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Newsletter of the BSAOC of Northern California March 2020 Number 411

In this issue: Norton runs aground again Letters Events, Safe motorcycling guide Travels with Shirley Maggie Jody Nicholas bio Las Vegas Auction report RIP Norton motors Bill Whalen Rocket 3 progress Calendar BSA “factory” The Last Page

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Number 411 March 2020 The BULLETIN of the Northern California BSA Owners’ Club is the forum for the

exchange of information among the members. All material contained within this

newsletter is property of the BSAOCNC unless otherwise stated within the article.

Material is not to be reproduced or copied without the written consent of the

BSAOCNC. If you would like to use an article or picture found in this newsletter

please contact the Editor.

Deadline for submission of material for publication is the 10th of each month. Members are encouraged to submit technical information, ads, letters, photographs, or any other items of potential interest. Photos will be returned only if so requested in advance. Opinions expressed in the BULLETIN are those of the respective contributors, and do not necessarily represent the position of the Club membership or its officers. BOARD OF DIRECTORS John Magri President 415-587-7541 Jim Romain Vice President 707-894-3805 David James Secretary 510-562-6769 Frank Recoder Steve Eorio Michael Gordon Doug Atkins REGALIA SALES Patti Meadows 775-359-8150 LIBRARIAN Randy Reiter 510-222-2546 WEBMASTER David James 510-562-6769 INTER. RALLY DELEGATE Barry Porter 831-464-2867 TREASURER Bill Whalen 707-837-0424 ADVISORS Thomas Stott (Pre-unit C Series Singles) 951-659-2406 Heinz Batterman (Gold Star) 510-339-1776 (M20/21) need volunteer *** - *** - **** Jack Wheeler (Pre-unit Twins) 510-724-1782 James Banke (Unit Singles) 831-335-1422 Jerry Meadows (Unit Twins) 775-359-8150 Bill Whalen (Rocket 3) 707-837-0424 Ray Pallett (Bantam) 510-456-6578 CONTRIBUTORS Maggie Neato (Personals) Write c/o the BULLETIN Claude Baddley Retired Lion tamer Sigmund Fraud Ex-analyst Commander Thaddeus McBragg Video Naval Commander Desha Vue Haven’t I seen you before?

Membership: The Northern California BSA Owners’ Club is open to all BSA enthusiasts at $25

per year. Associate membership is $5 per year for additional members in the same household.

Mail to: BSA OWNERS' CLUB, P.O. BOX 594, NOVATO, CA 94948 The address for submitting material for publication in the newsletter is: 17320 Santa Rosa Mine Rd. Perris, Ca. 92570.

e-mail: bsaocnceditor@aol.com www.BSAOCNC.org

Front cover: Norton quits snortin again, heart breaking for the faithful Back cover: Norton resorted to desperate measures to raise cash. Acts of desperation

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The way we were Your humble Editor

As you may have read already Norton

has once again gone down for the count. I started

out as a “Norton man” wanting nothing but a new

Norton Commando in 1970. I have related the story

of that in previous Bulletins but suffice to say that

that bike was a bitter disappointment and proved to

be remarkably unreliable. I think in retrospect that

had I bought a BMW or Honda I would have ended

up as an accountant or other socially acceptable profession. However needing to come

to grips with my Norton and after that my 1969 BSA Rocket 3 I was soon doing repairs

for other British riders and was launched into the British motorcycle business. Having

been in this since 1970 I have come to know a few folks who are key people in the

industry.

I have the pleasure of knowing Kenny Dreer through his business in Oregon

“Vintage Rebuilds”. Kenny was a fountain of

enthusiasm and on a shoestring rescued the Norton

Name from Canadian Al Melling who had reputed

mobster ties. He had exploited Norton to sell stock in

the soon to be revived company. I still have the

prospectus for that bogus offering. I recall the wooden

mock up of the eight cylinder “Nemesis 1500 V8”

announced at the British NEC show in 1999.

Joe Seifert, (Andover Norton) was

farsighted enough to register the company name in

most European countries, in order to safeguard it and still supplies spares for traditional

Norton twins. Stuart Garner acquired the rights

and designs for Kenny’s design in 2008 with the

intention of relaunching the Norton brand.

