I don't know what you were doing to abuse that poor BSA. The Thunderbolt was the mildest tuned.

 

Was it the A65? 

Dunno about the A65 Flash.  It was a 650cc with a single carb & oil flow thru the frame.  British racing green.  I bought it in 72 as a new left over & I traded in after one year of one problem after another & being blown away by my buddy & his 450 Honda.  Replaced it with a new CB750 which was the first of 4 that I had.

 

T-Dog

 

I've got a feeling it might be this with single carb

 

1971 was a terrible year; take a look at the front brakes for a start the idea was the cable lining squeezed gainst the inner; in practice it jumped out.

 

Rear brake was the conical with no grip. but hey! You're talking longstroke high compression cylinders (which the Japs could never engineer hence their across the frame 4s.) So you don't need brakes just shut the throttle or in real emergency change down. No self respecting bro' had brakes on his Harley

 

These were the Oil in frame units, and mucho swarf was washed into the cylinders.

 

Another loss was bellows gaiters from the front forks which meant grit ran along the sliders.

 

Finally the frame was too high. The 1971-2 models killed off the previous good ones A 1968-9 Bonny costs 4 times the price of the '71. Why did you buy it?

 

Brakes and frame height were the worst features. but of course the unions loved the  Piece work rates, boys slap them together.

I went to the triumph website last night and saw some pretty nice looking bikes. Might look into them after the first of the year.

 

 

Mine, Hobbs. 10,000 trouble free miles in 2 years. The "sorted" Bonnie T140E.

 

Note front fork gaiters stp the crud getting into the seals Don't do it now.

Flash, it was a brand new leftover & I got a great price on it.  Since it was a 650 & my buddy had only a 450 Honda (double overhead cams thos) I thought I would blow him away on the street.  Much to my chagrin I could not.  Did not keep her long but I painted her hoodlum black, put high bars on her & new loud flow thru pipes.  It was the second worst bike I ever had, the worst being an AMF Harley FLH dresser.  What a total pig that one was.

 

T-Dog

Don't worry Tommy Any anti-British angle will suit you today; little go at Nigeria perhaps, WW1 rifles?

 

Sod off, I like to deal with friendly people on friendly posts not fire up on your anti-British contrivances.

 

My Bonneville was reliable and lasted well perhaps I didn't ride around screwing the guts out her and then whining about the British. Such a thing as mechanical sympathy as opposed to showing off you know. 

Flash, 10,000 miles in two years is hardly riding.

 

T-Dog

'Bout 90 per week. Not making any claims. 

#6

 

As was mentioned, your 1972 BSA was the nadir of the British big bike. Go back to 1966 - 1969, and you could have got this Bonnie

 

 

Twin leading shoe brakes not the ghastly conicals, lower frame, lovely paint job. But BSA and triumph were amalgamating in the infamous umberslade merger, union driven so BSA got the work and they did not have Triumph's expertise.

 

The new Bike epitomised by yours were the bean counters' solutions, even down to no gaiters on forks. (The Japanese were the same because they could not incorporate fitting them into their production lines).

 

And so it stayed until Triumph made their own as you've seen in pix of my Bonnie.

 

 

Flash, the Triumph always had better styling & fit & finish than the Beezers.  I also liked the style of the Norton Commando.  However at the time price was the object.

 

T-Dog

 

There are a lot of people would call you out on that one. 1964 BSA A10, 650 Pre-Unit. Note again twin TLS brakes. but thgis was the ultimate rocker's bike with low clip-on bars, fly screen, rear-set foot tests and gear lever. Beauty of pre-unit of course as you can see is they're a doddle to work on. But then BSA went to the unit A65, the precurser of your abortion

 

This is the '68 all sorted, then yours

 

 

Step backwards.

 

Finally clip on bars. BSA A10 The dream

That was my kind of bike Flash, the café racer. I spent a year converting my pre-unit Tiger 100 into one, by buying a new part every payday. It had a huge Dunstall tank and whenever I had to push start it, it shot off, with me hanging onto the clip-ons in a horizontal position and I always landed balls down on the tank. I tell-ya, it took balls to push-start that bike, although I did try my best to eliminate them! The clip-ons were so low, it was a nightmare to steer, but looked good and that’s what counts when you’re 19. It had upswept pipes, with reverse cone megas, which growled so viciously they frightened the knickers of little old ladies and caused them to throw their shopping in the air. Great fun at the time. Everytime I got up to 80MPH I had to stop and retighten everything back up. Wish I still had a photi of it. But I’ll tell you what, it was amazingly reliable for an old Brit and once started, never ever broke down. It once performed an amazing feat, which I’ll tell you about later.

re15 who's that on the bike?

Dunno squire, you want him to make you an offer?

 

That A65 is half way along the Rocker route. Needs TLS or else alloy drums, proper headlight and he's there.

 

I note your Triumph was the T100. Word was that where all our big bikes should have stayed.

 

I mean the Dommie should never have morphed to the 750 Commando. 850 was more reliable like the 750 bonnie was compared with the 650.