A50CC restoration

[berniej]

I'm about to start on the restoration of a 1965 A50CC that I bought about a year or so ago but have only just got around to examining in detail.

I plan to post regular updates on progress - and also no doubt a lot of questions.... which I'll start with now 

I don't have much info on the bike other than it's been brought back from the U.S. largely dismantled.

VIN is A50B8751 and I beleive the engine number is correct.

I'll be rebuilding it as a road bike but I'm still unsure as to whether this was originally built in road or off-road spec.

Some clues are....
The fork top sleeves lack ears which might suggest no headlight - but the BSA parts book shows this part just as 'A50C East Coast'
It has a 5 wire alternator stator and the one coil I've found so far is the 'energy transfer' type rather than in a can.
10:1 pistons fitted and appear original
No headlamp or tail lamp fouind in the boxes of bits
No battery carrier on the LHS
Large rear sprocket - I'll count teeth tomorrow but probably 50
It comes with both high-level and regular pipes and a pair of small silencers
Pretty sure pillion footpegs are present - but will check tomorrow

Looking at the brochures on the club web site I can see that there were different versions for West and East coast and rather intrigued as to what the differences were and how this related to 'road' or 'off-road' trims.

Any thoughts on this or suggestions as to what other clues to look for would be most welcome.

Cheers,
Bernie

[JulianS]

As well as the stripped down style the Cyclone Competition version had close raito gears and energy transfer ignition with5 wires stator - the Roadster had conventional battery and coil ignition.

I will send you a PM.

[berniej]

Thanks Julian,

That all confirms it was the Competition model and explains why I couldn't find the head and tail lamp assemblies!

However I'll be using it on the road and will have to think about lighting options.
As the alternator does have a supply for lighting I could probably take those outputs through recifiers and drive some LED lights.

The question then is whether to fit the lights permanently or look for some demountable option so I can preserve the original look when not on the road.

Edit: Looks like I could ride legally in daytime without any lights so that might be a simple first option!

Cheers,
Bernie

[Mike Farmer]

 

Yep legal without lights in daylight. but not in 'inclement' conditions of lowered visibility etc.

Mike

[berniej]

Thanks Mike,
I am unashamedly a fair-weather rider these days!

Cheers,
Bernie

[DAVE BRADY]

Hi,

Do not forget that you will have to do all the hand signals including slowing down.  So lot of one handed riding.

Dave.

[idie]

The problem with riding a bike without lighting is our weather. You can be miles from home then get hit by a period of bad rain. Not good with car drivers trying to see out of their misted up boxes.

[BruceB]

I thought even a "daylight" MOT needed a brake light. I could be wrong but I thought a brake operated warning light was a legal requirement for all machines and unusually was a retrofit requirement on pre requirement machines?

[chaz]

used to be the case , but from the new testers manual.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-motorcycles/4-lamps-reflectors-and-electrical-equipment

there is always the caveat that , in the case of an accident , although you meet legal requirements, the car driver will always say, they didnt see you because. ...
when I had my accident I had to take a 50/50 settlement even though she pulled out in front of a bus and she stopped in a yellow box. the insurance company advised me to take the 50/50 or things could drag on, even though I was overtaking the parked bus and doing around walking speed and the bus ws stopped out of its normal parking space. the insurance people said that the courts still tend to be anti bike bias and from history 50/50 was the best option.

[berniej]

I think that the brake light must work if fitted but is not a legal requirement.

However.... it also occurred to me that I'll need somwething on which to mount the rear number plate and that of course usually carries the rear lights.

Also, the 'lugless' front sleeves seem to be very hard to find so I may get a pair of the chrome ones for the road model and a suitable chrome headlamp shell to fit.

I've restored early models of both A50 and A65 in standard 'Star' format before and didn't realise the number of variants that were used on this model. The swinging arm 'throat' is quite a bit narrower and this bike had folding rider's footpegs - although I doubt I'll be leaning it far enough for that to be necessary! Also my fork oil seal cover remover tool won't slide down over the fork so guess they were a bit beefier on the CC. All good knowledge I guess but looks like these could be fun to remove.

I'll be posting regular updates to this thread as the rebuild progresses.

Cheers and Happy Christmas to all.
Bernie

[Dean Southall]

I suggest you double check the requirement for a brake light.
I checked on this with the engineer covering lightung at the Dept for Transport when I was restoring the Beagle. He  informed me that about the only bit of lighting legslation that is restrospective is the need for a brake light. It was a bit of a challenge fittig one to a Beagle but with the help of an electronics specialist (pre led bulbs) we came uo with a battery powered one.

[chaz]

as it says in the testers book https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-motorcycles/4-lamps-reflectors-and-electrical-equipment
no argument

4.3.1. Presence, condition and operation
All stop lamps must be inspected. If you do not think the stop lamp is connected, you do not need to test it.

Stop lamps are not needed for motorcycles that:

do not have front and rear position lamps
have had stop lamps permanently disconnected, painted over or masked

[Dean Southall]

Thanks for clarifying that Chaz

[idie]

With no stop light you will be forever thinking, does that idiot behind me know I'm stopping.

[berniej]

OK, lights it is!

The standard wiring provides two AC feeds direct from the alternator for 6V bulbs, one for brake light and one for the rest.

With no battery fitted I can envisage the usual problems using standard filament bulbs here, poor illumination at low revs and probably a short life due to no voltage regulation at higher revs.
So, I'm going to fit a combined rectifier/regulator into each feed and use the DC output to drive LED lamps. Hopefully that will give better performance and bulb lifetime.

As there is no battery fitted then I guess there is also no notion of +ve or -ve earth so I should be able to use the much more readily available -ve earth LED lamps.

Cheers,
Bernie