The BSA A7-A10 Forum
Technical (Descriptive Topic Titles - Stay on Topic) => Lucas, Ignition, Charging, Electrical => Topic started by: Ewen on 04.10. 2025 13:23
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Good evening gentleman (and others)
My 56 Gold Flash is hard to start and I think it's the magneto.
Has anyone installed electronic ignition and if so would you recommend it?
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I have had one of the first Trispark ignitions on my T160 since they first came out and it has been a brilliant improvement. So I bought one of their units for a "special" A10 I was building using the early commando type points distributor, I have now gone back to a magneto which seems to suit the bike much better. spend your cash on a quality magneto refurb and you will not regret it in my opinion.
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Why do you think “it’s the magneto?”
Have you cleaned and set the points?
The Wassell/Vape electronic ignition in a magneto replacement housing works well for me, but I have a 12 volt alternator.
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I've fitted a 12 volt Boyer Bransden system and not had any problems, yet. All the electric components on my 1960 GF have been converted to 12 volt, I think that's needed for it all to work properly.
I'm sure loads of members have converted to 12volt. I can't say if i regret the conversion or not because i never ran my bike on it's original 6 volts as i converted it as soon as i got it.
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G'day Ewen.
I've had Boyer in both my A's since the early 90's. Both on 12v with DVRII's. The only problem is if the dynamo gives up the ghost and voltage drops to 10v the ignition reverts to full advance making starting very difficult. A fully charged 4ah battery will run the bikes for about 1 hour.
The advantage of a magneto is you don't need a dynamo or battery to run the motor.
Cheers
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Stick with a rebuilt reliable mag. Billions of hours-run don't lie...
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To do it properly, take 2nd mortgage on house. Put latest rendition of Trispark on my A10. Like Musky running DVL II. after converting to 12v. Old dyno struggled to keep up, so $900 later, fitted flash harry 12v one. Runs like a rocket now but bloody expensive way of doing it.
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Today’s 50-mile ride was another testament to my 70-year-old K2F. The only real work done on it has been EasyCap, new bearings, new points, new insulating gasket and remagnetization, and I did not have to pay anyone for that labor, as it was all DIY (thanks to a local magnet supplier who was interested enough in my project to volunteer the use of one of his magnetizers).
Richard L
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Obviously I'm biased as I run a magneto refurb business. I can't understand why anybody would fit electronic ignition if using the bike in a normal day-to-day way. The obvious advantage of a magneto is it is a stand-alone ignition system so it doesn't matter what other problems you may have with the electrics and the magneto will get you home. When these bikes were new they ran perfectly well for many years on the original magneto. Nowadays, the quality of insulation and capacitors is better than original, so a proper refurb should see the magneto returned to 'as good as new' condition. OK, we're dealing with old stuff so, occasionally, things will go wrong, but most reputable magneto restorers give an unconditional two-year warranty. The cost of a refurb is i.r.o £300 which is probably a bit more than electronic ignition but there are lots of different electronic kits on the market, each with their idiosyncrasies and some requiring the additional cost of 12v conversion. The reason magnetos have a reputation (amongst some) for unreliability is because the service life of a magneto, when new was about 15 years, depending upon mileage covered. Most magnetos which pass through my workshop have never been refurbished, consequently they have become unreliable and caused frustration, but this is because owners are trying to run them 50 years beyond their service life! You wouldn't expect that of anything else, so why expect it of a magneto?! Maintaining a magneto is fairly simple; check the points annually, keep the earth track and slip ring clean and that's about it, provided the magneto has been restored properly. Anecdotally, our club rode to Assen last year. There were about six A10's on the trip and we covered a combined mileage of about 2500 miles. The only bike we had a problem with was the A10 with electronic ignition which stopped due to a loose wire somewhere in the loom! On inspection, there were lots of nasty, crimped, wires around the ignition coil which looked messy and led to the failure. When traveling in a large group and for long distance we take a spare magneto with us, which can be changed in about 45 minutes at the side of the road if necessary, though, in 20 years of being part of our club, we've never had to do that.
