Re: 1962 BSA DBD34 Gold Star restoration (New crankshaft arrived!!!!)
I am late to the thread, . A sleepless night last night, and I guess that has been a blessing. It allowed to read the entire thread over a couple of hours, so the ups and downs stayed with me.
Living in Scotland, I kind of caught the tail end of the Brit bike meteor in th early 70s, and the full blast of the Japanese hurricane that followed. In those cheap and cheery days, I owned and rode many a Brtish bike,,,,,,and sent a few to the scrapyard too. I think I managed rides on all my dream bikes (Laverda SF, RGS, Goldstar, and Vincent Black Shadow.....and yes, a marvelous hour on a Brough SS100 featuring the Matchless engine.
As to owning.........well the Goldie and RGS were always the ones I wanted and were always the ones that stayed tantalizingly out of my budget. The Vincents and Broughs were things of love, but my appetite settled itself for magazine features and day dreams.
The particular Goldie has rolled out like the first reel of what will eventually be my favourite bike thread of it. So far, it's a dream bike found in the way we dream of finding one, and attacked with the precision and control that we'd love to think we'd apply to the work ourselves.......but most don't.
So this whizz bang thread has dropped off the radar a bit.............family responsibilities stand aside for no bike, and it's a couple of months committing to that side of life that can buy you six months over where you want to be.
There's got to be a lot of pressure to push it on to completion, but trust me, the journey, the imagining is always better than the ending. In many ways, owning an immaculate DBD 34 can be less life enhancing than wanting to own a DBD 34.
I remember a miraculous build on a 67 Bonnie I took part in, Getting the bike, looking at the sum of the parts and working out what to do..........those were the moments I will treasure far more than riding the finished bike,,,,,,,,,weird, but true. The rescue of the bike, the engineering, the hassle,,,,,,,,all great. With few exceptions, the end result turns into a motorcycle,,,,,,,,just a motorcycle.
I think this one will be different. each phase is detailed and consigned to memory. I wish you well when you come back to show us all more. In your heart, it might well feel like it's a burden that you carry, but see it through.j