1961 BSA Golden Flash or a rip off???

[rkhairajani]

Dear Friends,

I'm new to the world of British twins. Have in the past 20 years owned and extensively ridden a lot of Royal Enfields but got smitten over these british twins and I recently purchased a 1961 BSA Golden Flash, or thats what i think it is. I want to change the color scheme of the bike so gave it to a paint shop and when they dismantled the bike i noticed something strange about the chassis and certain weld marks on the frame.

Attaching the pictures for your kind reference.

The motorcycle runs beautifully with no noticeable vibration or shuddering of the frame but i found a couple of things strange in the frame.

The weld marks looks not out of a factory but done in a local workshop

From what i have read on this forum....Post 55 the braking was converted to "Rod" as opposed to the "cable based" braking system so why should there be the "cable based" braking system assembly on a 1961 frame.

Can i please request you fellow members to let me know if this indeed is a frame belonging to a 1961 golden flash or is this a modified frame with punched numbers.
 
Thanks and Regards

 

[Billybream]

For 1961 rear brake would be cable, the frame numbering looks ok.

[morris]

Hi and 

The welding doesn't look great I agree, but it does look like a correct swingarm headstock and 1961 frame number to me.
GF swingarm frames have the cable operated rear brake as standard.

[duTch]

 I thought only '54/5 had the rod operated brake until RGS (and copies) ?

[Clive54bsa]

That's a home made cable to rod brake conversion, I made a similar one for my '61 SR and it wasn't worth a damn. I went back to the cable brake, turned the drum true and turn the shoes on a friend's lathe. Then it was worth a damn and a half.
Clive

[rkhairajani]

Thanks a lot gentlemen.
It may be a genuine frame after all. The painter(who I must admit tends to over react) went to an extent of saying this is a single frame converted to mount a twin engine and the chassis number plate was welded on top. 
Appreciate all the response.
Thanks and Regards

PS:Re- painting the bike to the original dual tone black and gold.

[Rocket Racer]

some photos of my 60/61 super rocket for reference.
The gusset on your headstock is definitely an addition

[Brian]

The gusset is original. Its one of those hard to work out why things, some have the full height gusset and some dont.

I have a friend with several A10 frames and some do and some dont and there doesnt seem to be any logical reason why.

Attached is a pic of the head stem on my 1961 A10.

[Triton Thrasher]

Thanks a lot gentlemen.
It may be a genuine frame after all. The painter(who I must admit tends to over react) went to an extent of saying this is a single frame converted to mount a twin engine and the chassis number plate was welded on top. 
Appreciate all the response.
Thanks and Regards

PS:Re- painting the bike to the original dual tone black and gold.

A single frame has an easily spotted kink in the timing side lower frame rail.

A single frame doesn't need any real conversion to mount a twin engine.

[trevinoz]

The wrap around full gusset plate was introduced during 1960.
The early 1960 frames had the same plate as fitted since 1954.

[nimrod650]

Thanks a lot gentlemen.
It may be a genuine frame after all. The painter(who I must admit tends to over react) went to an extent of saying this is a single frame converted to mount a twin engine and the chassis number plate was welded on top. 
Appreciate all the response.
Thanks and Regards

PS:Re- painting the bike to the original dual tone black and gold.

a very near match is jaguar golden sand

[rkhairajani]

a very near match is jaguar golden sand

This shade is not available in Mumbai. Let me see if I can source it from UK or USA.

[Peter Gee]

You will be able to match the Golden colour I would imagine in Bombay, being there are so many auto shops there......sourcing the paint in UK or USA is very hard as the freight restrictions make it very very expensive to get even a litre to Bombay... If you look up Jaguar Golden Sand locally, you should get a close match and there will be high end custom shops in Bombay that will match colours, surely?. I live in Africa and we have Somali "unofficial"  freight couriers here cheaply but if I was coming via DHL or something it would be running hundreds of dollars. Also, paints have a colour mix..so googling around you might find a colour mix chart for "Goilden Sand" which then a good professional could match.

Try finding an equivalent of Jaguar Goilden Sand in the Azko Nobel  PAINTS RANGE.... or get from Jaguar Owners or general googling the  Jaguar Paint Code for Golden Sand, then google the paint code to try and get the mixing formula to give your chap.

[BSA_54A10]

Paint the bike black first then overcoat with the beige.
This will give you the early "golden Beige"
Paint it over a light undercoat and you get the latter flat creamy beige.