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Well, CB has reminded me that my DIY magneto work also included replacement of slip ring, earthing brush, pickup brushes and holders. I think I might just be lucky. Based on what I’ve read (some from CB, I believe), it seems likely that there would be some extent of winding leakage, however, since starting the bike from warm these days is about three kicks (versus one, from cold), I’m taking that as acceptable. I suppose the continued usability of my mag may be due to less than 15,000 miles on it since I bought the bike in 1973. NOTHING here should be taken as me comparing or debating magneto knowledge or service skills with CB. He is a guru ji *respect*. If my work on the mag gets to the point of useless, you bet I’’m getting professional help. I suppose the mag could go in a suitcase and get through UK customs. *doubt* ;D
Richard L.
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G'day Ewen.
I've had Boyer in both my A's since the early 90's. Both on 12v with DVRII's. The only problem is if the dynamo gives up the ghost and voltage drops to 10v the ignition reverts to full advance making starting very difficult. A fully charged 4ah battery will run the bikes for about 1 hour.
The advantage of a magneto is you don't need a dynamo or battery to run the motor.
Cheers
Very interesting. Thanks for that.
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Obviously I'm biased as I run a magneto refurb business. I can't understand why anybody would fit electronic ignition if using the bike in a normal day-to-day way. The obvious advantage of a magneto is it is a stand-alone ignition system so it doesn't matter what other problems you may have with the electrics and the magneto will get you home. When these bikes were new they ran perfectly well for many years on the original magneto. Nowadays, the quality of insulation and capacitors is better than original, so a proper refurb should see the magneto returned to 'as good as new' condition. OK, we're dealing with old stuff so, occasionally, things will go wrong, but most reputable magneto restorers give an unconditional two-year warranty. The cost of a refurb is i.r.o £300 which is probably a bit more than electronic ignition but there are lots of different electronic kits on the market, each with their idiosyncrasies and some requiring the additional cost of 12v conversion. The reason magnetos have a reputation (amongst some) for unreliability is because the service life of a magneto, when new was about 15 years, depending upon mileage covered. Most magnetos which pass through my workshop have never been refurbished, consequently they have become unreliable and caused frustration, but this is because owners are trying to run them 50 years beyond their service life! You wouldn't expect that of anything else, so why expect it of a magneto?! Maintaining a magneto is fairly simple; check the points annually, keep the earth track and slip ring clean and that's about it, provided the magneto has been restored properly. Anecdotally, our club rode to Assen last year. There were about six A10's on the trip and we covered a combined mileage of about 2500 miles. The only bike we had a problem with was the A10 with electronic ignition which stopped due to a loose wire somewhere in the loom! On inspection, there were lots of nasty, crimped, wires around the ignition coil which looked messy and led to the failure. When traveling in a large group and for long distance we take a spare magneto with us, which can be changed in about 45 minutes at the side of the road if necessary, though, in 20 years of being part of our club, we've never had to do that.
Hmm. Very interesting. Thank you.
I don't know if anyone in NZ refurbishes mags anymore.
Is this correct...
That would entail...
Rewind armature
New condenser.
New bearings
New cam ring
New slipping if necessary
How much would it cost?
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Why do you think “it’s the magneto?”
Have you cleaned and set the points?
The Wassell/Vape electronic ignition in a magneto replacement housing works well for me, but I have a 12 volt alternator.
Thank you for your response.
Yes I have cleaned and set the points. 4thou gap difference
Carb is spotless. Correct jets, slide. Needle position 3 ( middle)
Runs with good power sometimes so mechanically okay.
Temperamental starting but was running okay
Is spitting back and popping. Bit of back firing.
Some cut out under load on my hill.
Would die sometimes coming off idle.
One pot dropping out for a few seconds occasionally.
Seems to have decent spark at plugs but seems unusually constant and a bit red/yellow rather than the usual less frequent bigger blue spark.
Pretty sure no air leak.
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CB mentioned about 300 GBP. Not sure if it’s cheaper based on reusable components, or if the warranty requires the “All In” approach. I’m guessing he’ll clarify when he wakes up tomorrow.
Richard L.
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CB mentioned about 300 GBP. Not sure if it’s cheaper based on reusable components, or if the warranty requires the “All In” approach. I’m guessing he’ll clarify when he wakes up tomorrow.
Richard L.
