1955 BSA C11G

[dgrady77]

I started this little project a couple years ago, but hardly had any time to work on it.  Now that I have a little more time, it's coming along nicely.  Most of the details are sort of coming to me as I go, like what kind of handlebars, seat, etc to use.  Right now I'm picturing clubman bars, because it would require the least amount of modification to the forks and I'll probably build my own seat.  I don't know if I'll be able to do rearsets because of the kickstart lever and the shape of the rear part of the frame.  If all else fails, I'll start with the stock footpegs and work on rearsets once I get her running.  I'm definitely open to suggestions, advice, etc. 

Before:





The frame, with a homemade battery box:



and after a little cutting:



removed the side kickstand bracket:



I'm not sure what was welded here, but I filed that off too:





Here are the gas and oil tanks on the frame, just to make myself feel like I'm making some real progress:

[Erskine]

Lovely job.
I suppose you could brace rear sets from the bottom to the top of the rear hoop.
Could even be done with clamps if you didn't want to weld on tabs?

[dgrady77]

Thanks Erskine.  The toolbox is not going back on, so you may be onto something with the rearset idea.  I may even be able to salvage the passenger peg holes for that purpose. 

[crazypj]

I had one of them, still got most of a C10L somewhere (sidevalve motor)

[dgrady77]

got the front forks on.  apparently the triple tree was from a c15 and the forks are from an A10.  please ignore the handlebars.  i'll replace them with some clubmans as soon as i get the $$$.

[Rocan]

mmm, pretty. hows that rear suspension 

[dgrady77]

Thanks Rocan.  The bike wasn't running when I bought it, so I've never actually experienced the plunger suspension.  The springs are nice and, well, springy, though, so we'll see.  I'm putting the motor back together now.  Hopefully I'll be one step (and a couple pics) closer to riding it.

[treitz]

Looks like a fun build!

Not sure if they are the right size/dimension but I have a brand new set up chrome clubmans I am probably not going to use that I would sell you for super cheap. PM me if you are interested.

[bikeboy]

now this is an interesting build. Look forward to updates 

cheers
ian

[Erskine]

Yeah what's occurring?
 

[IndieSol]

Looks like a fun build, and it also appears you're sitting on some nice property.  I'm insanely jealous.

I'll have nothing to add, as I know nothing about these bikes, but I'll be watching.  Nice work so far.

[dgrady77]

Thanks for the comments.  Work has been slow, with a lot of waiting on parts.  I finally gave up on finding obscure sizes of metric nuts and bolts and instead bought some obscure sized taps and dies.  Who would have thought M10 x 1.0 would be so hard to find?  Anyway, I should be able to put most of the motor back together pretty soon.  I'm still looking for an auto advance/contact breaker too.  Thought I had one, but I guess someone else beat me to it. 

treitz - pm sent

IndieSol - thanks, the property is family land. 

[dgrady77]

As I said in my last post, I've been working on the motor.  I got most of it put back together, but I still need a few parts.
 
I made my own cylinder studs, as the M10x1.0 and M8x1.0 studs are not all that common in the US:

 by d_brannick, on Flickr

 by d_brannick, on Flickr

 by d_brannick, on Flickr
 
The crankcase and newly refurbished piston:

 by d_brannick, on Flickr
 
With the cylinder barrel:

 by d_brannick, on Flickr
 
And with the cylinder head:

 by d_brannick, on Flickr
 
The black paint is bbq grill paint, because I couldn't find proper engine block paint when I was ready to do the painting.  I think the heat rating is going to be okay, but I guess there's only one way to find out.

[Rocan]

awesome man! looks great.

[teazer]

Fortunately the performance is unlikley to overwhelm the puny rear suspension.  Plungers were never great but they are really interesting.

I'm sure you already know this but there were zero metric threads on that bike when it was made.  They were a mix of BSF, BSW and Cycle threads (26 tpi IIRC). 

They are a fun, if rather slow, bike.  Not sure if they would ever make a cafe racer, but they are old and have a ton of character.

It's looking good so far.