow progress but enjoyable none the less.

I'll make sure I post pictures as I go but as I'm new to the whole thing this make take some time. Looking forward to lots of great help and advice.

Jay

[duTch]

 Gidday Jay, as richard says, yo're in the right place....eeeeerrr  ...
 
 As for purists, I can be one of them, but not here.when I started building mine it was like you no necessary intent to restore, but use as much factory parts as possible, but funny enough, it seems in the end, it turned out easier and better in most cases to actually use the proper parts (well mechanical/cycle parts at least) Mine is a kinda~'52 plunger too, it's great- you'll get a good kick out of it. Is that your Dads' yella terra..? Looks like a scrambler..?

 Good luck with it, what part of the planet you on..??

 

[Golden flash griff]

Hey Dutch, 

Cheers for the friendly welcome mate!

Good to hear on the purists side of things, definitely want as enjoyable and easy build as possible so as many original plunger parts used as poss. Just a few tweaks here and there, one being the 16" rear wheel that came with the bike, I like the phat look :)

Yep it's the old mans, it sounds lovely, can't beat the rumble of a classic british bike. Yeh does have a bit of a scrambler look to it, not sure if that was his intention. He's also building a plunger up but putting a A65 engine in it, bit of a frankenbizza I think!

I'm based in the sunny old UK down on the south coast of Brighton! Yourself?

[a10 gf]

Thanks for the fine intro post, & welcome.

looking forward to getting some great help and tips

Am hoping the forum members will provide what may be needed.

[duTch]

 Yo Jay- don't be surprised if I call you Griffo sometimes . Thought that R-wheel looked a bit fat, I have a 4.00 - 18 Metzler Enduro2 on mine, gives about ~10mm clearance from the chain(front is a matching 3.00 - 21.51 E1), so I guess it has a bit of a scrambled look too..

 I'm one of those antipodeans you hear of occasionally, Sunny state of OZ, where we just had a bit of a T'storm, which I had to run into to get out of and almost outran it, but then once over the bridge had to go back into it to get back to the ranch- bugga..! second time in six days...but nice to remember how it feels !
   On the upside, up on the hill where it came from there was apparently hail enough to need a snow plough....!

[Golden flash griff]

Haha Griffo is fine by me mate, been called a lot worse

Can't beat a good thunder and lightning storm, seem to be getting quite a few here recently, I wake in the night with a wife securely attached to my leg, can't understand the terror, I think they are great! Sounds like you kept running in the wrong direction and then going back on yourself 

Ranch ay, wish I had that kind of space...assuming you have bundles of it putting ranch and not 3 bed end of terrace with small garden and no garage  man I do wish we got more bang for our buck here in blighty, everything is tiny and expensive but oh well we make do, I'm building my bike in my garden in a 5x7 shed...that's dedication for you 

[Topdad]

Hi jay, welcome to the forum as you already have seen the magic of these bikes is world wide ,in your first post you've been answered by great guys from the USA ,Australia and Norway, makes me in the UK (Liverpool ) seem very tame !  Your old man will be able to help you a lot plungers morhped into the s/arm bike and retained alot of the same engineering ,BSA were to say the least tight and used as much of what went before as they could in the new(er ) models.  I'm sure any questions you ask will get a positive reply . Anyway enjoy and keep the piccys and posts coming ,best wishes BobH.

[duTch]

 Wow- 5x7....luuxury..

 that's almost bigger than my whole 'Ranch-house'.. true..

  I might've outrun it if I'd've turned right instead of left first, but elected to hit the 'freeway' to avoid traffics and lights, but made me scoot along the edge of it...didn't get very wet, and had a chance to test out the newish oilskin jacket (that was subject of an earlier topic), worked ok over the shortish distance

[bsa-bill]

Hi Jay and welcome, sorry I won't be able to input much as my knowledge of plungers is practically nil .
We don't have any (far as  I know) rivet counting tut tutters so do it your way, the smile comes when the wheels are turning, ( although slackening and tightening nut has a bit of an addiction also )

[Golden flash griff]

Hey Bill,

Thanks for the welcome and also thanks for the backing of my un original approach. Your totally right, I really can't wait to have her built and take her out for that first ride, going to be a big rush and also a massive achievement for myself knowing I pretty much built it all up myself.

Look forward to keeping everyone updated of my progress!

Jay

[Butch (cb)]

As an aside – I shouldn’t necessarily be in so much of a hurry. My A10 build was mostly subcontracted out in big lumps so is less relevant, but I built up my H1 (sorry all) from someone else’s complete strip down (in 1985). I really enjoyed the eighteen months garage time I devoted to the project up until the point I started it. After that it was just another bike that wouldn’t bloody run properly.

[muskrat]

G'day Jay, I must have missed your entrance while I was away. Belated welcome, and a flag.
You'll love the plunger, I love mine. Great bikes that handle better than they should. My only gripe is the lack of ground clearance and with a 16" rear wheel it would be less. Keep us posted on progress and remember there's no such thing as a stupid question.
Cheers