£250 gets you a new armature fitted and remagnetisation. Most K2F's require an oil seal, maybe a slip ring which takes you to about £300. There's often a few other little bits and pieces which need faffing about with, so you're heading towards £325. The majority of invoices for mag rebuilds come in around £300, some a bit more, some a bit less. The most expensive mag i've evr done was about £375. I can supply a rebuilt mag off the shelf for less than that! The warranty applies to any work I've done. Sometimes a mag will turn up which has been refurbished previously. In this case I give the customer the option to retain the existing armature if it seems to be working OK. If that armature fails I will refurb again and only charge for the cost of the armature. I wouldn't charge the labour cost twice. I always speak to customers before commencing work to establish a clear understanding of what they want, based on my advice, and what the warranty covers if I'm only doing a partial job. I don't do work which is completely unnecessary. For example, in many cases, the existing bearings are fine.
Prices are here..... https://sites.google.com/site/priorymagnetos/services
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Hi Ewen,
If you get stuck in NZ, I had two Lucas jobs done in NSW. Contact below:
Repairs to Magnetos & Dynamos. 6v/12v Electronic Regulators
Ian (Swampy) March
PH: 65561521 Mob: 0424011767
That is in Mid-North Coast
Cheers Colin
Cols Edit 9Oct2025 : from Trevinoz: "Col, Swampy is at Swansea Heads, relocated Chris's business. The moblle number is still good but the home line is not."
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Thank you for your reply CB.
If you were in NZ I would be packaging my magneto right now.
Do people send you mags from NZ?
If so....do you know how much freight is?
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I don't know if anyone in NZ refurbishes mags anymore.
There's at least two people, one in Wanganui and one in Blenheim, I'm waiting to hear back with some contact details for you
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Possibly related, anyone have experience of these easycap “fixes”?
https://brightsparkmagnetos.com/products/pages/about
Edit: I have an electronic BTH mag on my A10 so avoided the need for a rewind, but someone I know who restores BSA’s for a living told me 9 times out of 10 a easycap fixes a duff mag.
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I don't know if anyone in NZ refurbishes mags anymore.Hi Ewen,
If you get stuck in NZ, I had two Lucas jobs done in NSW. Contact below:
Repairs to Magnetos & Dynamos. 6v/12v Electronic Regulators
Ian (Swampy) March
PH: 65561521 Mob: 0424011767
That is in Mid-North Coast
Cheers Colin
Hi Colsbeeza
Did you have mags refurbished?
Ewen
There's at least two people, one in Wanganui and one in Blenheim, I'm waiting to hear back with some contact details for you
Thank you for that. I am keen to know.
Ewen
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Thank you for your reply CB.
If you were in NZ I would be packaging my magneto right now.
Do people send you mags from NZ?
If so....do you know how much freight is?
Unfortunately, I've stopped doing work or retailing abroad. The cost of administration is prohibitive for a one-man-band. Sorry about that.
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Possibly related, anyone have experience of these easycap “fixes”?
https://brightsparkmagnetos.com/products/pages/about
Edit: I have an electronic BTH mag on my A10 so avoided the need for a rewind, but someone I know who restores BSA’s for a living told me 9 times out of 10 a easycap fixes a duff mag.
BTH magnetos cost £744 in the UK
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Possibly related, anyone have experience of these easycap “fixes”?
Yes, and they work very well. The seller Groily (Bill) often posts here.
To do the job properly you still need to strip and isolate the old capacitor though, unlike an article in a classic rag some time back where they advocated just installation of the new chip.
There's no "fix" about it, they're very efficient.
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I've changed many a condenser for an Easycap, I think they're a brilliant piece of kit. On a K2f you'll need to strip the armature to cut the old condenser connections first though. Whether one could save an failing mag is debatable depending on what the original problem was.
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Ewen, I had two Lucas K2F magnetos repaired. I would follow kikaha's lead in NZ when he gets the contact details. I have no idea what freight is between Oz and NZ, and you pay it twice - over and back. My guess is that it would be expensive.
Col
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Thanks for that Rex and BSAreg.
Just to reinforce . . .
EasyCaps are only capacitors so they can't 'fix' defective mags if the problem lies elsewhere!
