1966 BSA A65 Lightning- "The Quickie"

[Reinhard]

Buddy of mine picked up a pretty poorly done rat bobber BSA A65 Lightning and wants me to cafe it. It really doesn't need much other than cosmetics.
Put the stock bars back on and flipped em. Have to add turn signals, kill switch, etc. Bought the stock tank for this machine off of Ebay. Got it pretty cheap too. The original seat will be re-used. It's getting covered right now. Other than that it's pretty much a paint job away from riding.

ince the frame and motor are original, I won't be cutting r fabbing anything in that respect. We'll keep her pretty much stock in the event he ever wants to restore to original.

Oh- and the front end has been swapped out with a CB750 set-up. Gotta have a disc upfront nothing screams insanity like a single leading shoe drum up front.

Not like I need another project in the shop right now with Project Goldmember 90% complete but what the fuck, right?

 

[swan]

Nice find, one of my favorite bikes. Sold mine and have regretted it deeply and will have another someday. Too bad you put a disc on it. The OEM can be made to work well and so does adding a 1968-70 Triumph BSA TLS drum up front.

 

[locOleoN]

Nice find, one of my favorite bikes. Sold mine and have regretted it deeply and will have another someday. Too bad you put a disc on it. The OEM can be made to work well and so does adding a 1968-70 Triumph BSA TLS drum up front.

I have the exact same bike with the British tank:
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=4754.0

Ive been very lazy about getting her back together though...

 

[Reinhard]

Swan,
Yeah, the bike came with the metric front end or I would have left it alone. At least they did a good job of it. Good bearings and no slop.

Leon,
Somehow that doesn't surprise me. I envision your garage being filled to the rafters with bikes. You cheeky bastard

My dad stopped over today took one look at it and said he used to have the same bike. 42 years on this rock and I learn something new about my pops everyday. I guess it's in my blood. I can remember riding on my dads bikes when I was a kid but don't remember him having a beeza.

 

[swan]

Ha! In the blood, awesome. Maybe you could sneak under locO leaN's tarped and neglected BSA and take his front drum since he is never going to finish it.

 

[Reinhard]

Swan,
Think I'll grab the side covers too. ;D

 

[Reinhard]

Here's the tank we're going with.
Got the frame painted too

 

[djg42]

looks awsome, is the tank from a bsa c25? does it fit on like the stock tank?

 

[stik70]

Cool Bike!! My dad has a '69 lightning. They are a gooood lookin' bike. Your cafe project is gonna rock!
Kev

 

[Reinhard]

Thanks guys. Not sure what the tank came off of originally but it looks alot like the stock tank on the Haynes manual.

I managed to get the tins painted, picked up velocity stacks, and the seat is getting recovered now. Also re-enameled the tank badges. Working full time and splitting "spare" time between three bikes sucks. It could be worse- I could have an empty garage

 

[Reinhard]

Seat done

 

[Speedfiend]

Hmmm, maybe its just the angle, but that seat reminds me of one of those shots from India where they have like 5 people and a goat on one bike. A tad long, me thinks.

 

[Reinhard]

Thats the stock seat minus fender. It does look long and I plan on dealing with that by using a half fender

 

[peter.walker]

Really like the tank, and the seat goes well with it. Nice work on a great bike!

 

[veryloudscott]

nice work on the bsa, do you have any experience with making/installing rearsets on these bikes? i have a 68 thunderbolt (waiting for it to be rewired) and i'd love to have some rearsets..