What have you done with your bike/s today?

[a101960]

Me too, but that rocker cover is an abomination

[Billybream]

Beat me to a reply on front nuts, steel ruler and a blob of grease to hold nuts, then spin on with finger, also have shorten wrench to make tightening nuts easier.

[berger]

i use the bsa spanner to tighten the nuts .......------
 now to have a slurp of cognac with my black&tan cos i'm a pig     ps i will not be a *** ed when feeby shines , can't wait!! hurry up before my belly turns into a beer barrel , talking of beer barrels my mates wife shouted down to him from the bedroom at 2 in the morning and said "dave what you doing and he said trying to get this barrel of beer upstairs and she said what barrel of beer and he said this one in my belly

[BagONails]

After the test ride all was well with noticeably less oil leakage from the top end ...which only made it easier to track down the remaining leaks!

I'd noticed the pipe to the rockers was split and after cleaning the oil tank connections there was fresh oil there again so I decided to remove the tank, give it a flush out and see what was what - well...the 1/4" hose to the rockers was attached to a 1/8" pipette into the banjo, I think this is why the old pipe had split so I turned up a new 1/4" hose barb in brass and soft soldered this to the 1/8th pipe to give the flexible pipe something to get hold of.

Then I pulled the feed and return hoses off and couldn't believe it but I should be used to these surprises by now.   The feed pipe was cut so short there was no straight length at all for the hose to clamp to, the return was OK but looks a bit untidy. I stripped and rebuilt the banjo rocker feed take off with new fibre washers, a Dowty washer and some Loctite anaerobic sealer. Then I made me a new pipe out of 8mm brake line steel bundy tube, bent the 90 degree and flared the end to help keep the flexible pipe on. Turned up a new brass male 1/4 BSP fitting and soft soldered these together, reusing the old nut.

Pretty happy with this, the old fitting was ovalised and probably the main reason it was leaking.  Happy with the way this has gone so I might make another tomorrow to replace the scruffy looking return side pipe.  The straight connections at the engine are OK and don't leak so they can stay for now.

The steel bundy brake line is ideal for this, fully annealed so it bends easily without flattening, has a zinc external anti corrosion finish which solders very readily once you clean the oxidation off and has a copper inner lining so should last forever.  My new hoses are 5/16 (8mm) auto transmission lines, cheap, made to handle high temp and pressure and readily available. The rocker supply is quality fuel hose which is more than adequate for this job. The whole job should be done for about $30 (or 15 quid)

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
With the new job a 120Km round trip I've been riding the bikes. Twice now on the rHonda and HD so yesterday I took the A7. Now I've had her on the road for 43 years and can count on one hand the amount of times she let me down. About 1/2 way to work I noticed the amp gauge rattling then about 10Km from work it disappeared into the headlight. Motor stopped, electrickal ignition. The contacts must have shortened out. Cable ties to the rescue and a fuse. The rim of the cheap plastic chinesium gauge came off. Was only 15 minutes late for work.
Now looking for a proper one.
Cheers

[berger]

hehe musky now looking for a magneto

[muskrat]

G'day Bergs.
Yep, I knew that was coming 
Cheers

[Colsbeeza]

My apologies for mentioning a non-BSA. I got the Lilac running last week, and yesterday I have it idling and purring like a kitten. The spare heads are getting overhauled at the moment and will fit those soon.
Col

[Joolstacho]

That's GREAT Col ! Getting a 'new' bike going again is such a nice achievement, especially a rare one like a Lilac.
Congrats mate 

[Worty]

Nice one Col.  That motor looks exactly like my old BMW R60/1.  What's the history of Lilac?

[Colsbeeza]

Hi Worty,
More than you will ever want to know is on this website.
          https://www.marusholilac.com/
In their hayday, Lilac was the fifth largest Japanese manufacturer after the big 4, producing over 55,000 bikes. They changed their name from Marusho to Lilac over the years.
I have attached the article on the Flat Twins from this website. I have a Japanese market model 1966 Magnum privately imported ( not by me) back then. Only 180 Magnums were made in total. Most were destined for the USA as Marushos. They rightly suspected that Yank riders would not want to be seen dead on a "Lilac". I believe about 25 were sold to the Japanese market as Lilacs. I also have two of the 1967 Electra, one of 4 Lilac Electras to come to Australia, and one US Marusho which I imported in 1998.
 All the Lilacs were so low in numbers that almost all castings are sand-cast.
The engines are basically copied from the BMW R50S and perform like one. I use many BMW gaskets, seals, pushrod seals etc from R51/3, R25 etc. Internally there was just enough differences that BMW decided not to sue them for copying.
Next to the BSA, I have always thought that they look magnificent.
Col

[Worty]

After the long winter lay up, the bikes were wheeled out of the garage for their pre riding season prep.  Tyres pumped up, oil levels checked, tappets checked (I go for an easy .009 inlet and .015 exhaust on Berg's advice as the top of the valves have a bit of damage).  Points gap all good, drop of oil on the cam plate (no wick on mine for some reason?).  Plugs a tad rich, but with a bit of tan in there, so fine with me (B6HS).  All the electrics are fine (for a change) - seems like most of my issues are with duff batteries.  Bit of replacement padding round the tank and a good spit and polish (oh, and a couple of nuts tightened on the front mudguard) - all ready to go

Oil changes are due all round in the next few hundred miles or so - need to get her out for a blat to get everything red hot.

Oh, and the Kwaka - pumped tyres up and turned fuel on - so boring, eh!

[Greybeard]

On Monday I took my bike out for the first ride of 2025. I rode 112 miles from home to Exeter to meet up with other owners of the modern BSA Gold Star. The morning was flippin cold but sunny. The ride home when the sun had been out for a while was a lot warmer. The Gold Star is happy to cruise at legal maximum speeds, (and more 😜). I would not have been happy thrashing my old Plungie like that. I still love my Goldie 👍

[Colsbeeza]

Fitted the overhauled heads to the Lilac a few days ago. Spent the last two days adjusting carbs etc and is now running sweetly. The BSA is taking a back seat until April.

[Adler]

Hello together,

today was a perfect day. First I did some bronce casting myself and then I heard a deep moaning from the garage next to my workshop - both were waiting for the first spring ride - hm, yes, but I always have to make sure to take both for a ride just to make sure, none of the two gets jealous
The A10 needed some sump draining first - OK after 3 months waiting and astonishly needed several kicks but then went nice as always. The Zündapp started without any preparation with the first kick. So, I wish all of you an always safe and nice motorcycle year

Best regards, Manfred