BSA W35-6 with sidecar

[RichardG]

I have recently been given what I believe is a BSA W35-6 with a sidecar that has been lying in my mother in law's garage for 36 years. The previous owner was my wife's uncle who told me I could have it about 14 years ago but my mother in law refused to allow me access to get it out of her very full garage.  It's been a long wait! Anyway it arrived at my home today and I now need to find out where I can get parts and any technical manuals or parts books to help with the recommissioning. I have found a few places but any recommendations would be very useful.   

I don't intend to do much painting of the frame or panels although the side car will need some new metal work. I just want strip bits off clean them, check them, lubricate or grease as necessary and probably replace bushes and brakes etc. to make the bike safe and usable. It will still look much as it is now but hopefully I will be able to get some rust off without damaging the paintwork. Any suggestions for this would be welcome. 

The bike seems fairly complete and untouched although the kick start lever has gone missing. It may be in a box of parts but I don't remember seeing it. Any leads to a good secondhand kick start lever would be welcome. The engine might need some work and again any recommendations on specialists would be appreciated. I haven't tried to turn it over and probably won't until I have carried out a more detailed inspection.

The bike was first registered on 1 January 1935 and I believe it has been in my wife's family from new. The relationship of the first owner is a bit of a mystery but he was known as uncle Fred and might have been someone's cousin, the second owner was my wife's oldest uncle. An other uncle, who has lived in Australia for the whole of his ownership, has had it since 1976. I have a reasonable history file and pictures of the bike and side car on a trip to Skye in the early 1950's.

Any advice or comments to get me started on the right track would be very welcome. I live in Esher in Surrey.

[mark quinney]

 Hi Richard
Congratulations on finally acquiring the bike hopefully you won't find too much wrong with it and will get it sorted and on the road . There are places you can get some parts for the bike but it  is very limited as to the amount you can actually get .  Cornucopia Enterprises in Germany stock some parts for prewar bikes , also Dragonfly motorcycles , Kidderminster motorcycles and any other advert you see that stock BSA parts are always worth a phone call ( I recently had a shopping list of about 30 parts so after a lot of phone calls I managed to get 2 of the parts ) .  I've bought a fair few bits off eBay and obviously autojumbles whenever you can get to them also adverts in classic bike magazines can also yield some bits .
I've found that getting as many articles as you can  from magazines helps , parts books are available I got mine from autojumbles they normally only cover the one year i.e. 1935 so I've found it useful to buy the ones two years either side of my year model as things are sometimes interchangeable between models .
An operators manual is well worth having as are any period books i.e.  DW Munro's BSA motorcycle maintenance and repair series ,also you can find some info on the internet  ,  unfortunately there are no Haynes or similar workshop manuals that I know of .
One downside of parts being scarce is they can be expensive .

Don't let the above put you off it'll be a great learning curve and you'll get a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction getting it back on the road 

A good tool kit will certainly help ,the best tool being a camera take lots of pictures from all angles before you take anything off the bike and when you do take anything off that's broken, worn or rusty don't throw it away until you've got a replacement
Hope this as been of some help
Good luck with it regards Mark

[RichardG]

Hi Mark

Thank you for your advice and encouragement. I am determined to get this one up and running and accept that it might cost me more than its worth but I will enjoy the process.

I have made a note of the suppliers that you suggested although I had already identified two of them from internet searches. I will also see if I can get hold of D W Munro's books as well. Your suggestion about magazine articles is a good one and I have friend who hopefully still has years of back numbers for Classic Bike magazine. I will ask him if he can find anything on BSA 500 side valves. Fortunately I live quite close to Kempton Park so hopefully the bike jumble will start again sometime soon.

My tool kit is already quite comprehensive from a life working on old cars and a digital camera is never far away.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

No doubt I will have some more questions after I spend the week end inspecting the bike in more detail. I am going to leave the side car for the time being and try and get the bike running over the next few months.

Richard

[mark quinney]

Hi Richard
Remembered  the following chaps name he  may well be able to help you with parts books etc i've bought things from him before at autojumble , he does reprint a few of the parts lists  and operators manuals so hopefully may have something for your bike
  Steve Brown 

  classicmotorcyclemanuals.com

his phone number is (0191) 435 4122 .
Hopefully will be worth  you giving him a call
Mark

[RichardG]

Thanks Mark.

I will give him a call and see if he can help.

Richard