Here are another happy Y13 owner, a friend
of Ned in
Australia:
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Mr. Jim Solomon, a farmer, bought this BSA new from
J.N.Taylors in Adelaide, South Australia's Capital City.
Jim's farm is located at Bundalee Springs, 8kms south of Jamestown, 212kms
North of Adelaide. The farm itself is in an area, which has hilly terrain
with creeks and watercourses and is only suitable for sheep grazing and
orchards. |
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| Click on photos for larger images: |
Jim used the bike as a typical work hack on the farm, using it to round
up sheep. Whilst on one of these ‘round-ups’ some sheep broke away
from the main flock and Jim had to chase them on the bike. He hit a large
stone that was hidden in the grass, lost control and fell over.
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| This
caused damage to the front rim, the right hand kneepad was pushed into the
side of the petrol tank, the right side handle bar was bent backwards and
up, the headlight and exhaust system also sustained damage. As well, he
used to ride it once a week into Jamestown to pick up supplies. Most of
these were carried in a bag across the petrol tank, thus creating many
small dents in the top of the tank. |
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| I purchased the bike from Jim in 1971. A friend and myself
drove up to Jim’s farm in a 1953 Dodge Utility to collect the bike. As
we were driving out of the gate, Jim yelled out for us to stop. I thought
he changed his mind about selling the machine. But he ran over to us and
said, “If you are taking the bike, you may as well have the tool kit too”.
It was an all-original tool kit especially marked “B.S.A.” |
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| Restorations was commenced. The damaged headlight was
repaired, after
which I had to make a complete new exhaust system. Before I could actually
start working on the motor, the exterior of the heads had to be completely
cleaned. Due to a nasty oil leak and dirty, dusty roads around Jamestown,
the dust and the oil mixture had completely filled up the area between the
fins and set hard! |
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Whilst cleaning this area I found grass seeds, small
gravel and fossilised locusts! Now, to the motor – What a mess! It was
so badly worn that the piston rings had come out of the pistons and
completely disintegrated. The motor had to be sleeved and new pistons made.
The bottom end was completely overhauled and new valves fitted to the
heads. I got a rim for the front wheel to replace the damaged one and had
the front wheel rebuilt.
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The damaged petrol tank was repaired by one of our tank specialists.
This was achieved by cutting two access holes, 44mm x 32mm, in the base of
the tank. Though these small holes the right hand side was brought out, a
sharp dent located on the front left hand side was knocked out and metal
finished, and the area between the instrument penal and the seat, damaged
by Jim’s kit bag, was also straightened out.
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This was so expertly
accomplished that I was able to have the whole tank chrome-plated. To make
sure the green painted panels on the tank were in the correct position,
papier-mach panels were made and trimmed to the exact shape of the
original paintwork BEFORE any work was done on the tank.
The engine number of this machine is ‘305’ and the gearbox number
is ‘9’.
The bike was completely restored in 1983 and has 320kms
e- mail to Ned in Australia |
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