Introduction

[berger]

hello ime keith from Derbyshire uk ,owner of a bsa for 40 years she is a 500 shooting star café racer been on and off the road as you do with these old bikes. not clever on computers , still in steam age. but learning, be patient taking lessons from a friend

[RoyC]

  Keith.

Roy.

[muskrat]

G'day Keith, welcome to the Forum.
There's a few Cafe racers on here. I love mine but finding it hard to fold myself up to ride very far.
Any chance of a close up of the rear sets and linkage (both sides).
Cheers

[berger]

thanks for the welcomes, I don't have a camera phone but I think you can enlarge that picture because ive just done it. I just drilled the frame for riders footrest when very young and in a hurry, same on drive side, over the years I had to make supports to stop them squeezing the frame tubes

[a10 gf]

A well looked-after Sport-Custom-Racer :O)

Welcome to the forum, thanks for intro post.

[Greybeard]

Welcome! Bike looks good. Is the petrol tank original?

[berger]

petrol tank is 70s Honda CB360 so enables full lock without trapping thumbs, kick start is either quak or suzi for a better throw , she runs 8 to 1s with about 20 thou off the head and 10 thou off barrel top and the good bit is after many hours playing with gearing she followed a car doing over a ton, at about 6000rpm , once achieved I slowed down, a very wise idea!

[Sluggo]

Looks like a well sorted and function cafe custom.  Nice!,  I was hoping you might detail a bit about the engine and gearbox,  Did you rebuild them yourself and any mods??

I am keen to hear about final compression, you mentioned 8:1s and then some shaving/decking, So do you recall was the pistons specced at 8:1 and hepolites or something more exotic?  And then, by chance did you measure the final compression?  (After machining)

Any head work done besides std?  I see you have a Mikuni!  Good man,, I like them as well (The VM series especially but I am trying a HSR on one of my Buells which is a totally different carb.)  That carb was actually developed and designed by Amal and offered to BSA-Norton-Triumph with no takers so was sold under license to Mikuni, and some are surprised to hear that relationship of AMAL designs goes back to the 1920s.

May I inquire on size of carby and any tuni ng or jetting changes or as it came out of the box?  Is it working well for you?

What about ignition?  Any issues there or upgrades?    I appreciate hearing what people have done and what works and what does not, First hand experience is the most valuable and insights is appreciated.

[morris]

 

[berger]

sluggo, ive not a clue on the compression but would hazard a guess 8 and a quarter or half, the carb was advertised for sale jetted for an ss it took me a while to get used to it starting from cold,it works well but no idea what jets are in it. I did many plug chops and things are ok with a much sweeter tickover and pick up. the head was opened up by me many moons ago but the carb is 28mm. she has a rewound competition mag and a modern machined cam ring that came from Denmark[ I think] and was worth all the 100 pounds, I had genuine bsa pistons on +40 in her for many years but now shes got Taiwan pistons that work fine. my late father did lots of bush work etc and ive rebuilt the engine a few times adding goodies like srm pump, I believe in a good carefull super clean build . before anyone mentions the front brake a goldstar racer advised me on altering it to that position and its bloody good, but ive kept the anchor plate with the original hole. the gearbox is std but she runs a 21 engine 20 gearbox, ive just got a slimline frame and am building [when its warmer] an ss engine with gas flowed head super rocket inlets 357cam balanced crank and rrt2 box with a slightly more road friendly 1st gear, but all that's going to take time. the oil filter above the mag came out of a cokeing plant stores and was used for the oil fired boilers it has a really nice nylon gauze in it and some people think its a carb bowl ext???

[Black Sheep]

The 8" half width front brake is the best that BSA produced in my opinion. The one on my Star Twin is a tyre squealer - as proved when a deer jumped out in front of me. Does your A7 pull such high gearing OK?

[berger]

hello black sheep mistake made ,its years since I sorted the gearing, I went to workshop and found all sprockets and now know its a 20 engine sprocket. I remember going daft and trying a 23 [impossible] but yes on 20 engine and 20 gearbox shes fine unless starting on a very steep hill two up ,then its many revs and clutch play, sorry for misleading you. I do remember building her up first off in 1980 after she snapped the crank [still running okish] with a 19 engine and 19 gearbox and she was shouting at me for a 5 speed box

[Sluggo]

Thanks for the details, that is super helpful of mods that work, I am intrigued by your brake modification as well,,Thanks for the details on that.   While getting stock stuff restored has its merits, I do appreciate hearing first person experience on modifications and how well they worked out.
Some ideas clearly dont pan out, but it looks like you have done well with yours. Thanks!   

[duTch]

 Hiya beger, welcome along. 

 Don't forget this is mainly for intro's, so  other topics can be addressed in detail in different topics/threads

[RichardL]

Berger,

Welcome to the forum.

Allow me to expand on what Sluggo has said. I love that bike!

Richard L.

Boy oh man, there were a lot of silly typos in the original version of this post.