Restoration Opportunity

Ever since I can remember my dad has had in his sheds and garages an old BSA 650, which is in a million pieces, he remembers swapping a working Honda 250 for it, with the plan of building it "one day". We dont even know what BSA 650 it is

Well we have moved it from house to house several times and it has been in bits for nearly 30 years, its now at his current house taking up space in one of the out buildings.

I asked him last week when was he ever going to build it, and his response was that he wasn't interested and hadn't been for many years, he only held onto it because he thought us boys might be interested, and basically i can take it off his hands if I want.

Now from what he says all the bits are there excluding some nuts and bolts and the carbs, it is however in need of every bit of chrome re chroming and every bit of paint re painting, the engine is in bits and needs the cylinders honing and + oversize pistons need fitting along with the crankcase bearing mod.

I'm quite excited by the opportunity but I don't want to do the same as him, sit it in sheds for 30 years and ignore it.

To be truthful, I am selling the ducati in month or so as I have only done 600 miles in 9 months and thats pretty rubbish, and I just haven't gelled with it at all and the plan was to take some time away from biking as its lost its thrill for me but this may be a way of re igniting the buzz.


My first plan was to dry build it to find what was missing then see what actually needs doing to make it work, from there on I could cost the refurb and decide if I could ever do it?

So tell me... Should I give it a stab?

Does anyone have any experience of restoring bikes?

Over to ya'll

Doing a dry build is always a good idea with a basket case, see what the finished value would be and home much it'll cost to achieve. Do you have the time to do it, and understanding missus, somewhere to leave it for the years it'll take you and the available funds.

Or you could just pop it in my garage.

[mister c]

I agree with Baddad. Whatever you think it may cost, add quite a lot more on because there will be something that you think "mmmm I'll just change that because it isn't quite right".
I budgetted around £700 to do the SV using nothing but 2nd hand parts off Ebay. The bill ended up at just over £1000 & that was getting a friend to respray it for me for just the cost of the paint (£70) instead of the £400 I'd been quoted & I'm still finding little things that I dont really like about it, which will be changed over the winter (so more money).
One thing I would say is look at it as a viable proporsition, not with rose tinted shades, or you may find yourself throwing buckets of cash at it for not much at the end of the day.

As everyone else has said it will always cost more than you think as somthing will come up or need changing, youll see somthing shiny and buy it for the bike.

But all in all if you want to do it, just do, its been sitting for 30 years what are a few more in reality and you could get a gem of a classic bike out of it with all the effort and enjoyment youve put in over how ever long it takes.

Originally Posted by BBadger

As everyone else has said it will always cost more than you think as somthing will come up or need changing, youll see somthing shiny and buy it for the bike.

But all in all if you want to do it, just do, its been sitting for 30 years what are a few more in reality and you could get a gem of a classic bike out of it with all the effort and enjoyment youve put in over how ever long it takes.

thats what I am thinking,

It will take time, thats for sure, and money but again its something Id be happy to do over a few years,

I estimate it to cost between 2 & 3k Dependant on what needs replacing and what can be refinished and how much bling, and the are advertised for between 3 & 6k

the last thing I want to see is it rot beyond repair or disappear to someone else one day.

IMO, if it's s bike with some family history as this one, a restoration job is for it's personal value not how much it'll be worth at the end, you will spend a fair bit I'm sure but it will be an achievement you'll be proud of and one you won't wanna sell anyway.

Originally Posted by specialone

IMO, if it's s bike with some family history as this one, a restoration job is for it's personal value not how much it'll be worth at the end, you will spend a fair bit I'm sure but it will be an achievement you'll be proud of and one you won't wanna sell anyway.

agree completely the final value is in many respects irrelevant, albeit I don't have the mind set to poor money into something that wouldn't be worth anything one day..

that being said Im on my second ducati..!?

[Bibio]

why do these things always come up so far away... i would love to restore it. i fell in love with a BSA 650 when i was a kid and have always wanted to get one.

[embee]

How much it would be worth depends very much on what exactly it is. If it's a boggo A10 then it'll never be worth a lot, a Rocket Gold Star would.

I suggest find out exactly what it is first and take it from there.

Like the others say, resurrecting a basket case is an awful lot of work/time, and even just to get something roadworthy and presentable can end up pretty costly. I bet there are as many like that "awaiting restoration" as there are actually on the road (I've got a couple... )

Depends why you want to do it too. If you really fancy taking the task on, then go for it. If you're half hearted, it'll never get done. Make sure the spectacles aren't too rose tinted, old Brit bikes were never very nice in reality, and some of them downright nasty. I had an A7, pretty gutless, hopeless suspension, non-existent brakes, temperamental magneto etc etc.

I have my Dads 1957 BSA A7 500 I would'nt call it gutless just dated .This also needs renovating after being left for a number of years .It has a plunger frame so does'nt handle well solo. but as a family outfit ( fitted with a large sidecar for mom sis n me) it was our only transport for many years took dad to work almost every day untill he retired... so extreemly relyable and mostly roadside repareable when i did breakdown.the back seat of the sidecar also being a tool box being soooo handy...
Take your time over the restoration there are companies who wil rebuild your engine to a more efficient lump should you choose ... opening out some of the oil galleries, roller bearings instead of bronze ect .. Mags can be reound and re energised most things are possible given knollege money and time.
Most of all have fun renovating a peice of family history half the fun is finding the parts