PURISTS LOOK AWAY NOW!

There is a gentleman, not far from here, who knows when he’s beaten and isn’t afraid to admit it. He purchased a US-import BSA Thunderbolt, missing more than a few items, and started on a rebuild to while away the idle hours. Time passed oh so quickly. He realised the job was becoming more taxing, and that his enthusiasm to see it through to the bitter end was definitely waning. He pleaded for me to get him out of the mire.

So for the first time in my life, I had a BSA twin in my workshop, complete with Parts List, Workshop Manual, and a big box of odds and ends. The request was to make it into a working, road-legal bike, not necessarily of original specification, but ‘use your imagination, ‘do what you think, etc…

Frank (you guessed?) had