'67 BSA A65L Lightning 650
I got this old frozen beater in a "twofer" deal along with a similarly "modified" '62 Triumph, in a small town 50 miles east of Laredo (Hebbronville, TX) after stumbling into the guy somewhere and getting on the subject of old bikes. When we first started talking he wanted WAY too much and I put it out my mind till he called over a year later and we talked some more; at THAT time, I didn't have any play money. The NEXT time we talked, the start aligned and I got a fantastic deal.
BEFORE
Upon getting it home and checking it over, I found THIS...
Now that just won't do. What you are looking at is the oil pump "in" and "out" connections plumbed in a SHORT-CIRCUIT, with a T fitting and a third hose connecting to the oil tank outlet fitting. In this configuration, there MAY have been a small amount of oil in the system, but it was being recirculated continuously and eventually overheated and starved the crank, locking up the engine.
So, I had to source another engine and swapped them. While waiting for the replacement engine to arrived, I scrounged around the shop and found a seat (the one in the "before" photo), gas tank, grab rail, tail light, headlight, and good used electronic ignition unit. I also bought a nice set of proper forks and mufflers, and got it this far-
I've had so much going on since then that I just haven't made time to dump fluids in it and get it running. Anyway, it'll be for sale real soon, because I got THIS restored '68 BSA Lightning as partial payment for a Norton restoration I'm doing-