And you DO need to disconnect or remove the original condenser (as Rex also says) unless the old one has - unlikely - failed open circuit. They normally just deteriorate and become leaky so adding a second one in parallel doesn't necessarily 'fix' anything.
60K miles so far on an old AMC twin, about 50K on my A when I had it, and fewer but still, cumulatively, tens of thousands on a load of other machines, with mags, battery / coil etc, says they work OK. I have seen a few failures over the years, but 'fingers of hands'. There are a lot of the units out there. My only mag hassles in a long time have been a failed oil seal and a brush that ate a slipring (or vice versa).
I'm sure the BTH mag replacement is very good indeed, but I'm not sure who'd be able to fix it if it broke, apart from the maker. Someone sent me one to look at, and although I couldn't mend it, I could see what was wrong. Radio Spares probably had the bits for a tenner or less, but the repair cost the guy close to 300 squid. Which is close to what CB would ask for a typical full overhaul of an always-repairable instrument.
Anyway, I'm out of all that now except for helping local mates with diagnoses and hand-holding and pointing them to sources of bits and bobs or full overhauls. my old mate KenF's wife (Ken used to post on here years ago, but sadly died a decade back) and my daughter now do all that Brightspark stuff, while I sit on my fat backside, on the seat of something with an engine whenever I can.
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Possibly related, anyone have experience of these easycap “fixes”?
https://brightsparkmagnetos.com/products/pages/about
Edit: I have an electronic BTH mag on my A10 so avoided the need for a rewind, but someone I know who restores BSA’s for a living told me 9 times out of 10 a easycap fixes a duff mag.
BTH magnetos cost £744 in the UK
Oddly thats not much different to what I paid back in 2012, I think the BTH design has changed from having the electronics inside the mag to outside (which I guess makes repairs easier), mine just has the 2 HT coils outside. My B31 has a standard lucas mag, I thought it was far too expensive to go electronic on that bike so bought an armature rewound by a guy in NZ (sadly he passed not long afterwards).
There is postal service called “youpost” that kiwis could use to ship from uk to nz, I dont know if that would change your mind about doing mags for us. The only downside (for kiwis) is potentially paying both VAT and GST when the VAT should not really be charged, despite delivery being made to a UK address rather than shipped overseas.
https://www.nzpost.co.nz/tools/you-shop
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hi guy there is a guy his name is Warwick in NZ. He did a Mag rewind about 18months ago you will have to find his ph.no to see if he is still doing them, good luck.
Magneto and coil winding services
728 Waimutu Road Attn: Warwick.
RD2 Marton 4788.
New Zealand.
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hi guy there is a guy his name is Warwick . . .
Magneto and coil winding services
728 Waimutu Road Attn: Warwick.
RD2 Marton 4788.
New Zealand.
This email might still be good if it helps: [email protected]
It's been a while since we corresponded, but his Marton address is unchanged.
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Col,
Swampy is at Swansea Heads, relocated Chris's business. The moblle number is still good but the home line is not.
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This email might still be good if it helps: [email protected]
It's been a while since we corresponded, but his Marton address is unchanged.
I was given that same email address today as one of the two possible mag rebuilders to try
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hi guys just found Warwicks card so it may be usefull to give him a call,
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I Faver, Try-Spark ignition system, I have fitted 8 of them to BSA & Triumph twins over the last 10 years + and have not had any trouble with them, apart from one on a Triumph that cutout when blowing the horn, this was an easy fix, just fitted a capacitor across the horn contacts.
The downside is you have to go to 12 volts which is a bit of a problem for older bikes with 6 Volts, I done an A7 1958 up fitting the biggest 12V battery that would fit in the space available where the battery would normally go, and run it as total loss, as the Tri-Spark users about 1 Amp and will run ok down to 8 Volts, I fitted LED light all around, including indicators, I could do anormal club run about 150K over the day with ease. (Richard, Orabanda can attest to that).
The big plus side is, “TIMING” it is so easy to time the engine, and once set, you don’t have to look at it again, that alone is a big + for me.
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hi guy there is a guy his name is Warwick in NZ. He did a Mag rewind about 18months ago you will have to find his ph.no to see if he is still doing them, good luck.
Magneto and coil winding services
728 Waimutu Road Attn: Warwick.
RD2 Marton 4788.
New Zealand.
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Thank you for that.