Opinions on BSA bikes

I have been offered a late 60s BSA in very sharp condition for $2500, what is the opinion of you bike guys on there bikes.

I like a cafe racer style, so it will go in that direction.

Steve

What model? They have everything from 250cc to 750cc at that time. $2500 seems cheap for a BSA of any size that's in very sharp condition

It is a 650, I am not a bike guy so I have to wait for him to send photos to give you more info.

It is bright orange....bleah

It's probably a Lightning, very similar to this one:

BSAs of that vintage are heavy as hell, for instance they have cast iron cylinders. At least it should be a 'unit' bike, i.e. the transmission is in the same case as the crank etc. meaning it's much less prone to leaking from the primary case, but that does NOT mean leak free. They were available in single and dual carb models, the carbs are Amal and were primitive even by the standards of the time, try a 'tickler' choke. That's where you push a 'tickler' on the side, this pushes the float down and lets the engine flood so it will start when cold. Yeah, it works about as well as you think it would. They may have been replaced with Mikunis (very common swap) and if so about 80% of the problems with the engine have been fixed right there.

Lucas electrics. 'Nuff said.

It's a 360 degree vertical twin with the 'pork chop' crank, this means the pistons rise and fall together and they are counterbalanced by a really heavy crank. It also means it shakes like a wet dog at idle. They are pushrod with two long and two short pushrods so don't expect Jap bike redlines. IIRC they were good to around 6500 RPM.

Having said all the negative nasty things previously, they are among the coolest of the vintage Brit iron, fun to ride and real head turners. If it's in real clean condition and runs well, I'd say it's probably well worth $2500.00.

Hunter S. Thompson rode one when he was annoying the Hell's Angels as a young reporter.

Well the pics arrived and to my shock it is a chopper, but for some reason i can't load them onto photobucket, if anybody who is more tech sav able to help and I will email them to you.

This is the latest info I got

"As far I know and can see, it needs rewired, new oils, batt. and tune up, of course. The carbs. would probably need gone through. These are all very simple, cheap fixes. The trans. shifts through all gears smoothly. The engine kicks over smoothly with great compression. The back brake sys. needs some work, but that was why I was going to change it out to a BSA sys., it will fit, work, and look way better. It has Harley components now. I recently picked it up and haven't had much time to work on it, but it is next in line. BSA's are easy to get parts for, and cheap. I have ton's of spares, and could help you out if you ever needed parts. Let me know what you think. Thanks. Jason."

BSA are awesome but I am not loving that. Maybe with a new paint job. I would rather buy a stock one personally.

Yeah, I'm not exactly digging that either. Seems a shame, as a '60s BSA would make the perfect cafe racer, (considering the origin of the term.)

I like this one.

I passed, thanks DXCivic for the reason

You are welcome.

I shuddered when you said you were going to make it a cafe racer. Then I saw what it already looked like. Cafe racer now seems nice.

Birmingham Small Arms.

'Nuff said.