I had the opportunity to look these over a

few of Kenny’s VR880 machines in the past and

then much more recently to ride a new 961

Norton. The 961 bore many of the components

pioneered by Mr. Dreer first on his trademark

VR880 twins and later on pre-production 961

twins. Ultimately the 2016 bike proved to be a disappointment. I wanted with all my heart

to love the 2016 example I rode but it just wasn’t up to the standard set by the other

British maker. The new Norton seems to have acquired the same reputation for

reliability that my original 1970 had, very unfortunate!

So now the name dangles over the abyss again. Who will swoop in this time?

The Indian makers have been actively buying up once famous brands with BSA being

one of the latest. Interest is expressed by a Russian billionaire as well as a number of

Chinese concerns. Whoever wins the bid and gets Norton remember what I was taught

long ago. “How do you make a small fortune in the motorcycle business? Start with a

large one!”.

Stillborn Norton Nemesis 1500 V8

VR880 Norton

Norton 961

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1999 proposed Norton that was just a pipe dream to sell stock in a questionable Canadian Norton revival. Thanks to Cycle World for the 1999 photo.

1999 Norton 1500 V8 on test. Never to be.. A hint of things to come..

Stillborn 2019 Norton Atlas

Left: Norton V4 , only a few were delivered before the end.

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Letters to the Editor Send to: bsaocnceditor@aol.com or by mail : 17320 Santa Rosa Mine Rd, Perris, Ca. 92570

“On December 12, 2019 my shop in Oregon City, Oregon was robbed. I lost three restored BSA Hornet gas tanks (two are 1966 and one is 1967) and a pair of new (in the box) 30 mm Amal concentric carburetors. I am offering a $1,000 reward for the return of these items. Please contact: Ronald R. Saunders Vintage Motorcycle Restoration Ph. 503-680-5321

Stillborn Norton Nemesis of 1999 with wooden concept V8 engine as seen at the NEC show 1999.

From better times , Reborn Norton twin

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2016: Part 8

Our hosts, Bill and Pam, mentioned that they had plans to travel to California in December. Maybe we’d see them there; we offered an invitation to visit us. Mean-while, we had plans to visit another BSA pal again, Jim, who lives on the South coast. Off we went from Lower Beeding on an easy ride, stopping at Chococo in Win-chester for a snack. There followed a bit of a mix-up in the region of the Southampton docks, trying to find the route to Hythe. It turns out that England has two of them, so Google Maps was superseded by my old paper AAA map, which eventually got us within a recognizable neighborhood.

Jim was his usual upbeat self, which made for a lovely evening of BSA Club gossip, motorcycle lore, and dinner on the waterfront at the “Seashell”, overlooking the har-bor. Our walk back to his place featured a splendid presentation of lighting and thunder in the skies. It rained overnight but the roads were largely dry by the time we departed in the morning. However, conditions became a bit misty as we traveled North to Chobham. There were no problems with the cops in Surrey this time - we rode to the shipping company’s warehouse and left the BSA in the good hands of Julian and Phil. While making arrangements with them for sending the bike back home, I happened to mention the great service I’d received the first time I’d used their company for this pur-pose in 1993 (same bike), when I dealt with an agent by the name of Jeremy Barker. That got a laugh from both of them. They let me know that these days Jeremy was the CEO! I had noticed the row of moving vans across

TRAVELS WITH SHIRLEY Don Danmeier

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the back of their depot, and when I considered that they now had depots not only in England but also in Europe, New York and Long Beach, I was suitably impressed.

We took a cab back to the hotel, reclaimed our stored luggage, packed our riding gear and went down to the bar for a bowl of hot soup. It’s nice when the waiter re-members you from your stay the month before. We took a nap and walked to the local Post Office to buy stamps for the thank-you notes we’d be sending before we left. The evening news showed us the havoc in the South of England due to severe flooding, where two weeks’ worth of rain had fallen overnight.

Epilogue

I had reason to contact the shipping company after we returned home, this time to make arrangements for them to retrieve the AJS and send it on to California. It arrived on time and in perfect condition. The guys in Long Beach even helped me load it into the van. By this time the BSA was safely stashed in Novato and they’d recent-ly returned the Vincent after its stay in France for an en-gine rebuild. Three bikes on the water almost simultane-ously that year: I was going broke with shipping costs. What a “hobby”.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS Daniel McDonald Mill Valley, California Richard Montero San Francisco, California Lawrence Orlick Oakland, California Jim Wheeler Petaluma, California Kim Williams Alameda, California

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DEAR MAGGIE:

I rode my BSA Rocket 3 down to the hospital recently to take an MRI exam. As I was lying inside the machine, I heard a loud jackhammer-type banging noise which sounded similar to a noise I'd once heard on my BSA just before the rotor ex-ploded. Later, I did some research on MRI machines and found that they employ the same Lucas rotors as those used on my Rocket 3! So I went back there and flirted a bit with the pretty nurse who'd helped me get into my hospital gown, and soon she agreed to meet me in the MRI room after hours so that I could examine her magnets. Sure enough, the magnets were coming loose and standing proud of their pot-metal bodies. The next time I met my doctor for a consultation, I suggested that they order some new, welded-type rotors for the MRI machine.

