RealClassic ELECTRIC START BSA
Some years ago, a good friend completed a decently major rebuild of one of my favourite British twins - BSA's most pleasant A65 Thunderbolt. It ran brilliantly and was almost entirely a pleasure to ride. It had issues, certainly, but which 1971 BSA is flaw-free? And in any case, I was sure we would learn to joggle along together, running-in each other, as it were. This is often the way, as I'm sure you know already.
However. There is always a 'however: I struggled to kick it up reliably. Thunderbolts are not high compression engines, claiming an almost modest 7.5:1 ratio, and I felt that starting should have been easy enough. But… it wasn't. Not always. Because there was a second snag: the bike had no centrestand, because one of the frame's brackets which held the stand to the rest of the bike had somehow been broken off. I find kickstarting bikes easier if they're standing up on their own, somehow, and leaning it over to rest on its sidestand raised the kickstart too high for my foot to reach comfortably. I tried and I tried - and I really enjoyed riding it - but starting was never easy.
So I sold it. Someone somewhere has a very fine machine indeed.
The answer would have been to fit an electric starter to BSA's egg engine, but despite looking around for a while I failed to find one. Self-starting Gold Stars? Yes, they're out there. Thunderbolts and other
