My name is Mike Hutchins and I am getting ready to reassemble my A10SR engine.
I previously had an A50 Royal Star. In fact, if you go to the BSA wikipedia page the Royal Star halfway down the page on the right is mine.
I sold it to a guy who owns a chain of restaurants called British Beer Company. He hung it on the wall of one of his new restaurants in Massachusetts.
I've always dreamed of having a Super Rocket, especially the better ones produced between '61-'63. Mine is a '63. It has all the bells and whistles. Larger tank, luggage rack, crash bars, etc.
I bought it complete and half-restored from some guys in Rhode Island. Their friend owned it and was in the middle of restoring it when he got cancer and died.
I got a great deal on it. Thing is, i had to make a deal with the devil (wife) to sell both of my bikes (the A50 and a '76 Honda CB550 cafe) in order to buy it.
Since i really wanted the pre-unit A10 and knew that i could always get another 550F, i bought it.
Don Hutchinson in Wakefield, Mass. has just finished boring the cylinders a few thousandths, honing and getting me some new pistons. From what they told me, the cylinders were different sizes and it would only be a matter of time before the larger one started smoking. i guess there is an allowable difference between the two but mine was too great.
The reason i pulled the engine apart and split the cases was to check the sludge trap. I've learned its always best to go through a new bike. It can save a lot of agony down the line. It happened to be very clean. The engine looks brand new inside and out and i expect it to take me a few weeks of putting it back together carefully, getting my new Avon tires put on and installing all new cables before i'm finished with her.
I will undoubtedly have some questions during the assembly process.