Now there is peace and quiet in the MRI room, no more loud banging. To thank me, the pretty nurse gave me an inti-mate, private session in the MRI exam room, and we created a different type of banging noise, but this time I didn't complain. Maggie, do you know of any other medical apps for BSA parts? -

X-RAYED AND X-RATED IN OREGON

Dear Banger:

Do you mean, any BSA parts that involve banging? Sure. And it doesn’t have to be a medical application, either. Just think about it - here’s proof that the whole is equal to more than the sum of its parts: almost any BSA, when viewed in person or even just heard from afar, can lead to banging. Individual parts can be quite inspirational, but there is nothing like a sexy BSA to stir the juices. Even a photo might be enough to get you and your sweetie fired up. So in your case, I advise shying away from pot-metal bodies and keeping company with hard-bodied females, unless you’re madly in love with yourself.

MAGGIE NEATO

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Jody Nicholas was one of America’s best road racers during the 1960s. He was a contender at nearly every road race national he entered from the early 1960s to the time he was drafted to serve in the Vietnam War in 1965. The years that Nicholas served his country came at the prime of his career. He returned to racing after the service and had some successes, but never regained the momentum he had before being drafted. In 1963, Nicholas won his two career AMA nationals: at the famous Laconia Classic road race and later that year on the road course in Carpentersville, Illinois. He was known for his graceful riding style, which was in stark contrast to the brutish, square-off-the-turn style employed by most American dirt track riders on road courses in the early ‘60s. Nicholas was born Joel Edward Nicholas on August 28, 1943 in Dallas. Hew was always know by his nickname, Jody. His parents were both educators in Nashville and Nicholas was trained to be a classical musician from the time he was 7 years old all the way through college. Nicholas was a violinist, though he was proficient on several other in-struments as well. Nicholas first got the feel of two wheels when he bought a Doodlebug minibike powered by a lawnmower engine when he was in seventh grade. He paid $25 for the little mini-bike, appropriately enough from money he’d saved cutting lawns. Nicholas entered his first race, a scrambles event, in 1957 on a borrowed bike and did well enough to earn a trophy and the attention of a local Nashville BSA motorcycle dealer, Lonnie Martin, who became Nicholas’ first sponsor. A diminutive young rider, Nicholas stood 5’ 7” and weighed 125 pounds during his days of racing. He excelled at all types of motorcycle racing, from scrambles, to drag racing, from dirt tracking to road racing. Nicholas began to make a name outside of Tennessee when he won novice races at Daytona in 1960. The next year, he became one of the top-ranked amateur riders in the country, winning three AMA amateur road race nationals and the amateur program of the Springfield Mile. Nicholas’ first race as an expert was in the Daytona 200 in 1962. He qualified a very re-spectable sixth out of over 100 entries. During the race, the throttle on his BSA stuck open and Nicholas was forced to ad-lib by using the kill switch to slow the bike down in the corners. Unfortunately for Nicholas, the kill switch began shorting out and several times the power would come on when he wasn’t expecting it. As a result of his bike’s condition Nicholas crashed several times that day, but still managed a sixth-place finish. The best national finish for Nicholas during his rookie expert season was at Laconia, New Hampshire, where he took fourth. It was a precursor of things to come. The 1963 season will go down as Nicholas’ breakthrough year. He followed up his excel-lent rookie performance and won at Laconia, despite crashing his factory BSA Gold Star with just a lap to go. He fell coming out of Laconia’s infamous hairpin turn, giving the lead to George Roeder. Nicholas quickly picked up his bike and got back into the race and

