Back on the job!

Sorry guys that I haven't posted for a while. School, Christmas and the cold got in the way of me working on the bike. Now it's half term, so I'm back on the job.

I have been begging my Dad to help me do some work on my bike. Yesterday me and my Dad got time to work. We tried putting the front wheel on and it wouldn't go in properly. It was bending to one side. We found out the problem and it was because we forgot to put in a little metal bit near the wheel. We put it in and it worked! Phew! I was very relieved.

As you can see, near my left hand there is a bit of rust. That is the bit that we forgot to put in, because we didn't know what it was for. The old owner had it put in. Now it is on it's wheels again.

This is a good picture of the new foot rest.

I'm going to start working on the fairing next.

Frame together!

Sorry but I've been busy the last few weeks with school, so I haven't had time to write an update.
Right, lets get back to the good stuff!
After we sprayed all the bits of the bike, we could start putting them together. First, I put the frame and sub-frame together. Then there was a decision! Should I keep the rear shock absorber, or should I buy a new one?... My Dad, who's helping me on this project, thought that we should buy a new shock absorber because the old one was leaking oil and it looked quite tatty. In the end we chose to buy a new one. My Dad looked on Ebay, and he found a nice one, so we bought it. When it arrived, we got ready and put it in.

Then, we thought about putting the forks in. So my Dad started cleaning inside the head stock and there was another problem. When he was cleaning a ball bearing came out which he thought was bad news as he couldn't get it back in. But then he noticed the ball bearing was cracked, so my Dad went on a hunt for some new ones. We put some grease in and fitted in the ball bearings.
Next, we put the forks on and put in more ball bearings.

We then put the two foot rests on. Annoyingly one of them isn't original as it had been broken off. When we went to Founders Days a few weeks ago, I found one and we bought it. There was a bit on it that poked out which would clamp on to the bike which we cut off. We smoothed it down, and then asked my friend to weld it on to the frame. The other footrest, we clamped on.

We put the side stand on, which stops the bike from wobbling over.

Next we put on the wheels. We nutted them on, and called it a day! I was very pleased with how it looked, as it was no longer just bits and pieces, but it now looked like a bike.

Here is a good page showing the parts of a BSA Junior and has more technical information.
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/nvtrangerbsajunior/index_files/Page2846.htm

The beginning...

I'm Fred and I'm 7. I wouldn't be doing this without my Dad who brought the BSA JUNIOR. Did you know that the BSA Junior was one of the last production BSA that they made.

The first thing that I took off was the body... that was quite easy! Then I got some wire wool and I started getting the rust off. Then I had to make a decision whether to paint the handlebars or to leave them as chrome. I chose to leave them as I want to keep it as original as possible.

I took the chain off the wheel, so I could take off the engine and give it to a friend of mine to check it over to see if any bits are missing.

And then there was a disaster! I needed some ball bearings. And they have to be the right size. I think I can get some.

Next I took the frame apart to be shot blasted. I discovered that the original colour of the bike was metallic electric blue. It had since been painted white, then blue. I want to spray it its original colour and I'm going to spray it into every nook and cranny to make it look original.

We didn't put the forks through shot blast so I sanded the paint down smooth so the new paint would stick nicely.