Hi All- Er,proud? new owner, 61 SR.....

[1660bob]

Hi All, first post - new Beeza owner,having bought a 61 Super rocket last week:-
 
"Bob`s state of euphoria at the aquisition of his dream bike became somewhat dissipated as he felt the cold hand of reality upon his shoulder....."
Oh Dear.. having looked over the bike more closely, there are, er, one or two problems to sort,(not least to discuss with the vendor! .
I know no 50 yr old bike can be perfect,but -what a mess! -I thought I new this game......
First problem I noticed was the throttle sticking when fully open (not running) removed tank to check carb, thats when I saw the cyl head fins holding pools of oil on top, Hmm ,okay... anyway carb bore is 1 5/32", er 1 1/8"/ er..oval?no wonder it sticks..... back brake cable fell off in my hand-(no split pin in clevis pin!)....., which Prompted:                                   
                                                 _A Week Of Closer Inspection._

 Sadly, things are not getting better,many bolts/studs replaced with, eek- Metric,or threaded rod, swingarm bushes seized/spindle seized in and has worn frame pivot hole well oval, cyl head cracked & welded up????..... footrest splines bodged with plastic metal etc etc,
Ah well, there`s always one.....
Advice(helpful) appreciated,along with sympathy/donations/ridicule..... It WILL get sorted and I will get another Beesa on the road,.... just not as soon as I thought !
cheers, 1660bob

[coater87]

 Hi Bob,

 Welcome to the "club". Best thing here is to fix one thing at a time- never strip off more bike then you can have back together inside of two hours. This is advice I always game guys who bought cars to restore- otherwise too much would get stripped off and next thing you know its a pile of parts for sale in the paper.

 Sort things in order of YOUR safty first, then the bikes.

 You do this two hour thing enough times, and before you know it all thats left is the motor and tranny. By that time you are very familier with the bike itself and things will go much smoother.

 Lee

[tombeau]

Hello Bob.
Welcome aboard. Sounds like you've got more of a hobby than you bargained for.
Don't worry, almost everything is readily available for these bikes. Including advice.
Whereabouts are you?
Post some pictures when you can.

Iain

[Josh Cox]

Welcome Bob,

In the real world I'd normally opt for ridicule, for no particular reason, it just seems to work for me .

The situation you find yourself in, leaves you with two options:

1) leave the bike as it is and hate it,

2) ( what all here like to do ), make it a machine you'd be proud of, there are some awesome people on this forum that can offer a huge amount of help ( not me though , I am just an apprentice, to the Dark Lord of BSA, Orabanda ).

Guessing you are in the UK, parts will be very accesable to you, here in the colonies, it gets s little more expensive, but very very worthwhile.

Go with option 2), I'm presently doing 2) to a 53 Flash, I can not remember ever having one thing being such a source of satisfaction.

Good luck and I can't wait to see your bike a thing of beauty, and before Trev offers, if you really hate your bike that much, pack it into a box and I'll dispose of it for you  .

[A10Boy]

Bob
If its any consolation to you, most people view their purchases through oil tinted glasses, then find something wrong when they get home. Your shiney new bike sounds to me like any other purchase before the work/money kicks in, but you will get immense satisfaction from sorting it.

Most of our bikes are "work in progress" just like they were 50 years ago.

 

[RichardL]

... you will get immense satisfaction from sorting it.

Most of our bikes are "work in progress" just like they were 50 years ago.

Myself, I take a lot of pleasure from riding an anachronism (by definition #2: a person or a thing that is chronologically out of place; especially : one from a former age that is incongruous in the present).

Richard L.

[nigeldtr]

Hi Bob,

As the others have said, welcome to the club!  I bought my A10 through oily glasses and it was not what I thought it was. Anyway see what you can get from the seller and sort it out - Lee's tip re the 2 hours are words of real wisdom! You will find a truely great bunch of guys here and endless source of good advice.

Nigel

[rocket man]

hi bob welcome to the forum
you wont go short of knowledge on here
we all have to start somewhere heres a few pics of my super rocket

[A10Boy]

Rocketman

Now that is one truly beautiful bike..... 

Regards

[rocket man]

thanks a10boy  i know she is beautiful

[1660bob]

Thanks for the welcome chaps, much appreciated. Rocketman-wow thats a beautiful bike! Gives me something to aim for!The list of parts is growing, spoke to the guy at Lightning Spares today, seems like the place for lots of goodies so I`ll be calling in there soon no doubt.I`ll post some progress reports as it goes, cheers,Bob.

[A10Boy]

What part of the UK are you in Bob? Are you a BSAOC member? Don't forget Vale Onslows or C&D autos if you are south Brum area.

[snowbeard]

welcome!  I'll pipe up with the consolation that my head fins are constantly oily, it's pretty hard to keep the rocker box gaskets tight, but not a show stopping problem.  some of those other things are also common, but the swingarm issue may take some work.

the carbs will distort easily from overtightening of the bolts, but I've had semi decent luck with reshaping them and them being very gentle on the mounting flange...

you'll have fun, and coater's advice is great, I wonder if he was able to follow it himself? (just ribbing you man, all in good fun  )