Jody Nicholas Trailblazer INDUCTED: 1999 1960s AMA Road Racer

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took back the lead from Roeder near the end of that final lap to win his first AMA National. Later that same summer, Nicholas won again on the road circuit in Carpentersville after a race-long battle with Dick Hammer. While Nicholas would come close many times over the next 10 years, Lady Luck did not smile on him and he never won another AMA national. Nicholas mainly stayed away from the dirt track nationals, choosing to focus instead on road racing. He continued as the most con-sistent road racer during the middle 1960s and managed to finish in the top 10 of the AMA Grand National point standings in 1964 and 1965. Nicholas was even offered a chance to compete in the 500cc Grand Prix World Championship circuit before Uncle Sam came calling. Nicholas joined the Navy and was an aviator, flying E-1B Tracer radar planes off the deck of an aircraft carrier. He even plucked an Apollo moon mission crew from the Pa-cific Ocean. After his military service, Nicholas returned to racing and was hired as a factory rider for the fledgling Suzuki team. Nicholas showed that he hadn’t lost any of his skills when he finished second to young BSA rider David Aldana on the road course at Talladega Motor Speedway in 1970. Injuries from crashes began to wear on Nicholas through the early 1970s. His final podi-um finish at an AMA national came at the Ascot Park Half Mile, in Gardena, California, on September 25, 1971. He won the 125 national at Road Atlanta in 1972, but was dis-qualified because the engine crankcases and cylinder assemblies on his machine did not have fins like the street model GT750s from which the racers were derived. He con-tinued to race off and on over the next few years before retiring from professional com-petition in the mid-1970s. After his racing career, Nicholas stayed involved in the motorcycling industry. He be-came an assistant editor for Cycle World and later wrote for several other industry publi-

cations. In addition to his ample racing and tuning skills, Nicholas will also be remembered as one of the most likeable riders of his era. Being college educated, a classical musician, a pa-triot and Southern gentleman never diminished the fact that Nicholas was first and foremost a racer. Nicholas was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999. He lives in Southern California, continues writing about motorcycles and still occasionally competes in races for past champions. Inducted in 1999

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Las Vegas Auction review January 2020

Well folks the Mecum's and Bonham's motorcycle auctions are in the bag again and as expected the sea of gray hair was the predominant buyer and seller group. I missed 2019 but was at Mecum's for every excruciating moment this year. 8-10 hours of 102DB+ with no break for anything takes an amazing toll. Add the extended days of Tuesday to Sunday for 6 days of remarkably loud and mostly entertaining pandemonium. We elected to use a local Air B&B rather than stay in the smokey and crowded hotel and highly recommend that option. I did drive my Dodge long bed this year "just in case". I also delivered Gary Stark's NOS 1953 Indian Chief ($65K reserve) and 1951 TT Warrior ($12K reserve) for the Friday event. Gary came out on Thursday with his truck also "just in case". In 2017 I had to rent a trailer to bring my 4 treasures home so we wanted to be prepared.

Tuesday's auction was a real turkey shoot with bikes either not selling or going for ridiculously low money. I bought a 57 Triumph period bobber and a 1971 desert sled Triumph for chump change. Wednesday was more of the same with the auction seating so empty that a deranged gunman could have come in blasting and hit nobody. A lovely Vincent Rapide sold for $28,000 complete with matching numbers. Then a even nicer touring Vincent went for $33,000. Even with the 10% auction premium theses were

less than half the value (or is this the trend?). Seems a lot of the really cheap bikes with no reserve were being sold for the estate of the deceased owners who were now beyond caring for what they had paid for the things. Worked out well for a few of the lucky buyers anyway and the next of kin got a bit of cash out of the deal. No harm done there.

The Thursday auction began as the previous days but about noon the money folks woke up and started bidding and for 4 hours it was 1999 again with silly money spent as with Martin's A65 going for $28,000 and some other notable high prices. You can see them at Mecum's website. Alas as the money began leaving for supper prices began to slide and the auction resumed setting new low prices. By the end I bought a 1919 Triumph Model H for cheap money. Friday dawned with even fewer buyers in the AM but

followed the Thursday pattern with money showing up after lunch and driving tiny Honda mini bikes and veteran American bikes to dizzy highs. But as with Thursday as supper called the auction trudged on and the deals became remarkable. The Friday auction ran from 10 am to 8:45 PM, a long time at no break and 102DB for anyone. Saturday began with even fewer bidders and never recovered. At some points I counted less than 200 people in the bidding area and some reasonable deals passed by. I bought a 1922 Coventry Eagle for reasonable

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money that had passed though earlier without reaching reserve and resubmitted as the last Saturday entry not even in the catalog, at no reserve as well.

