New member with A7 from Jamaica

[estella]

Hi every one, i am from Jamaica, a small island in the carribbean and i am a vintage car & motorcycle collector on a hobby level. i have just taken ownership of what i belive to be a 1951 A7 going off the chassis number ZA7S-35793 and engine seems to be AA7S-2538 or thats what i could identify. I plan to restore this bike to be a rider if necessary and i was pleasantly surprised to see so many parts available for the old bike. What i have not seen anywhere so far is the gas tank< in the pic you will notice it has flanges at the rear that used to secure and bolt to the frame,there is no hole in the middle of the tank as what commonly seen. Any one who can lead me in the direction to getting a good fuel tank it will be greatly appreciated. I have bought a few books on the A7-A10 and expect a parts manual soon and is the solo seat available anywhere?
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy343/markalign/BSA1_zpsb1262fcb.jpg
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy343/markalign/BSA2_zps8b1eb995.jpg
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy343/markalign/BSA4_zps1a82f68d.jpg

1960 Bug eye sprite
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy343/markalign/BUGEYESPRITE.jpg

[Brian]

Hello Estella,
                  welcome to the forum, hopefully the guys on here can help you with any questions you may have.

The engine and frame numbers you have quoted are for a 1952 "Star Twin" A7, thats what the S in the engine number means. A very nice model to own.

The tank in the pictures is the correct one for a plunger frame bike, the ones you have seen with the hole in the middle are for the later swingarm frame models. I tried to find a decent picture of a 52' model on the net but could only come up with this one. The bike in this pic looks ok but does have the wrong kneepads.

I'm in Australia so not sure where you could access parts over your way, most parts are available in the UK but maybe Domiracer in the states would be a possibility for you. Getting a single seat will be easy, they are readily available at most shops that deal in old bike parts.

Good luck with it.

[estella]

Thanks,many thanks, i will post pics of the entire restoration once it gets underway(in a few weeks when i collect most required parts)

[Stephen Foster]

Hello "Estelle" ,

The parts You require are available in the U.K. if You cannot source them mearer to home ?
Hope You manage to get them .

Very Best Wishes,
Steve...

[gavinoz]

Hi Estella

I live in the bush in Australia now, but I was bought up in Jamaica, and have fantastic childhood memories of it.

I am old, and it was not long after independance that I was there.

Good luck with your bike, I have a rigid A7 Star Twin.

Have fun, gavinoz.

[a10 gf]

Hello & welcome, great to have a member form Jamaica! Am hoping the forum will be of good help. I've added a flag in your profile.

About the practical forum stuff, see posts in Forum Info & Help & http://www.a7a10.net/forum/index.php?topic=4723

[fido]

You will have a much better idea about which parts are wrong or missing when you get the parts book, as long as it covers the correct year.

[bsa-bill]

Hi Estella

And welcome, best of luck with the restore, mind once it's going none of that standing on the saddle doing the Bolt thing

[muskrat]

G'day Estella, welcome to the forum.
She looks to be in the same state as my "51 A7 when I got her 30+ years ago. Clean her up & get her going, you'll love the ride.
Cheers

[Zen Up 67]

Hi

Welcome to the forum, nice to know that another BSA has surfaced and survived the years, if there is an A7 in Jamaica then there must be spares waiting to be found there as well!
You will hopefully find out some history connected to how many BSA's made it over to Jamaica.

I think I may have seen an old B&W picture of a policeman sat on an A7 in Jamaica.

[estella]

Thanks for the very warm welcome extended to me by every one here. BSA was well represented here in the 60's by a company called Winged Wheels, they also sold Triumph motorcycles. There are a few 650's here such as thunderbolt(which i now own but not seen as yet) and spitfire but no one knows of any other A7 at this time. I was told this motorcycle was owned by a british bike(thats all you could find to collect back then) collector in the seventies, it was removed from a storeroom some time in the eighties with the intention to send to england for restoration, that never happened and it ended up being eventually left out for at least 10 years or so i was told by his family. Jamaica being a former british colony   so we had every thing british. Our Police force used Triumph from the fifties to the seventies and in early seventies they used Nortons 750 and 850 bikes so the brit bikes were in large numbers here, there were a few tridents and only one BSA rocket 3 that i can remember. The classic bike scene is just getting formalized here and we do have a new forum called classicmotorcyclesjamaica.com its new but every one here is welcome to check it out.         

[Rocket Racer]

If that tank is sound, I'd be looking at keeping it on the bike, hard to tell if its just the chrome peeling or the tank has rust holes.
I'd be tempted to follow Muskrats advice, just clean it up and use it!
Cool bike

[estella]

turns out the tank is in pretty good shape






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