You’re smiling with this thing even before you sample the delicious low-down grunt
Here’s how it arrived: like all Brit bikes it had a poorly fitted battery with multiple connections, gigantic cables, Halford connectors and (brown wires) a recurring short to earth
Regulator sits on a bracket in the tool box. Main switch is on the left with the red wire
New replica Tricon handlebar switch does hi/lo, kill (red button) and horn (black button). But it needed fettling to fit
Ammeter contacts are now insulated like so
Ian’s BSA A10
Ian is a returning customer, having brought his Matchless G80 in for a rewire during Covid.
He’d bought this A10 Gold Flash a while ago. It had been restored in the distant past, and ran like clockwork. But the electrics were kaput. The main switch had repeatedly burned out.
As it happened, that was down to bare wires touching the frame. But almost every other component on the bike was knackered anyway: headlight switch, headlight bulb holder, pilot bulb holder, speedo light and handlebar switch.
To add insult to injury, the rear wheel spindle was bent, which made removing the wheel deeply difficult. And the rear wheel had to come out to enable me to get at the tail light and restore that.
Once all that was sorted the electrics were dead simple. The main bundle carried just seven wires. It could have been more, but I wanted to squeeze the loom through BSA’s hole on the right side of the headstock, and it’s not a very big hole. So I used lots of 2-1 connectors either end.
Bullet connectors are ideal on British bikes. As long as you make good crimps they are incredibly robust, immune to vibration, and last a very long time.
The bike fired up first kick via its magneto, and I eagerly checked the charging output from the dynamo. With no load it had no bother charging the battery. But with a headlight it found life more difficult. Dynamos always seem to be struggling in my experience. That’s why Goffy recommends LED bulbs. A rebuild is possible, and it would improve the charging power, but Ian is happy to chug about without the headlight on. Happy days.
Replica Lucas 41SA light switch. This is while I was figuring out the connections to make it do OFF/PILOT/MAIN. This was not the final version!
Back in 1961 BSA still believed an ammeter (left) was a useful device. Though you have to crane your neck to see it
An ideal example of how an old Brit should look: tidy but well-used