Sunday had a remaining 100 or so bikes and the bikes outnumbered the bidders. I bought a 1971 Triumph 650 on a whim as it seemed to be very cheap. As it turned out the bike had a 1965 engine so the deal wasn't quite so good. That is how auctions go, you buy it and it is yours, period and no discussion.

paying for bikes is interesting also. The house gets 10% of the hammer price but what they don't say is the document fee and the sales tax the state of Nevada collects on any bike without a title (sold on bill of sale) or with a Nevada title. Also bikes sold at auction can not be titled or

registered in Nevada. To avoid the Nevada 8.75% sales tax you can ship with the auction house shipping company. I shipped my 1919 Triumph from Vegas to Perris Ca. for $345, not to bad but money I didn't need to spend if I could have taken the bike. Oh and the auction company no longer accepts credit cards even though you can put your initial deposit on a card, go figure.

I didn't go to Bonham's but those who did described it a a mausoleum with few lots selling and the ones that did at stupid low prices. the bike i wanted was listed as withdrawn but went to auction anyway. Fancy a 1983 Triumph T140ES with less than 1000 miles from new for $2,200.00? So would I. My conclusion regarding the auction is that selling at auction only works for dead people who are done with the bikes they loved but great for the living who want to own a bike or 5 that they have always wanted.

Bill Getty

Buying a 1919 Triumph, note wife holding sale slip!

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When the classic British motorcycle marque Norton slumped into administra-tion on Wednesday afternoon, the news was framed in the habitual way of a standard UK engineering corporate failure. The 122-year-old brand – famed for roles in the Che Guevara memoir The Motorcycle Diaries and the James Bond film Spectre – had fallen victim to an assortment of over-whelming forces ranging from Brexit, a punchy HMRC pursuing the firm

for £300,000 in unpaid taxes, and tough international competition that made it impossi-ble for Norton’s traditional bespoke approach to succeed. However, the story is far more complex than that. It is a pile-up that includes hundreds of hapless pension holders, together with unsuspecting Norton customers, staff and even government ministers, who repeatedly endorsed Norton as millions of pounds in taxpayer support flowed into the firm. All will take a lot of persuading that this is merely a story of a plucky British company that is a victim of circumstance. Their anger looks likely to be directed principally to-wards one man: Norton’s boss, Stuart Garner. Garner bought the Norton brand in 2008, after it had been under US owner-ship and had ceased producing bikes. He pledged to return the marque to former glo-ries that include a racing tradition dating back to winning in the first Isle of Man TT race. Even before this week’s collapse, the businessman was being pursued by dozens of “ordinary working people”, some of the 228 savers whose pension pots add-ed up to the £14m that was invested into Norton following a fraud. Those savers had been persuaded by a conman to transfer their retirement funds out of conventional pension plans during 2012 and 2013. Their money was then locked up for five years into three new pension plans controlled by Garner – where the cash was invested in just one asset: Norton shares. Garner has said he had no idea the funds had been raised fraudulently when he accepted them. He insists he too is a “victim” and that he thought he had longer than five years to pay the money back. An investigation by the Guardian and ITV News has also found: • Dozens of pension holders are now accusing Garner of ignoring repeated requests to return their pension pots – years after the lock-in periods that prevented them from accessing their money have passed. • Millions of pounds in government-backed loans and ministerial endorsements were given to Norton, which enhanced the credibility of the firm and its owner. • Lengthy delays in promised deliveries of Norton motorcycles – which can cost as much as £44,000 each – despite customers saying they had paid deposits and some-times even the full purchase price. • A £1m loan received by the motorcycle firm in 2008, that came directly from the pro-ceeds of a tax fraud, for which two longstanding Norton associates were convicted in 2013.

Taken for a ride: how Norton Motorcycles collapsed amid acrimony and scandal Exclusive: Guardian/ITV investigation reveals how pen-sion holders, customers and staff lost out

