Ok, so I bought this here non-runner of an A10 that had been stood for 5 years and needed an incentive to get her up and running.
"I know", says I, "I'll use it for the 2009 BSA International Rally in Southern Netherlands.
Well, it seemed mechanically sound but had a fair coating of rust on most of the chrome work, so I set to and gave it a good scour with one of those "Brillo Pad" pan scourer thingies and it fair glistened.
After silver painting the rear wheel rim the whole thing looked reasonably tidy so I had a go at getting her up and running.
Right, drain the old fuel, clean out the carb, check the contact points and plug!! Here goes.....one kick...two...three...four kicks and away she goes...
hey, what a sweet sounding motor this is!
Oh! hang on...it aint charging
and electrics is my weakest point. Still, it was light nights so maybe I won't need my lights. With a fully charged battery it passed it's MOT test of roadworthyness and was made fully road legal.
At this stage, as time was running out, I decided that it was more important to rig up some sort of carrying equipment and check out the electrics later (if time permits). Well, I had an old pair of saddle bags stuffed in the shed somewhere and these were dug out, repaired, and eventually fitted with the help of Heath Robinson and his bag of tricks.
Time was rolling on so I checked the leads from the dynamo. I remembered that I had to join the two together, start up the engine and check the power output with a multimeter...nothing.
Out with the books to double check that I have done the right test and sure enough...nothing.
Ok, I should only need a horn and stop light so the 6v 12ah battery from my GB31 was fully charged and fitted to the A10. That should give me more than enough power for my 10 day trip. wink2
Off we go, a nice ride to the overnight ferry and away through the Netherlands the following morning. I was about 250 road miles (400km) from home and trundling down the motorway when I suddenly noticed that the ammeter was showing a charge.
No, it can't be...oh yes it is!!
and the damned thing has been charging ever since. In excess of 1000miles later and it's still going strong.
Now then, hands up all of you who knew that Joe Lucas made a self repairable dynamo.
I certainly didn't!! But maybe someone can suggest why it started to work again?? I'm always willing to learn.
Throughout the whole trip the bike never let me down and apart from a bit of preventative maintenance I never had to open up the tool kit. So does it pay to take the chance on an unknown machine?? Normally I would say a definite
NO but in this case I'm glad I did. 
