Joe’s 1972 BSA A65 Thunderbolt

I’ve spent the last two years building this beautiful old thing for my old school friend Joe. He’s been riding rattly Brit bikes all his life, but lacks the space and time to revive this one himself.

The bike came from the States via importer Alan Millar of AEM Classic Motorcycles in Devon. It was a mere two grand, which at the time felt like a bargain.

It had been stood outside in a Minnesota housing estate and (as we soon found) the gearbox had filled with water. It didn’t matter too much because as with all these old Brits, they need a total engine rebuild anyway. This gigantic task was done by my mate Rupe Farnsworth at La Contenta Motorcycles (07950 234497), with the machining, reboring and uprated valve guides by Barry at T&L Engineering near Bedford. Barry works on Classic TT engines. He is very, very good, but you have to wait.

Our idea was to restore the bits that had to be restored, but leave the rest of the bike with its patina still visible. Thus the tank and sidepanels are immaculate in Laverda Mirage green, while the engine cases are just a bit cleaner than they used to be. Farnswoth and I prefer this way of doing a bike, as it still has some history when you’ve finished it. It also saves several thousand quid, because restoring a BSA in this starting condition is already at least five or six grand.

Besides, you have enough of a struggle on your hands trying to make the pattern parts fit. Worst offenders: the downpipes (they only fit with a custom spacer), and a very pretty stainless steel rack (we gave up). Even the grab rail you see here took hours of filing and cursing to bolt in place.

The handlebars are Honda CB550. BSA only did cowhorn bars with this model, which look a bit weird. The bigger-tanked Lightning had narrow bars, but they are a ridiculous shape to enable the clutch cable to clear the clocks. The Honda bars aren’t perfect, but they work pretty well.

For a bike that took two years to bring back to life, the electrics came together pretty swiftly. I built the loom in one (very long) day. It’s got a standard spec (for me) of Pazon ignition, a regulator rectifier, negative earth, two fuses, and an accessory plug. In Joe’s case the plug powers his phone. In this way it bridges the days of Don Maclean’s ‘American Pie’ with the horrors of today’s hive mind.

I’d like to say it started first kick, but it didn’t. I had neglected to unblock the pilot jet buried deep inside the carburettor. Once Farnsworth had sorted that out it fired up like a charm.

Joe now has to convince his wife that the new green motorcycle is a good idea.