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Elizabeth Pitcairn, a 55-year-old former HBOS bank worker from Cowdenbeath in Scotland, claims Garner has missed his own deadlines to return her £56,000 pension pot, in a saga that has dragged on for almost a year. She said: “I think [Garner] has be-haved atrociously. How is it in this day and age with all these checks that are in place that he can have my money – basically take my money – and not give it back and there be no penalty to him?” Further questions are sure to be asked about how Norton reached this point, and how millions of pounds of taxpayer money was staked on the firm. In July 2015, the then chancellor, George Osborne, said his government’s long-term economic plan was “all about backing successful British brands like Norton”, as he visit-ed the firm’s Leicestershire factory to announce a £4m government grant to Norton and 11 of its supply chain partners. Four years earlier, the business secretary at the time, Vince Cable, announced a £625,000 government-backed loan by Santander to Norton and said he hoped “that many more companies are inspired by what Norton is going to achieve through this fund-ing”. Just 13 months ago, Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, also visited the fac-tory. He described Norton as a “great business, great brand”. The pensions ombudsman says it has received 31 separate complaints about the con-duct of the three Norton pension schemes since 2012. It is scheduled to hear a case next month, which has been brought by 30 complainants regarding the conduct of Gar-ner in relation to the schemes. It has published three determinations directly criticising Garner, who was a trus-tee of the plans until being replaced by the Pensions Regulator last year. In May 2019, the ombudsman stated: “We have received a number of complaints con-cerning the trustee’s failure to action members’ requests to withdraw their monies from the scheme, and from two other pension schemes of which Mr Garner is the sole trustee; the funds of which are also invested in Norton Motorcycle Holdings Limited.” Apart from the angry pension fund members, Norton customers are also complaining that they have paid deposits for motorcycles, but have no idea when they will receive their bikes. Tony Smith, a bike enthusiast from Sussex, says he ordered a Norton Domina-tor Street from the company last August, and paid the full purchase price of £22,000. He says he was informed his bike would be ready in September, November and then De-cember – before being told the firm would be starting work on his bike this month. He has still to receive it. He said: “I wish I could tell you where my bike is. I’ve had numerous promises of when my bike would be made. My bike was never made and of course now my bike won’t be made. It got to the point where people weren’t returning my calls, my emails weren’t being answered. Emo-tionally I’ve written the money off. I’m furious.” Now that the firm has fallen into administration, with accountants BDO appointed on Wednesday to man-age its affairs, it looks even more un-likely that this tale will end happily for pension fund holders and customers. Many of the pension funds of the 228 members that found their way into Nor-ton during 2012 and 2013 were raised by a conman called Simon Colfer. He was given a suspended prison sentence in 2018 after pleading guilty to duping pension holders into

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transferring funds into pension schemes, including Norton, by presenting himself under a false name, which concealed a previous conviction, and not disclosing a previous bankruptcy to his clients. The pension holders – many of whom were financially vulnera-ble – had been led to believe they would receive a tax-free lump sum for agreeing to the transfer. In fact, the lump sums left them with substantial tax bills, while Colfer was paid signifi-cant fees from the retirement pots. As part of that series of transactions, fees were also paid by the Norton pension plans to a company called T12 Administration, which registered the pension schemes with HMRC and carried out the day-to-day administration. Two of the directors controlling T12 were Andrew Meeson and Peter Bradley. They were convicted of a separate tax fraud in 2013, when they reclaimed £5m of tax rebates from fictitious pension contributions. Court documents from that trial state that about £4m of the £5m was then paid out by Meeson and Bradley to friends, family and associates, including a £990,000 loan that went to Norton. In a statement, Garner said: “I’m devastated at the events over the last 24 hours and personally have lost everything. However, my thoughts are with the Norton team and everyone involved, from customers, suppliers and shareholders at this truly difficult time. “Without dialogue Metro Bank appointed BDO administrators yesterday. We are now working positively and proactively with BDO to ensure Norton has the best possible chance to find a buyer. It has become increasingly difficult to manufacture in the UK, with a growing tax burden and ongoing uncertainties over Brexit affecting many things like, tariffs, exports and availability of funding.”

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Daja Vu

Bill Whalen

Last month my buddies Jim and Roland conspired to get me to buy a derelict BSA Rock-et 3. It was like offering a fix to a drug addict or a drink to an alcoholic. I was helpless to resist.

So how am I progressing: Well I’m -----? Hope for the best, expect the worst.

So after buying the thing, I started to work. I brought it home and immediately started to evaluate my latest prize. The engine did turn over, which was a good thing. It looked like someone had started to disassemble it, as some of the rocker box bolts and one of the rocker covers were missing. It has always been my experience that when buying a bike that has been sitting for many years, you should probably keep on investigating until you are able to discover the cause of it being parked. In other words, solve the puzzle.

