My next projects - needing advice

[redhunter]

Hi folks
This is my first post here so please be gentle
Here is my old BSA A7 1948 I think. I am now its second owner.




I have now got enough spares to make a second bike , with a plunger frame 1949.  
The bikes history is known to me and, it is quite special as it belonged to a local character who ran a motorcycle repair come village shop in a remote part of Shetland.
I would like your opinion on the following points.
I believe some parts on it are not genuine, like the headlight and front mudguard. Can anyone confirm this, I don?t want to waste time restoring something that?s not original.
Where would you start?
What would you do with the sidecar?
I had thought of keeping the sidecar chassis and trying to build something like this i found in the national motor cycle museum later on.


What do you think its worth at the moment (just curious I am not selling).
Any useful tips and advice gratefully received.

These are the photos of it still in the barn :

The exhaust is tissue thin  

[LJ.]

Hi Red... Good of you to join us, nice looking old bike there. I think as it looks so original and there can't be so many well patinered bikes about now... I'd leave it as it is apart from a good clean up. The front mudguard indeed doe's not look correct but looks to have been on the bike so long that you could more or less say it is now part of. I love that screen, hope you keep that, in all, these things including the sidecar are all part of the character of the bike. Hope you get much pleasure from it.

[tombeau]

Hello there!
Personally I think it looks like you have wound up as curator of a local artefact.
Any restoration should be sympathetic to the spirit of what you have there. I'd clean it up and replace what bits are useless with those of a similar patina.
There are lots of shiney restored bikes around, what you have there is something special. It seems to fit the landscape perfectly.

Do you know J.R and Dodds if they are still around? I'm sure they hailed from up your way
Cheers,
Iain

[bikerjohndavies]

Hi there,

I agree with the previous postings that it would be better not to over restore it. Just clean it up and replace the knackered bits. Having looked at the pics I think you'll find that it is a 1949 or 1950 model as it looks to have the 2 part frame, later front fork sliders and no Q/D front wheel. The front mudguard looks correct to me but the headlamp does not. You can tell which year the bike is from the frame number and engine number. Frame numbers for 1948 would start with YA7 101, 1949 would start with ZA7 101 and 1950 with ZA7 4001. The engine numbers would for 1948 would start with YA7 101, 1949 would start with ZA7 101 and 1950 with ZA7 7001.

I am currently undertaking a 1949 rigid A7 project and have spent the last year or so gathering parts for it but hopefully nearly all there now.

Cheers, John

[sinbad]

Hi Redhunter, welcome to the forum I would get the 1948 a7 running if possible,do you have the paper work if so consider running it.When you say you have enough parts to build a second bike I assume thats without taking parts off the 48 a7,as to the value there was an a10 on ebay recently, totally rusty , collapsed wheels ,no paperwork , £1700.Watching ebay and reading the forum will help you consider things. Cheers.

[taroha10]

Hello Red Hunter and welcome.
I agree with the other postings.This is a piece of history as it stands.Do the mininum to make it usable.Bikes in a used state are more head turning to me than shiny ones. (thats also a good excuse for me as i'm rubbish at polishing! )
Good luck with it anyway.
Cheers .Mark.

[muskrat]

G'day Redhunter, welcome to the forum.
                                                      so far the opinion is leave it as is and just replace what's needed, I agree.
What a wonderful find and to be the second owner, wow!!
The only bit that strikes me as odd is the tail light and the speedo panel. Looks like you would have to get off the bike to switch the headlight on.
She looks to be in the same condition as my '51 when I dragged it out of the chook shed after 15 years. Cleaned the points, plugs, carb and new oil it started 3rd kick. Have you started her yet?
Cheers

[Brian]

A terrific find Redhunter.

What you do with it is of course up to you, original bikes are very appealing but if its too far gone to keep original then it looks to be a fairly straight forward resto. I would keep it original if at all possible. You need to sort out exactly what year it is, as John has pointed out the frame at least is 49' or later. If the frame and engine come from different years then originality is not so important so maybe you could keep it as it is as it obviously has local history.

It does appear to have a couple of non original parts, the headlight looks to be a Miller unit and the front guard is off something else.

Regardless of what year it is etc its a terrific find, well done.

[chaterlea25]

Hi Red,
Welcome to the forum!
A very interesting find!!!
From the photos the sidcar chassis looks to be BSA  from the early mid 30's???
Does it have a sprung sidecar wheel usin a leaf spring? BSA made this type of chassis with sprung and non sprung wheel
I have seen them fitted to V twins from the 20's onwards, I used to have a sprung one!!
The sidecar and motorcycle wheels were interchangable to the best of my knowledge (on the V twins)
The sidecar body also looks 30's in origin???  BSA??

Regards
John O R

[NickSR]

Hi Red
What a find, a great part of BSA history any one can have a polished bike but this is so rare to see them in this condition.

Please keep the forum up to date with progress.

Regards
Nick