What have you done with your bike/s today?

[Rocket Racer]

A decent percentage of the BSAOC committee here have got supplementary modern BSA's and we routinely see them at runs and rally's here. Well accepted.

In Feb we have the international BSA rally here so visitors should see all three models.

fyi, I have a modern signal red 2024 goldstar and its certainly helpful having a bike that just needs fuel when the a10 is in bits. admittedly while the A10 is apart I also have my trusty ZB33 road legal too.

I think our local BSA club have it about right. We all share an interest in a particular marque and whilst many of us own other classics and/or modern machines we recognise the main point of the club is to promote and support all things BSA, our maxim being "ride em, don't hide em". Most of our runs and events are "BSA only" with a smattering of "All British" events throughout the year. We also have rides for small bikes C15's Bantams or very early side valvers etc so they don't always have to keep up with the bigger or later machines which are a bit faster though ...not all that much faster!

Having said that we are pleased to see members coming out for a ride regularly supporting the club no matter what and while my A10 was off the road for a bit of TLC lately I attended three or four monthly ride outs on my modern Kawasaki W800 and there was no problem. I just rode along behind the main group and parked up off to the side when we stopped for coffee or lunch. A couple of times I volunteered to be a marshal as a way to pay the club back for allowing me along for the day. I'm sure in the extremely unlikely event that the Kwaka had suffered a mechanical I would have been welcome to avail myself of the sag wagon and back up trailer no worries!

It will be interesting if and when the new BSA's become available in Aus whether they will be accepted equally as BSA's, I figure that will be a yes as our constitution is particular to the marque rather than any age related or British aspect. Some will say it is good for the club of course to allow the new bikes in while others will say no doubt "they're not bloody BSA's, no more a BSA than the revamped Chinese brand of MG that appeared a few years ago has anything to do with 'real' MG's "...Such are the first world problems we have to suffer!

[Worty]

I think the 'one to ride, one to fix' approach is spot on.  Why waste those glorious riding days getting oily over a Beeza if you have a 'kick the tyres and ride' modern.

The W650 is my go-to when the Beeza's having a hissy fit!  I also think it's one of the best looking moderns I've seen (24 years old now).

[greybloke]

GB2 I admire your thoughtful approach to disassembly but I think I would have taken one look at those rims and reached for my angle grinder to liberate the hubs.

Ha! Fair point, BoN. Yep, I used the 3 foot tyre iron/large hacksaw combo to get the rear tyre off. The iron wires at the seat had lost all elasticity. Hmmm. 3.25 on the rear? Is that a sidecar thing? I think it lugged one at some point. Deep joy! The rim is good (enough) to restore. Didn't kill any spokes - and they 'tinged' like spokes coming off. I'll clean 'em up but some new steel ones would be wiser. Today was a good day - even if there are 40 of the sods to tease off.

[Worty]

I think my original rims were better than yours, but they went in favour of stainless spokes and rims.  It would take about as much to clean everything up and rechrome than to replace (was my reasoning).  Steel spokes will rust again, and chrome flakes, so stainless was the way to go for me.

Having said that, I did try to keep and restore as many original bits as I could, which I did.  The wheels, however, were something I wanted right for the life of the bike.  They weren't the original Dunlop and Jones items either, otherwise I may have been tempted.

[berger]

i took urma yonda on a sight seeing tour of the derbyshire dams , they are very low, urma is up for sale now and if she doesn't sell i will have to keep her. urma loved the ride and so did i , after setting off i knew there wasn't enough air in the back tyre so turned round and blew her up. when i got home i opened the bar

[Worty]

Did you blow her up before or after pumping the tyre up?

[berger]

worty she had some 9000revs in the low gears those japanese know how to produce engines

[Worty]

Yes they do, and have stood the test of time!

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
I've been working on a mates 1981 Yamahahaha XV750 after a 15 year lay up for quite a few days now. Started at the front, new disc, caliper & master kits. Disc arrived from local (AU) and fitted, waiting on caliper kit from UK, master cylinder kit arrived from local (AU) but a 1/2" kit not a 5/8" that is std on the bike  waiting on responce from vendor.
Now for the carbs. Stripped and cleaned (Burger you thought urma's carbs are fun!). Two carbs pointing in opposite directions. Set float heights but one carb kept flooding. Tried everything in the book to no avail. Swapped over the needle/seat/floats and the other carb flooded (as expected). Got a full kit and swapped out the needle/seat & floats in both carbs. Now their both flooding  . Chineseum strikes again.
Before I started working on the bike I hit the starter button. Well the noise like rocks in a Milo can could be heard 3 blocks away  Apparently a common problem with the 81-83 models. The s/motor has a reduction g/box and the internal ring gear (internal teeth) is supposed to be a light press fit in the body. Not this one, so four grub screws installed to stop it turning. Just waiting on a special flat O ring to finish that but it all works just holding the top on by hand and a gasket from USA.
So today I'm covered in petrol and made no progress. If it wasn't raining (for weeks now) I'd go for a ride to clear my head but instead I'm winging to you lot. And on my 2nd triple whiskey.
Thanks for listening (Burgerism).
Cheers ((now where's the bong) Thursday is my Saturday)) 

[Worty]

I suppose not all the offerings from Nippon made the grade.

Well done for the perseverence Musky.

Send some of that rain over here mate, it's probably going to be one of the driest years on record for us.  As Bergs said, the Derbyshire reservoirs are the lowest I've ever seen them, although not as bad as '76 so I understand.

[berger]

worty you are correct about levels in 76 i went up to have a look on my tiger scrub, back at home we had water bowsers at the end of the road and just before that happened dad had a sneaky half hour every now and again to water our food in the garden.

[Worty]

Just a quick word on water.

One year ago our bill was £169 for the quarter June, July and August.

I've just got our bill for the same period this year - £306

This when Yorkshire Water lose 25% of fresh water through leaks caused by poor investment because of paying their shareholders/CEOs a fortune, not to mention a hosepipe ban.

Time to up the kids' rent, I reckon!

It's going to be true that water will rival gold as a precious commodity the way things are going.

[groily]

You're obviously washing yourself or the bikes too often Worty! Or letting those kids of yours stand in the shower for hours on end  . . . Our otherwise very green and eco-lecturing kids are guilty as hell of wasting the stuff.

But seriously, tis true that water IS precious, very for those who haven't got enough.
Water butts are good. We get quite a lot of rain where I am (most years), so butts and watering cans are very handy. At a pinch, could even drink it probably, or at least boil it and drink it.
Not something ever to be taken for granted - and that's a big part of the problem.
Leakage ought to find its way back underground, less evaporation and 'theft' by thirsty vegetation, but even so the failure to maintain critical and strategic infrastructure is unforgiveable I agree.

[berger]

Unforgivable is ceo's taking millions in bonus payments for failure and polluting most rivers in the uk with raw sht!!! rant not over , keep building and keep putting the pressure up bursting more Victorian pipes while keeping the share holders and gaffers in big money. worty i am paying what i paid last year and let them get me in court. i am not paying severn trent nearly 200£'s more so the bimbo at the top can have another million or more bonus plus her million in salary RANT OVER sick of it!!!!!

[CheeserBeezer]

Just a quick word on water.

One year ago our bill was £169 for the quarter June, July and August.

I've just got our bill for the same period this year - £306

This when Yorkshire Water lose 25% of fresh water through leaks caused by poor investment because of paying their shareholders/CEOs a fortune, not to mention a hosepipe ban.

Time to up the kids' rent, I reckon!

It's going to be true that water will rival gold as a precious commodity the way things are going.

We went onto a water meter and saved loadsamoney! FYI we pay £37/month.