I started by removing the rocker boxes, and then the head. Surprise #1 - The valves and guides appeared to be new. Surprise #2 - Brand new .020 pistons, rings and a bore job that looked OK. Surprise #3 – When I removed the primary cover, I discovered that it is a late style primary with the upgraded chain tensioner. Things were looking up! That’s when I got Surprise #4 - My crankshaft would not turn! I could turn it with a wrench, but no way could I turn it by hand. Oh well, what do you expect? There had to be a reason that this bike got parked so many years ago. Rods looked good, all rods were loose enough to turn, with no up and down movement. I then turned to the timing side and removed the alternator, all cam gears, and the crankshaft gear. With everything removed but the crankshaft, it still would not turn by hand. Now I have rebuilt many Triples over the years, and I have only seen this one time, now here it is again.

The British Triple crankshaft runs on one roller, one ball, and two plain main bearings. It is usually very reliable, unless you make the mistake of swapping those two main bear-ing caps. You just can’t do that! Just to make sure you wouldn’t make that fatal error, one is stamped with a “D” for drive side and the other with a “T” for timing side. I re-moved both and swapped them, and what do you know, the crank now turned freely! It’s not all good news however. Someone many years ago rebuilt this engine and probably managed to start it up and then immediately had to shut it down, but the damage was already done. Both main bearings and the two main crank journals were ruined. I re-moved the crankshaft and found that it measured standard on both mains and two of the rods, the third rod measures .010 undersize. Who would bother to do that? Answer, the same guy who managed to swap the main bearing caps.

It seems that every time I have to rebuild an engine, it’s like solving a puzzle. You just keep playing with the pieces until all of a sud-den you solve it, and all becomes clear.

Now the work begins.

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Bulletin ads work! Swap Meet, buy-sell-trade Only British motorcycle related items will be listed, with BSA items having priority. Unless otherwise requested, ads will run for three consecutive issues. If you find/sell what you are advertising for during that period, please send the Editor a cancellation notice! The methods for submitting ads for publication are: Preferred: via Email, bsaocnceditor@aol.com with any photos in .jpg format

Next Best: Phone 951-943-5886. Good: mail to 17320 Santa Rosa Mine Rd, Perris 92570.

1971 BSA B50SS Only thing I did in my steward-ship was a pro respray ( 2 years ago) and Boyer EI. She is in amazing shape. All the Lucas switch-gear works…I believe the mileage to be pretty darn correct…Clear title in my name and regis-tered in Ca. 5200 Thanks, Dan 650-245-4446 or arieleditor64@outlook.com

For Sale: 1968 BSA Lightning S/n A65LB-9357. 3317 miles on speedo. Purchased 9-24-95, speedo read 136.1 miles. Maintenance / ride log

since 1995. Original, stock, complete. Close to concourse but it's a rider. "68 BSA" license plate current. 2 new Amal carbs and air filters complete. Old carbs included. New tune-up and spark plugs November 2019. New AGM battery. Owners manual , tool kit, matching BSA posters and literature, including 2 18x24 posters and Cycle World road test of 68 lightning and other BSA's. Lew Brown 559-907-5873 (cell) 559-658-2294 (home) Coarsegold, Ca. $8500.00

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HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE BSA OWNERS CLUB OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA:

Dave Aldana Earl Bowlby Don Danmeier Dick Mann Bob Raber Jim Rice Jeff Smith Craig Vetter In Memoriam: Kenny Eggers Nick Nicholson Roland Pike Roy Bacon Neil Keen Chuck “Feets” Minert Eddie Dow

BSAOCNC Committees:

NEWSLETTER Bill Getty, Editor 951-940-5411

RIDES Mike Crick

CALIFORNIA

BSA RALLY David James 510-562-6769

ELECTIONS Ants Uiga (Chairman) 949-466-6404

David James 510-562-6769

MEMBERSHIP Bill Whalen, Chair 707-837-0424

Patti Meadows 775-359-8150

WEB PRESENCE David James, Chair 510-562-6769

Patti Meadows 775-359-8150

Jeff Sunzeri 831-636-3020

1971 BSA Lightning 650 Matching engine and frame numbers. Runs well, new Dunlop k70 tire on rear. Clear title in California. Current non-op. Shop manuals garaged.

$2950 OBO. Dan @ 707-496-0887 Bike is in Ukiah Ca. 4/20

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2020 Clubman’s Calendar 5 Jan (Sun) BSAOCSC 22nd Annual “Wintergreen” Dual Sport Ride, Phelan Jim Wilson, 310-292-8997, Sandi Bilewitch 760-964-4526 Mike Haney 760-365-9191 11 Jan (Sat) NCNOC Meeting Round Table 12 Jan (Sun) BSAOCSC “Toluca Loop” Singles Ride, Los Angeles John Searock, 818-843-2892 or Steve Ortiz 951-440-3521 12 Jan (Sun) NCNOC Polar Bear Ride (Highway Cleanup) 18 Jan (Sat) BSAOCNC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The Englander Restaurant, 101 Parrott St., San Leandro John Magri, 415-587-7541 19 Jan (Sun) BSAOCSC Di-Monthly Meeting, TBD Barbara Barrett, 661-703-9249, Steve Ortiz 951-440-3521 19 Jan (Sun) SCNOC Rockin’ BBQ @ Dan Schoenwald’s 16 Feb (Sun) NCNOC Sweetheart Ride 23 Feb (Sun) BSAOCSC “Cinder Cone” Dual Sport Ride, Lucerne Valley Jim Wilson, 310-292-8997 or Mike Haney, 760-365-9191 23 Feb (Sun) SCNOC Ojai Pilgrimage 29 Feb (Sat) BSAOCNC DELTA RIDE David James, 415-760-6392 or info at bsaocnc.org 7 Mar (Sat) NCNOC Meeting venue TBD 15 Mar (Sun) BSAOCSC “Al Baker” Dual Sport Ride, Helendale Jim Wilson, 310-292-8997 or Mike Haney, 760-365-9191 15 Mar (Sun) NCNOC Ride (Highway Cleanup) 21 Mar (Sat) BSAOCNC EAST BAY RIDE E.J. Finsilver, 925-838-7114 or djfin at sbcglobal.net 22 Mar (Sun) SCNOC Rock Inn Loop 22 Mar (Sun) Central Alberta Vintage MC Grp. Swap Meet Red Deer, Alberta 4 Apr (Sat) 74th Annual Trailblazers Banquet, Carson 5 Apr (Sun) BSAOCSC “Paul Elmore Memorial Inland Empire” Street Ride, Temec ula Steve Ortiz, 951-440-3521 11 Apr (Sat) NCNOC Meeting Swinging Door or TBD

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/BSAOCNC/

Our Facebook page! Join up, post your photos !

17Apr (Fri) BSAOCNC/BSAOCSC MID-STATE RIDE, Carmel 18 Apr (Sat) David Warnes 650-868-5440 or david.warnes at sbcglobal.net 19 Apr (Sun) Greg Goris 805-798-3573 or ggoris93023 at gmail.com 19 Apr (Sun) NCNOC Santa Cruz Mountain Ride 25 Apr (Sat) SCNOC Yucca Valley/Pioneer Town 26 Apr (Sun) 26 Apr (Sun) BSAOCSC “Barry Smith Memorial All British Run”, Lake View Terrace Barbara Barrett, 661-703-9249, Steve Ortiz 951-440-3521 2 May (Sat) The Californian Motorcycle Show Brady Walker, 310-980-7129 or info@bradywalker.com 3 May (Sun) BSAOCSC Swap Meet & Bi-Monthly Meeting, Costa Mesa

Triumph Classic Motorcycles 1218 Logan Ave. Barbara Barrett, 661-703-9249, Steve Ortiz 951-440-3521 9 May (Sat) NCNOC Meeting Round Table or TBD 16 May (Sat) BSAOCNC “MOTO MARIN”, San Rafael Dave Gusti, 415-269-1841 17 May (Sun) BSAOCSC “Rim of the World” Street Ride, San Bernardino Steve Ortiz, 951-440-3521 or Barbara Barrett, 661-703-9249 24 May (Sun) NCNOC Mt. Hamilton Ride Tom Dabel May (Fri) Lake Cachuma British Bike Rally May (Sat) www.eddiemulderswcvdts.com or 661-944-1184 31 May (Sun) DATE NOT YET CONFIRMED 29 May (Fri) SCNOC Cambria 30 May (Sat) 805-927-4021 31 May (Sun)

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Vagn Jensen Motorcycles - Jutland Denmark

BSA assembly line restoring Thunderbolts and Lightnings somewhat similar to the one in the old factory in Small Heath

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So this is what happens when Norton customer Mr. John Hamilton takes his Norton V4SS back to the “Factory”, for some, Wait for it; PAINT WORK WARRANTY to be completed........ His bike is stripped, with now little doubt that another bike has been made and SOLD with parts from his £44,000 bike........

Crighton Racing photos and commentary